It was all going so well. On Wednesday night at Soldier Field, the Chicago Fire were a mere eight minutes away from their third straight win at home and third win in four games overall. Gaston Gimenez scored his first goal for the club, Chicago Red Stars breakout striker Own Goal doubled the lead, and Bobby Shuttleworth had made a few big saves worthy of a clean sheet.
The circumstances being what they were, assistant manager Frank Klopas (filling in for a second game while Raphael Wicky is away from the team due to a family matter) subbed off Gaston Gimenez in the 74th minute with the Paraguayan and his midfield companion Alvaro Medran both on yellow cards and Przemyslaw Frankowski, who had been the Fire’s best player to that point, in the 75th.