The Houston Dynamo Reserves defeated the Chicago Fire Reserves 2-0, Tuesday morning, at the Houston Amateur Sports Park. Jason Johnson and Luiz Camargo provided the goals and Erich Marscheider made four saves as the Dynamo Reserves improved to 3-0-0 on the season. With the loss, Chicago falls to 1-3-0.

Despite out-shooting the Fire 7-5 in the first half, the home side had the better of the opportunities. Rookie striker Jason Johnson hit the crossbar with a chip in the seventh minute and followed that up with a strike that hit off both posts in the 18th minute.

Chicago’s best chance in the first half came in the 43rd minute. Right back Mike Videira slipped a pass to Quincy Amarikwa on the right flank...

The Chicago Fire (2-6-1; seven points) fell 1-0 to the Philadelphia Union (4-3-3, 15 points) Saturday afternoon at Toyota Park. The Fire created 15 shots on goal but fell victim to a 75th minute goal by Union forward Jack McInerney.

The Fire came close in the 33rd minute. Patrick Nyarko dribbled into the box and centered the ball for Chris Rolfe but the Union’s Gabriel Farfan blocked the initial shot. Daniel Paladini pounced on the rebound and unleashed a one-time shot that Zac MacMath kicked out to Wells Thompson, but Thompson’s shot was blocked out for a corner kick.

After a scoreless first half the Fire came out with renewed vigor and continued to press for the opening goal.

In the 48th Gonzalo Segares sent in a cross for the left side to Paladini, who laid the ball off for Nyarko...

With Jeff Larentowicz’s red card vs. Montreal being upheld last week, Fire head coach Frank Klopas will be forced to deploy his ninth different lineup in as many matches this season on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union.

“We’ve been unlucky with our lineup this year,” Klopas told Chicago-Fire.com. “We’ve had injuries and a few suspensions that have made it difficult to keep a consistent team together but we’ve also gotten some strong performances out of guys that we needed to step up.”

One player that has made a habit of stepping up of late is midfielder Daniel Paladini who seems set to continue in central midfield again on Saturday.

The third-year Fire midfielder has experienced his best season early on this year with the Men in Red, tallying one goal and three assi...

CHICAGO FIRE WELCOME PHILADELPHIA UNION TO TOYOTA PARK FOR FIRST LEG OF HOME-AND-AWAY SERIES
The Chicago Fire (2-5-1, 7 points) return to MLS action after a bye week to host the Philadelphia Union (3-3-3, 12 points) at Toyota Park on Saturday, May 11 at 12:30 p.m. CT (NBC Sports Network/La Ley 107.9 FM).

This is the first leg of a home-and-away series between the two squads and the first of three meetings between the two sides this season. Following the match on May 11, the Fire will head to Philadelphia for the second leg at PPL Park in Chester, Penn. on Saturday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m. CT (My50/La Ley 107.9 FM). The Fire will return to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Union on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 6:30 p.m. CT (My50/La Ley 107.9 FM).

The Fire were 2-1-0 against the Union in 2012...

His opinion wasn’t popular among his Chicago Fire teammates, but Arne Friedrich was adamant before the UEFA Champions League semifinals began that Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund would beat FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively, to set up an all-German final.

He looks like a big winner in Vegas now.

Of course, the nine-year Bundesliga veteran has plenty of inside knowledge, and he’s seen German teams surpass their Spanish counterparts by incorporating some strengths of Spanish soccer.

“I’m very happy for Germany, but they deserve it,” he told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday. “Barcelona was always the best team in the last couple of years, so everybody was looking to Barcelona, maybe, to copy the style of play. This is what the German teams did as well...

The Chicago Fire defeated FC Dallas 2-1 in MLS Reserve League action Wednesday morning at the Toyota Park Practice Field. Two first half goals from Maicon Santos and Corben Bone gave the Fire the lead before a 62nd minute red card ejection to Wells Thompson forced the team to finish the match a man down and stave off a late FC Dallas rally that included a 80th minute Kellyn Acosta goal and a penalty kick call in second half stoppage time.

The Fire opened scoring in the 20th minute when Thompson received the ball on the right flank, made a deep run and crossed for Santos, whose one-time shot pinged off the post into goal to give the Fire the 1-0 lead.

Deep into first half stoppage time, Santos played the ball to Bone...

The Chicago Fire (2-5-1; 7 points) dropped a 2-0 decision to the Montreal Impact (5-1-1; 16 points) at Stade Saputo Saturday afternoon. The Impact’s Andres Romero and Marco Di Vaio scored the only goals of the match as the Fire were forced to play a man down after a 63^rd minute red card to midfielder Jeff Larentowicz.

Chicago Fire owner Andrew Hauptman took in Thursday’s training session at Toyota Park before holding an impromptu Q&A session with media in attendance regarding the team’s start to the season and his thoughts on player acquisition.

On his reaction to the results in the first quarter of the season…

I’m hoping we turned a corner [in the Columbus game]. Certainly the second half was the type of soccer we know we’re capable and expecting to be playing. The first part of the season has been a disappointment, I don’t want to shy away from the truth but that’s been what it is...

On the heels of a 1-4-1 start, Chicago head coach Frank Klopas turned to a consistent veteran against Columbus Saturday.

Patrick Nyarko rewarded Frank Klopas’ faith, with his most superb performance of the young season.

Daniel Paladini had the hot hand and was given the start over Nyarko in his first healthy game back from a hamstring injury last week in Houston, but Saturday’s opponent presented a different obstacle.

“I wanted to get Patrick in there because of his pace and his ability to stretch the field with us,” Klopas said. “Danny has played well. He comes inside more. But I wanted that match up with Patrick on one side.”

Nyarko proved to be the catalyst in the second half as the Fire dominated the run of play.

Seemingly almost every dangerous attack came through Nyarko...

Columbus Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum was equal to chance after chance as the Fire pummeled him with shots early in the second half of Saturday’s contest.

But Jeff Larentowicz finally beat Gruenebaum in the 83rd minute, when he headed home a flick-on from Austin Berry to give the Chicago Fire a 1-0 win at Toyota Park.

The win was the Fire’s second in three games after going winless in their first five, improving to 2-4-1 overall. Columbus almost snuck out of Chicago with their fourth tie of the season, but the Crew couldn’t hang on and dropped to 2-2-3.

It was a throw-in that gave the Fire their lone breakthough of the match. Jalil Anibaba took it long into the box, and Berry’s flicked header found Larentowicz charging on from five yards out...