Stoppage time goal sinks Sounders

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – For more than 90 minutes Saturday, the Seattle Sounders survived 15 shots and plenty of their own mistakes, and seemed on their way to picking up a point on the road.

However, that changed in second-half stoppage time when Chicago concluded an end-to-end counter with a Jason Johnson goal that gave the Fire a 1-0 win at Toyota Park.

Johnson finished strongly inside the far post after making a nice inside cut that improved his shooting angle. But the Sounders also were left with plenty to regret along the way, from the basic of not stopping the counter with a foul, Micheal Ariza leaving Johnson at the wrong time, and Chad Marshall allowing Johnson’s cut inside.

“I thought overall Chicago was the better team,” coach Sigi Schmid said. “We did a good job of defending and holding on there. I thought (Troy) Perkins played well in goal. … I thought Marshall and Zach Scott made a couple of big plays as well. We needed to be smart enough to get through and hold on to a 0-0 at the end of the day.”

It was the Sounders’ (10-8-2) fourth loss in their past five games. For Chicago (5-9-3) it was the first win over Seattle in 10 MLS meetings.

The Sounders once again played without stars and starters Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Brad Evans and Marco Pappa. And for the first time since the final match of 2013, they also were without starting goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who suffered a shoulder injury the previous weekend. He was replaced by Perkins, who stopped the first five shots the Fire put on target, sometimes acrobatically.

The absences have taken a particular toll on the attacking end. Dempsey and Martins are the Sounders’ goals leaders with seven each. Dempsey is the assists leader with six. Without them on the field over the last five matches Seattle has scored a total of two goals while being shut out three times.

Chicago outshot Seattle 16-10, including 6-2 in on-target attempts. The Fire held 50.8 percent of the possession.