A howler.
Every goalkeeper’s had a goal they’re not proud of giving
up. When thinking of classic howlers, at least from my American experience in
soccer, two very key ones come to mind: Kasey Keller’s flubbed kick off the
head of Carlos Hermosillo during a U.S.-Mexico 1998 World Cup qualifying match
which resulted in the ball bouncing into the American goal...BRUTAL!
Then there’s Robert Green’s pretty big error in last
summer’s U.S.-England World Cup match, which gave the Americans a coveted 1-1
draw to open up the tournament...BRILLIANT!
Howlers happen from time to time and Jon Conway is the first
to tell you the goal he surrendered in the 47th minute of last
Saturday’s match against his former team Toronto, which put the Fire down 2-0
just after halftime, would fall under that category.
“It was a bad goal to give up,” the veteran keeper told
Chicago-Fire.com. “Obviously you want to forget about it as soon as possible.
At that point it was early on in the second half, I knew that there was a lot
of time left.”
After the immediate shock of surrendering the goal, Fire
defenders Yamith Cuesta and Gonzalo Segares could be seen picking the netminder
up, supporting their last line of defense as the team knew the comeback effort
would be much more difficult.
“Their support was great. I had to say thank you to them
after the game for doing that – it was a great gesture by them to come up, help
me out and rebound from the mistake.”
With 40 minutes left to play and knowing that his team would
have to push forward more, Conway admitted he had to move on very quickly.
“I knew I’d have to be called on again to make a save.
Immediately I had to get my head right and realize that a mistake was made, put
it behind you and move on to the next play.”
That save, at least the first one he needed to make came
with a diving effort on Dicoy Williams in the 62nd minute. A minute
later, second half Fire substitute Orr Barouch earned a dangerous free kick
which Marco Pappa converted to cut the lead in half at 2-1.
With the Fire pushing up even more for the equalizer, the
team was caught in transition again in the 70th minute as Maicon
Santos fed Alen Stevanovich into the box but Conway charged off his line to
make another crucial save.
Five minutes later, Barouch tapped in the equalizer and in
the dying minutes of the match, Daniel Paladini nearly gave the Fire the win if
not for a crucial save from Stefan Frei, a keeper Conway mentored during his
time in Toronto last season.
Sean Johnson, who lost the starting spot after some shaky
goalkeeping to start the season returned to training this week after being out
the last two weeks with a quadriceps strain. With his return, Fire head coach
Carlos de los Cobos was asked Thursday if Conway’s gaffe would cost him the
starting job when the team travels to Philadelphia Saturday.
“Jon Conway is playing, he’s doing a good job,” said de los
Cobos. “He had an accident on the second goal but he made a great save when we
were losing 2-1 and this situation gave us the opportunity to tie afterwards.
Jon is playing well, Sean is a good player, a young guy and he’s learning but
for now I’m very satisfied with the performance of Jon Conway.”
With Philadelphia still being rather new to Major League
Soccer, Saturday’s match will be the first time Conway, a 12-year veteran of
the league, will get to play an MLS match in front of friends and family in his
hometown.
“It’s great. It’s been a long time for Philadelphia to get a
team and the fact that I’m able to go play there is going to be great. I have a lot of family and friends there and
it’ll be a nice experience.”
Jeff Crandall is the
Team Writer for the Chicago Fire. Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall.