ESPN

Eric Brunner's goal in the 19th minute broke a three-match scoring drought and the Portland Timbers went on to defeat the Chicago Fire 2-1 on Sunday.

An own goal in the 52nd minute proved to be the winner for the Timbers (3-5-3), who had played to scoreless draws in their last two matches.

"Maybe it wasn't pretty at times, but it was the three points that we needed," Timbers striker Kris Boyd said.

Jalil Anibaba scored the lone goal for the Fire (4-3-3), stopping a three-game unbeaten streak. The loss also snapped a two-game winning streak on the road for Chicago.

The Timbers were coming off a 0-0 draw at Houston on Tuesday. That followed a scoreless result at home against the Columbus Crew on May 5 and a 2-0 shutout by Montreal the week before.

The victory pulled Portland ahead of the struggling Los Angeles Galaxy for last place in the Western Conference.

Brunner picked up the loose ball after Boyd's flailing bicycle kick off a header from Hanyer Mosquera, firing it past Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson in the early going. It was the first goal by a Timbers player in the team's last 446 minutes of play.

Going into the match, the Timbers were scoreless in 321 minutes -- the longest drought in the MLS this season. Portland's last score was an own goal against Sporting KC on April 21. The last Timbers player to score was Boyd on April 14 in a 3-1 loss at the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"You set the tone when you score the first goal, and that's what we wanted to do," Brunner said.

Chicago's Pavel Pardo was unguarded when he fired a shot at Timbers goalkeeper Troy Perkins, who leaped and grabbed it out of the air for a spectacular save in the 37th minute.

But Perkins couldn't get to Anibaba's rip into the corner two minutes later to tie it at 1. That ended Perkins' streak of 377 minutes without allowing a goal.

The match got chippy as the first half wound down, with Chicago's Patrick Nyarko and Portland's Mike Chabala getting into a shoving match that resulted in yellow cards for both players.

The Timbers went ahead on the own goal that came off the knee of Fire midfielder Logan Pause after Sal Zizzo's corner kick deflected off Boyd.

"It's a huge win," Perkins said. "It puts us real close to being in the middle of the pack. A couple of more results go our way and we're right in there."

The Fire continued to deal with injuries on their back line, with Arne Friedrich down with a right hamstring injury and Cory Gibbs out for an extended period after a meniscus tear in his right knee.

Portland was without captain Jack Jewsbury because of a pelvic strain. Midfielder Diego Chara wore the captain's armband against the Fire.

Timbers defenseman Futty Danso was serving a one-game suspension imposed by Major League Soccer for striking Dynamo forward Calen Carr across the head Tuesday.

CHICAGO -- Chris Rolfe is returning to Major League Soccer and the Chicago Fire.

The 29-year-old American forward rejoined the Fire on Monday when he left Denmark's Aalborg after three seasons.

Rolfe scored 40 goals in 149 games with the Fire in all competitions from 2005-09. He had six goals in 32 matches over three seasons with Aalborg.

Rolfe has made 10 appearances with the U.S. national team.

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Logan Pause scored in the 27th minute to lifted the Chicago Fire to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on on Sunday night in a match shortened to 66 minutes due to lightning.

Will Bruin opened the scoring for Houston (2-1-1) in the 24th minute with a low shot from 14 yards out after taking a pass from Brian Ching. Bruin's shot whistled low and to the right of Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson, making his first start of the season following his stint with the U.S. Olympic team.

The advantage lasted only three minutes before Pause, diving out of the way of teammate Pavel Pardo's free kick, deflected the shot off the crossbar and into the net for Chicago (1-1-2).

The second lightning delay of the match resulted in the decision to end it 24 minutes early.

The first delay, in the 13th minute, was triggered by two lightning strikes near Toyota Park. Those prompted referee Geoff Gamble to rush the teams off the field. The delay lasted 1 hour, 8 minutes before the match was resumed, but another cell stopped play in the 66th minute. After a 40 minute wait, the match was called.

Chicago defender Arne Friedrich, a veteran of two World Cups for Germany, made his regular season debut for the Fire.

Houston was without three midfield regulars, including Brad Davis, runner-up for MLS MVP in 2011. Adam Moffet was serving a one-game suspension, while Colin Clark was out for the first of three games for verbal abuse of a ball boy in Houston's last match.

Marco Pappa's goal in the 12th-minute gave the Chicago Fire a 1-0 victory in a friendly against the University of Louisville on Saturday morning at the Toyota Park Practice Field.

