Playing a man up for 84 minutes, the Chicago Fire were disappointed not coming away with the full three points on Sunday night. But Chad Barrett made sure they at least brought something home from Colorado, his 85th-minute goal giving the Men in Red a 1-1 draw with the Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
The Rapids went a man in the sixth minute when forward Roberto Brown lunged at Fire defender C.J. Brown with a late tackle and was immediately sent off by referee Jair Marrufo. But it took nearly the entire match for the Fire to get the breakthrough.
"We had possession playing a man up," said Fire head coach Dave Sarachan. "Sometimes it can be a little more difficult with a man advantage because teams pack it in and it makes it very hard to find holes."
Things got even more difficult when a quick counter attack after a corner caught out the Fire, and Herculez Gomez finished off the end-to-end transition in the 58th minute.
But the Rapids eventually wore down on the large field at Dick's Sporting Goods Park and the Fire finally got the equalizing goal in the 85th minute from Barrett.
"We were wearing them down and (the Rapids) had to chase the game a little bit," Sarachan said. "We still toward the end created some chances, Chad got the goal, but (the Rapids) are a team that can battle."
Sarachan once again put out his team in a 3-4-1-2 formation, as he did in the 1-0 season-opening victory against the New England Revolution. But the early man advantage meant some changes were in store.
"Sometimes it looks that way and sometimes it look like a 3-5-2, sometimes a 3-4-3," said Sarachan. "We really did not set up like that. We sort of allowed guys to find their roles. We allow certain guys freedom to move into spaces and toward the end of the game we threw a lot of numbers forward."
Fire captain Chris Armas, looking battle-worn after an eye injury suffered last week, was also pleased to get a point on the road despite going behind with the lengthy advantage.
"I feel better than if we had lost," Armas said. "And at the end of the day we got a point. We came to get three, but we got one.
The Fire didn't create many opportunities on the night, forcing Rapids goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul to make just two saves. Chris Rolfe was also in a good position midway through the first half, but put his first-time shot over the bar.
"The Rapids did well, the Rapids really defended well which made it very difficult to figure out how to break them down," said Armas. "Maybe we could have played the ball quicker, moving better, just create more opportunities. We were a little impatient, but we got a point."
Tom Buck is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
