I think it's a penalty. And he has got to give that ... it's as simple as that," said Cummins.
• On Wednesday, Toronto FC won their second game in the Canadian Championship, defeating Montréal Impact 1-0 at BMO Field. Chad Barrett, who had come on as a 16th-minute substitute after Marvell Wynne suffered a hamstring injury, scored the game's lone goal in the 35th minute.
• TFC is now in the driver's seat after two games for the Voyageurs Cup, defeating both Montréal and Vancouver Whitecaps by 1-0 scorelines. TFC faces away matches at both places to complete the Canadian Championship; the winner of the competition gains a berth in the 2009 CONCACAF Champions League.
• Here's Cummins' team: Stefan Frei, Marvell Wynne (Chad Barrett 16), Adrian Serioux, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan, Sam Cronin, Amado Guevara (Fuad Ibrahim 88), Carl Robinson, Nana Attakora-Gyan, Pablo Vitti, Dwayne De Rosario (Kevin Harmse 74). Substitutes Not Used: Emmanuel Gomez, Rohan Ricketts, Johann Smith, Greg Sutton
• "We're a little bit disappointed, obviously not about winning the game, but [at not winning] by more than one," said Cummins. "We've got to be more clinical. Some of that football tonight was some of the best we've played all season. We passed the ball, we created loads of movement and created a lot of chances. But we didn't take our chances tonight and we've got to be careful it doesn't come back and bite us on the backside in game like that."
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire remain undefeated on the season, yet played to a draw for the fifth consecutive match, seeing the New England Revolution come back for a 1-1 draw Saturday evening at Toyota Park. The Fire have 12 points from eight matches on the season, still in third place in the Eastern Conference, two points behind division-leading D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• The Fire had not lost yet on the season yet had gone nearly a month without a victory, and had two draws in their first two games of a three-game homestand. The Revolution were coming off back-to-back losses where they had been outscored 8-0 after starting the season undefeated in four games.
• The Fire opened the scoring in the 36th minute. Cuauhtemoc Blanco swung in a corner from the left and it fell right to Wilman Conde in the mixer, who after a touch lashed it into the lower left corner for his first goal on the season.
• But the Revolution pulled level four minutes after the break. A Jeff Larentowicz cross-shot from the right corner of the penalty area took a deflection off Conde and skipped straight to Shalrie Joseph at the left post, and he made no mistake in finishing off his second goal on the campaign.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett made two changes to the team that played to a 1-1 home draw with Seattle Sounders FC the previous Saturday. Brandon Prideaux returned to the back four for Gonzalo Segares and Chris Rolfe made his first start of the season, in place of Patrick Nyarko.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Tim Ward, Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare, Brandon Prideaux - John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Marco Pappa (Justin Mapp 70) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chris Rolfe (Patrick Nyarko 63), Brian McBride. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Banner, C.J. Brown, Andrew Dykstra, Dasan Robinson, Austin Washington
TEAM NEWS
• The five consecutive ties recorded by the Fire is a new league record for consecutive draws within a single season. The San Jose Earthquakes had a league record six consecutive draws - four at the end of the 2004 season, and two at the start of the 2005 season. As well, Real Salt Lake had five consecutive draws over the end of the 2006 campaign and the start of 2007.
• "These ties are starting to feel like losses. We're undefeated, which is one good thing, but we need to turn these ties into wins," said John Thorrington. "This feeling is getting very old. I've never been on a team that's had so much good play for so many minutes and not prevail. It's incredibly frustrating for all of us, but that just means we're going to have to work that much harder to turn this thing around."
• In each of their last three games, they've taken a lead only to see the opponents come back for a late equalizer.
• "It is frustrating," Chris Rolfe said. "We are still undefeated, but it is frustrating, because we are playing well. It's not likely we are playing poorly and getting a point. We are playing well and losing two points. We are playing great soccer, and the other team gets one or two chances and score on them."
• Rolfe made his first start of the season in place of second-year forward Nyarko. Rolfe lost his starting job when he suffered a stomach virus at the end of training camp and has been used as a substitute at the end of each of the first seven games, with his longest appearance 24 minutes.
• In addition, midfielder Justin Mapp, who last played April 11 against San Jose when he suffered a hamstring strain, got back on the field in the 70th minute against New England and played the final 20 minutes. "He got himself in good spots," Hamlett said. "We were looking for a guy who can help us outside."
• The Fire have scored in every game this season, and their lone tally Saturday was the 600th in the team's MLS history, including regular season and MLS Cup Playoff games.
• "You have to be good on the final third defensively, we're not doing that and it's killing us," Hamlett said. "We worked hard to clear away a lot of chances, got a goal like we did last week and we gave up a goal that's easy - that's the pattern right now and it needs to change."
• The Fire are one of three teams who have not been shut out this season, along with Columbus and D.C. United.
• "(W)e had few good chances that guys normally finish. In the second half the guy is allowed to trap a ball at the six-yard line and he doesn't have to make a great shot to beat you from six yards out. That's the same thing that happened last week, too," said goalkeeper Jon Busch. "The guys in front me are playing very well. We're only giving up one or two chances a week, but the ones we're giving up are from six yards out and going in."
