David Ousted made four saves, and the Chicago Fire escaped Banc of California Stadium with a 0-0 draw against LAFC on Saturday night.
The clean sheet was just the second Chicago (2-4-4, 10 points) has kept this season, against an LAFC side that still leads the Supporters’ Shield race with the league’s best record after the draw.
Coach Veljko Paunovic’s side also snapped a two-match losing skid, though the Fire are now scoreless in three matches since a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on April 20.
LAFC (7-1-3, 24 points) were held scoreless for a second time in four matches, and have won just once in their last four after going 6-0-1 to open the season. Their total of 26 goals is still five more than any other MLS club has scored this season.
Coach Bob Bradley’s side is now two points ahead of the rival LA Galaxy for the highest total in MLS, with the Galaxy holding a match in hand.
The hosts bested Chicago 22-9 in overall shots and 5-1 in terms of efforts on target.
Steven Beitashour appeared to give LAFC the lead in the 53rd minute when he ran onto Mark-Anthony Kaye‘s ball over the top and slotted it beyond Ousted. But Beitashour was ruled offside on the play.
There was little in the way of clear-cut chances after that. The most notable moment of the final half-hour came in the 79th minute, when outside back Francisco Calvo came on for his Fire debut. Chicago acquired the Costa Rican from Minnesota United on Friday in exchange for at least $400,000 in allocation money.
Before halftime, LAFC came closest to scoring in the 28th minute through Jordan Harvey. First off a corner kick, Nemanja Nikolic cleared Harvey’s redirection off the line, as well as Christian Ramirez‘s follow-up attempt. Then only moments later, Ramirez’s flick-on set up another open look for Harvey, but he flashed a header wide.