CHICAGO — The Chicago Fire avoided defeat but left two points on the table in the Soldier Field finale.
The Men in Red clawed back from two goals down to draw Orlando City 2-2 in their 32nd game of the season, but were left wanting more against one of MLS' worst-ever defenses.
Suspension forced the Fire into two changes, but Gregg Berhalter still opted to switch out three others regardless. Jack Elliott and Anzor Mekvabishvili replaced the suspended Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Djé D'Avilla, both of whom had accumulated five yellow cards across recent matches. Both fullbacks were switched out, with Leo Barroso and Andrew Gutman inserted, while Sergio Oregel was preferred to Jonathan Bamba (moving Maren Haile-Selassie out to the left).
Robert Lewandowski got the nod up front; that in and of itself isn't a headline, but having not scored a goal in nearly two months, he was one of the stories coming into the game. In the 5th minute, the drought nearly came to an end when the Pole forced a remarkable save from Maxime Crépeau after a headed chance.
A minute later, Orlando capitalized at the other end. Ivan Angulo got in behind the Fire's back line and beat Chris Brady at the near post to open the scoring.
Despite the goal, little changed in the flow of the game, where the Fire were otherwise dominant. Lewandowski had another huge chance, this time quite spectacularly from a scissor kick, but the shot rattled the post.
This game was Mekvabishvili's first start in MLS, and he came in as a deep-lying #6. Although it is not his primary position that he was intended to play when he joined the Fire, Saturday's 45-minute cameo in Atlanta had gone quite well there. This one was not as splendid; several misplaced passes defined his night.
Orlando doubled their lead in the 35th minute, and did it in quite gorgeous fashion. Their superstar Designated Player, Antoine Griezmann, launched a bullet from way outside the penalty box, making the score 2-0. It was Griezmann's 21st goal contribution of the season.
The two-goal halftime deficit prompted Berhalter to make a critical swap after 45 minutes. A struggling Oregel Jr. was replaced by Bamba, a player somewhat surprisingly removed from the XI after a great outing in Atlanta.
That move paid off quickly, with Bamba adding a spark on the left wing. In the 57th minute, the Frenchman headed home at the far post, getting on the end of a Barroso cross.
Bamba stayed involved in the attack. 11 minutes later, he teed up Maren Haile-Selassie's 12th goal of the season as the Swiss winger blasted the ball into the net from close range. The quickfire double dug the Fire out of a rather deep hole, and a rapidly catching-steam Bamba was at the center of all of it.
Bamba missed a chance in stoppage time to win it from close range – but it stayed 2-2.
The result keeps the Fire in 4th place in the Eastern Conference with two games to play.
Starting XI (4-3-3) — Brady (5); Gutman (7), Elliott (6), Hanche-Olsen (6.5), Barroso (8); Salétros (7.5), Mekvabishvili (6.5), Oregel Jr. (5.5); Haile-Selassie (8), Lewandowski (7.5), Zinckernagel (7)
Substitutes — Bamba (8.5), Dean (6.5), Allen (6.5), Dithejane (NR)
