A late Dor Turgeman own goal helped secure a crucial point for the Chicago Fire in a 2-2 draw against the host New England Revolution on Saturday night.
With the draw, Chicago (15-11-8, 53 points) finishes as the eight seed in the Eastern Conference. The Fire will host the East wild-card game against Orlando City SC.
Philip Zinckernagel scored the other goal for the Fire, which extended its unbeaten streak to five matches (3-0-2).
Alhassan Yusuf and Turgeman had the New England goals as the Revolution (9-16-9, 36 points) wrapped up their season as the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Trailing 1-0, Zinckernagel leveled the score in the 82nd minute, completing a give-and-go with Maren Haile-Selassie for his 15th goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Chicago had a couple of glorious opportunities for the go-ahead goal. Matt Turner saved Brian Gutierrez’s shot from the center of the box, then moments later, New England defender Brandon Bye blocked Zinckernagel’s strike.
New England briefly took a 2-1 lead in second-half stoppage time after Turgeman headed in Carles Gil’s free kick.
Three minutes later, a Turgeman own goal tied it.
Chicago controlled the first-half possession, but it was New England with the only two shots on target and the lone goal of the opening 45 minutes.
The Revolution opened the scoring a minute in as Fire defender Dje D’Avilla turned the ball over in the area and Yusuf chipped it up and over keeper Chris Brady for his second goal of the season.
Chicago won the only other MLS regular season meeting between the two clubs, 3-2, on Sept. 6.
–Field Level Media
