COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Crew SC captain and defender Michael Parkhurst called the Chicago Fire's 94th-minute equalizer Friday night "gut-wrenching" and "disappointing."
After an 8th-minute Kei Kamara goal, Columbus led for 85 straight minutes before the Fire completed their comeback in stoppage time, stealing a point and ripping two away from Columbus.
The home locker room was understandably somber after the match, and head coach Gregg Berhalter could be seen talking privately with multiple players after his postgame press conference.
"They're disappointed; heads were down in the locker room," he said. "But it's normal. It was the 94th minute that we conceded a goal. So you're expecting three points at that stage and you come out with one, so of course it's disappointing."
Berhalter and the players all blamed the draw on an inability to get the crucial third goal that would have put the game away. Despite a string of opportunities near the end of the game, they could only muster two goals.
"That's what happens when you have chances and don't put a team away, I guess,” midfielder Justin Meram said. “They were there, we just have to finish.”
But Chicago spent most of the final moments of the game pumping the ball into the Crew SC box, an aggressive strategy that Berhalter thought his team could have exploited.
"Chicago threw everything at us, putting on virtually four or five forwards and were very aggressive playing long and going for the second ball," he said. "They did a good job of creating pressure, but in that situation we need to make it 3-1."
Parkhurst said he could feel the tide turning.
"Obviously we were on the back foot for the last 10 minutes, playing a lot of defense and clearing balls," he said. "But I think we all thought we were going to hold on."
After the match, Kamara said he was already thinking about the week ahead after the disappointment.
"It was tough, really tough," he said. "It was a slow game from the start, but we were able to go two goals up. We had to come out of there with three points. Coming out with one, it's going to be a [bad] week of practice thinking about that."
And while he had his third brace of the season in the draw, Kamara said the goals don't feel as good when they come without a win.
"Those goals, they should have been three points," he said.