The Fire pressured early and Pappa took the ball off the foot of Federico Puppo at the top of the 18-yard box and unleashed a curling shot past Louisville goalkeeper Zach Torp into the upper left corner of the goal.

Fire goalies Sean Johnson and Paolo Tornaghi combined for the shutout.

Newly acquired Fire defender Arne Friedrich, playing for the first time in over six months, went 88 minutes in his debut.

The Fire return to league play against the Houston Dynamo at Toyota Park on Sunday, April 15.

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. -- Omar Cummings scored in the 58th minute to help lead the Colorado Rapids to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on Sunday night.

The teams exchanged scoring chances for much of the game until Cummings found himself alone in the slot. Brian Mullan set up Cummings' second goal of the year. Cummings has six goals in seven games in his career against Chicago.

Kamani Hill added a goal in added time at the end of the game

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BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Dominic Oduro scored for the second straight game and the Chicago Fire beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Saturday night.

Rookie goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi collected his first shutout of the season, stopping four shots in the Fire's home opener.

Oduro scored with a well-placed header in the 28th minute. Midfielder Marco Pappa beat Philadelphia defender Chris Albright with a fake before feeding Oduro, who was about eight yards away when he sent a curling header past goalkeeper Zac MacMath low to his left side.

Philadelphia has lost its first three matches and scored only two goals. Gabriel Gomez had a pair of promising free kicks in the second half Saturday night, but Tornaghi was there each time.

The Fire (1-0-1) forced MacMath to make five saves.

MONTREAL -- Davy Arnaud scored the first Major League Soccer goal in Impact history, and Montreal tied the Chicago Fire 1-1 Saturday before a crowd of 58,912 at its home opener in Olympic Stadium.

Arnaud's goal in the 56th minute helped give the Impact (0-1-1) their first point since joining MLS as an expansion team this season. Dominic Oduro tied it in the 71st for the Fire, who were opening the season.

The Impact, who opened with a 2-0 loss at Vancouver last weekend, broke the previous record for attendance at a professional soccer match in Montreal. The Manic drew 58,542 for a North American Soccer League playoff game in 1981.

Frank Klopas and Logan Pause are ready to kick off Chicago's season against Montreal.

ESPN's Taylor Twellman discusses what the Chicago Fire need to do to improve in the 2012 season.

CHICAGO -- Arne Friedrich, a veteran of the German team at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, has signed with Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire.

The 32-year-old defender made 82 appearances for Germany, the last in a European Championship qualifier in March when he scored an own-goal in a 2-1 win at Austria. He also played at the 2004 and 2008 Euros and set a German record for most games without a goal before scoring. He got his goal in his 77th match, in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinal win over Argentina.

A central defender and right back, Friedrich signed with Wolfsburg of the Bundesliga in 2010 but missed the first half of the 2010-11 season due to a slipped disk. He had another slipped disk in June.

The Chicago Fire announced Wednesday it had re-signed midfielder Pavel Pardo.

Pardo played in 14 matches after joining the Fire in July. He had one goal and five assists while helping the Fire to the second best regular season finish in club history at 7-2-1.

“Pavel helped kick-start our turnaround at the end of last season,” said Chicago Fire head coach Frank Klopas. “He provides tremendous experience for us in the middle of the park, serves as a great example for our younger players and plays for the badge every time he steps on the field.”

Pardo began his career with hometown Mexican Primera side Club Atlas, where he appeared in 156 matches and recorded seven goals from 1993-98. Following a brief stint with UAG Tecos, Pardo joined Mexican giants Club America for the first of two career stints in 1999. It was with las Aguilas that Pardo made his mark, appearing in 224 matches, scoring 24 goals from 1999-2006 while helping the club to the 2002 Verano and 2005 Clausura championships as well as the 2006 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

His play for America propelled him to Europe, signing with German side Vfb Stuttgart in 2006. While with Die Roten, Pardo appeared in 71 matches, scoring four times while helping the Reds to the 2006-07 Bundesliga title, the club’s first since 1992. He returned to Club America following the 2009 Bundesliga season, going on to play in another 86 matches for las Aguilas through the 2011 Mexican Clausura.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Fire has a new shirt sponsor, agreeing to a multi-year deal with the Quaker Oats Co.

