The New England Revolution entered Toyota Park to face the Chicago Fire with hopes of breaking a six-game winless streak. To do that, they wanted to be more clinical in the final third, and cut out the defensive mistakes.
It is yet to be seen if they'll improve on the former, but they've already had issues with the latter. Difficulties in defense stranded A.J. Soares against an onrushing Chris Rolfe, and the former Cal standout took the Fire player down in the box to concede a penalty. Rolfe converted the spot kick to put the home side up 1-0 in just the 4th minute of the first half.
Rolfe initially started the play, and the defensive breakdown began when Stephen McCarthy stepped out to challenge him. Rolfe played the ball out left, and as he made his run into the box, McCarthy passed marking responsibility to Clyde Simms. Simms appeared to understand, but did not pay attention and broke off, allowing Rolfe a free run into the box. At that point, Soares was left stranded, and his tackle caught the player instead of the ball.
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