For more than 90 minutes, the Chicago Fire had made a perfect opening to their new Toyota Park. But the New England Revolution spoiled that dream, scoring two goals in stoppage time to pull into a 3-3 draw in the first-ever match at the Fire's new stadium.
Nate Jaqua scored the first two goals in Toyota Park, and even after Taylor Twellman pulled the Revolution within one in the 87th minute, the first professional goal from Calen Carr put the Fire back in front by two in the first minute of four total minutes of stoppage time.
But Steve Ralston and Andy Dorman scored less than a minute apart to get the Revolution back to level and leave the teams sharing the spoils.
In front of a crowd of 12,941 special guests for the "soft" opening of the new stadium, the event felt more like a sell-out with the energy in the new stadium. But the Revolution held possession for most of the early exchanges, stringing together passes that tested the Fire back line and creating several prime opportunities.
After just seven minutes Twellman sent Dorman in alone on Fire 'keeper Zach Thornton, but his shot went wide by a small margin. Then in the 23rd minute Jay Heaps got forward into the attack and shot from inside the Fire penalty area, but Thornton got down well at his left-hand post to make the save.
But the Fire got their attack untracked, and Jaqua began to make his presence felt. He received a pass in the goal area in the 36th minute, but saw the attempt blocked by a desperate tackle from Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst.
The Fire again broke down the Revolution defense in the 39th minute, triggered by Chris Armas, and this time it led to the first goal in Toyota Park history. Armas sent a through ball to Andy Herron with only New England 'keeper Matt Reis to beat. The Costa Rican's shot was saved, but Reis failed to hold the ball, and Jaqua swept in to bury the rebound.
The second half started out much like the first, with the Revolution owning the majority of the play, only to be held back by the efforts of Thornton in goal. Three times in close order, the big man in the Chicago goal came up big: stopping a Twellman header from a Jeff Larentowicz cross in the 65th minute, and then two long-range efforts from Jose Cancela in the 67th and 69th minutes.
The Revolution finally found the back of the net in the 72nd minute when Dorman pounded home the rebound of a Twellman shot saved by Thornton. But the flag had gone up for offside, leaving the Fire in the lead.
Jaqua then doubled the Fire lead in the 79th minute. Gonzalo Segares found Ivan Guerrero for a powerful drive that Reis blocked, only for Jaqua to again swoop in and deposit the ball into the goal.
Finally, with three minutes left in regulation time, Twellman found the back of the net with a glancing header from a Tony Lochhead cross. It was the first goal in 503 minutes on the road for New England, dating back to the only goal scored in the season opener at the Los Angeles Galaxy.
But a minute into stoppage time, Carr took a pass from Jared Montz -- in his MLS debut -- and hit a fierce shot past Reis for his first MLS goal to apparently seal the victory.
The first victory for the Fire in their new home was in sight, but the emotions zapped their energy and caused them to make careless mistakes, conceding two goals in two minutes. First, Dorman swung in a cross from the left that Ralston redirected into the net to close the gap to 3-2.
Then, a loose ball fell to Kyle Brown in the penalty area, and he laid a square ball into the path of Dorman's surging run. His blast found the back of the net, and the stunned silence of the new stadium spoke volumes as the Fire had to settle for a tie in their Toyota Park debut.
Jack Daniel Chavez and Raquel Ortiz are contributors to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