Quaker's name and logo will be on the front of both the Fire's home and away jerseys in a deal that Crain's Chicago Business reported could be worth up to $8 million over three years. The Major League Soccer team had been without a shirt sponsor since Best Buy declined to renew its deal following the 2010 season.

As part of the deal, Quaker and the Fire will team up on a programs designed to encourage healthy eating and staying active. Quaker also will sponsor the Chicago Fire Juniors, the team's player development program, and there will be a "Quaker Corner" seating area at Toyota Park, the Fire stadium in suburban Bridgeview.

CHICAGO -- Mike Matkovich and Leo Percovich will return to the Chicago Fire as assistant coaches for the 2012 season, the team announced on Friday. The two full-time assistant coaches will serve under Frank Klopas, who was named head coach on Nov. 3.

Matkovich, 49, previously served as a Fire assistant coach from 2009-10, but spent 2011 as the director of coaching for the Chicago Fire Juniors-South and as an assistant coach for the team’s Academy sides. Hailing from Frankfort, Ill., Matkovich’s first job with the Fire was as head coach of the Chicago Fire PDL from 2002-06. He held assistant coaching positions with Toronto FC in 2007 and with Percovich at Chivas USA in 2008.

For Percovich, 43, this will be his second season as an assistant coach with the Fire.

A native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Percovich is a former Copa Libertadores and Uruguayan First Division champion who joined Toronto FC as an assistant coach in 2009, after serving as a goalkeeper coach with the Colorado Rapids and Chivas USA.

Klopas, the team’s first technical director from 2008-2011, was appointed interim head coach in late May after a 1-4-6 start led to the firing of coach Carlos de los Cobos. The Fire finished the season 8-5-10 under Klopas, narrowly missing the playoffs.

The Fire open the season Mar. 17 in Montreal and will host the Philadelphia Union at Toyota Park in their home opener on Mar. 24.

The Chicago Fire will appear on national television 13 times during the 2012 season which opens March 17 in the home opener for the expansion Montreal Impact.

This will mark the longest Major League Soccer season with the final played on Dec. 1. The season begins five days earlier than in 2011. Last year's final was Nov. 20.

With the expansion Impact giving the league 19 teams, MLS is switching to an unbalanced schedule while keeping the regular season at 34 games per team.

The Fire's home opener is March 24 at Toyota Park against the Philadelphia Union.

The Fire will appear on national broadcast partners NBC, NBC Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN Deportes and Galavision.

Just seven MLS games conflict with FIFA fixture dates, when many star players are away with national teams: Chicago at New England (June 1); Los Angeles at Columbus; Portland at Toronto and Houston at Vancouver (Aug. 15); Portland at Colorado (Sept. 5); Salt Lake at Houston (Sept. 6); and Chivas USA at Seattle (Sept. 8).

The Chicago Fire will play in their earliest regular-season home opener when they kick off their 2012 Major League Soccer campaign.

The Fire and other MLS teams announced their 2012 home dates on Tuesday, and Chicago hosts a match at Toyota Park on March 24. Opponents and time slots will be announced at a later date.

It marks the second straight year that Chicago has hosted a March home opener. The Fire topped Sporting Kansas City, 3-2, on March 26 this past season at Toyota Park.

The Fire's earliest Chicago-based game to date included a 4-0 win over SJ Jabloteh on March 24, 2004, in a CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal match in front of 6,143 at Soldier Field. Dipsy Selolwane had two goals and an assist for the Fire as they won the series on aggregate, 6-5.

Over their previous 14 seasons, the Fire have posted an 8-3-3 record in home openers.

Chicago is coming off its second straight playoff-less season. The Fire were 9-9-16 (43 points) in 2011 after posting a late-season surge but winding up several points outside of a postseason berth.

The 2012 MLS season features 19 teams and a 34-game regular-season schedule. The Montreal Impact joins the league, and head coach Jesse Marsch's side hosts its home opener on March 17. The Houston Dynamo opens its new 22,000-seat stadium on May 12.

2012 MLS home opener dates:
Week 1
Saturday, March 10: Colorado Rapids, D.C. United, Los Angeles Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Sunday, March 11: Chivas USA, FC Dallas
Monday, March 12: Portland Timbers

Week 2
Saturday, March 17: Sporting Kansas City, Montreal Impact, Real Salt Lake
Sunday, March 18: Philadelphia Union

Week 3
Saturday, March 24: Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution, Toronto FC
Sunday, March 25: New York Red Bulls

Week 10
Saturday, May 12: Houston Dynamo (new stadium opener)