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New England's slide continues with loss at Chicago

Aug 19, 2012 - 2:49 AM Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - The Chicago Fire and New England Revolution continue to be two teams headed in opposite directions.

While Chicago's 2-1 win over the Revs on Saturday at Toyota Park marked the club's third straight win and has the Fire in the Eastern Conference playoff mix, New England slips further out of the picture having earned just one point from its last seven games.

Things couldn't have started much worse for the Revs as Chris Rolfe drew a penalty kick and then converted from the spot to put the Fire in front inside of five minutes.

The visitors rebounded to level the contest in the 11th minute through Fernando Cardenas, but after going behind once more in the 25th on Sherjill MacDonald's first goal for the Fire, the Revs offered up little threat in the second half and lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Rolfe provided the first chance in the fourth minute when he got into the penalty area and was tripped by defender A.J. Soares.

The striker then picked himself up and narrowly beat goalkeeper Matt Reis from the spot, with Reis getting a hand on the ball but failing to keep it out.

New England came up with a response though, and leveled the match with Saer Sene's low cross taking a few deflections before being poked home from close range by Cardenas.

But a lapse in the New England defense midway through the first half proved costly as Patrick Nyarko brought down a throw-in near the end line and lobbed a ball to the front of goal for MacDonald to head home.

The best that the Revs offered after the break was a long-range effort from Cardenas which failed to hit the target, while Reis produced a nice save on substitute Michael Videira 10 minutes from time to prevent further damage.