this time including the playoffs -- the Fire went 0-5-1 in matches where they allowed the first goal, and 0-6-1 in matches where they trailed at that half, which implies that they stayed behind throughout all of those matches, and fell behind in another one to boot, no pun intended.
To be honest, I don't know exactly what has contributed to this new sense of fight the team has adopted this year, but it's palpable. Watching Saturday's match with the New York Red Bulls, there was no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the Fire would, at the very least, equalize after New York scored in the first half. And if I can feel that confidence through my television -- and, to be fair, it's a very nice television, but actual transmission of emotion wasn't listed in the features -- I can only imagine what it must be like on the field.
Keep in mind that the relative success of the road trip so far has happened without the likes of Nate Jaqua and Justin Mapp getting on the scoresheet and with only two and three games from Chris Armas and Gonzalo Segares, respectively. That's to say nothing of Andy Herron, who finally comes off his six-match suspension for -- wait for it -- showing some fight with regard to a certain offside call at the end of last season.
The upshot of this trend is that, if the team is able to battle back while on the road, that experience should reap serious rewards when Opening Day in Bridgeview rolls around, and that the team is headed very much in the right direction, but it's still early to say for sure. On the one hand, a loss against Houston this weekend means this "five-game unbeaten streak" turns very quickly into a sub-.500 record and perhaps paints a different picture. On the other, it's hard for me not to think that the rest of the league sees a Fire team in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and takes it lightly, and that the rest of the league is going to be very surprised as the season moves along.
