BRIDGEVIEW,ILLINOIS (BDCi) — Landon Donovan continued to show why he should be on the USA plane to Brazil with a wonderful equalizer as the LA Galaxy earned a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park on Sunday.
With the temperature reaching 90 degrees both team struggled to get into any sort of rhythm in the first half. LA failed to register a single shot, while Chicago had only slightly better opportunities.
Fire forward Quincy Amarikwa had the best look of the opening 45 minutes when he jumped on a defensive error, raced ahead of his mark and shot high as Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo came off his line.
The Galaxy showed significantly more attacking intent after halftime, although Amarikwa saw his appeals for a penalty waved away by referee Hilario Garajeda after going down under a challenge from substitute Robbie Rogers in the 56th minute.
The Fire were handed a chance to open the scoring in the 66th minute when sloppy defensive play from the Galaxy saw Amarikwa gain possession before he was taken down by Juninho. Replays showed contact was outside the box , but Grajeda pointed to the spot.
With striker Mike Magee out with injury, captain Jeff Larentowicz stepped up and calmly slotted his well placed kick low to Penedo’s right to put Chicago ahead 1-0.
The Fire’s lead was short lived and again they were to blame for their downfall as Chris Rittler’s pass to Gonzalo Segares was short and allowed Rogers to intercept and drive towards the goal. It was Donovan on hand to sweep home the equalizer in emphatic style when he met Rogers’ cross at the far post and shot past Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Next up for the LA Galaxy is a date with their LA rivals Chivas USA on Sunday while the Chicago Fire take a trip to the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday.
Source: lagalaxy.com