BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The woodwork was unkind for both teams, but the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake ended up in a scoreless draw on Saturday night at Toyota Park. The draw was good enough to keep the Fire in third place in the Eastern Conference, while RSL maintained its hold on the top spot in the West.
Chicago did not waste any time applying pressure. Chad Barrett took the first shot of the match in the fifth minute. Justin Mapp sent a corner kick into the box one minute later. Cuauhtemoc Blanco headed it toward goal while inside the box. The ball deflected off a defender and back into play.
In the 10th minute Real Salt Lake had their best opportunity of the match. Javier Morales bent a corner kick into the box and Yura Movsisyan headed it toward goal. The ball bounced off the right side of the crossbar and back on to the ground, where Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch smothered the ball for the save.
In the 33rd minute things opened up for the Fire. Chris Rolfe intercepted a back pass and went in on RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando one-on-one. Rimando slipped and Rolfe rounded the fallen goalkeeper, but he sent a long ball into the side netting.
In the 41st minute Chicago had another opportunity. Rolfe slid a through ball to Barrett, who held off defender Jamison Olave and took a quick, low shot. It beat Rimando, but the ball bounced off the right post and back into play. Rolfe tried to get there, but was already too far to the left and took an awkward fall.
At the start of the second half, RSL sent on forward Robbie Findley for Tino Nunez. In the 47nd minute, Findley captured a poor clearance at the top of the box and had Busch alone in front of him. His shot bounced off Busch and then glanced off the left post.
Blanco sent a perfect ball to Justin Mapp in the 67th minute. Mapp drilled it at the net, with the ball deflecting out for a Fire corner kick. Then two minutes later Mapp sent a shot into Rimando's arms.
The game took a strange turn in the 75th minute, when Kovalenko tackled Blanco and received a yellow card. Blanco attempted a freekick from the right side of the box to no avail. But before the play took place, referee Ricardo Salazar issued a red card to Fire defender C.J. Brown, who was warming up with the substitute players.
Chicago had another opportunity in the 87th minute. Blanco found substitute Patrick Nyarko, who forwarded the ball to a streaking Mapp. Mapp blasted the ball at the goal, but Rimando jumped into the air and deflected the ball out of play, the second of two saves the RSL goalkeeper was credited with on the night.
For each team, it was the fourth time in the last six games they were held scoreless. The Fire remain the stingiest team defensively in the league, while RSL is now 1-6-1 on the road on the season.
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