July 30, 2014 - 8:19 PM
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Traction remains hard to come by for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Wednesday's 0-0 Major League Soccer draw with Chicago at Toyota Park was the Whitecaps' 11th of the season and fourth straight.
Still Vancouver coach Carl Robinson, whose team is now 6-4-11, 29 points, wasn't entirely displeased with the effort.
"We're disappointed because I think it was a game we could have won," he said. "(But) the boys showed a lot of blood and guts and thunder, they couldn't have given me any more effort.
"We'll take the draw because the performance, the effort was there and we move on."
Each team managed just two official shots on goal, one in each half.
For Chicago (3-5-12, 21 points) the draw was a league-leading 12th, just four away from the all-time MLS record of 16 shared by the Fire and New York Red Bulls.
"I thought we did well tonight other than maybe winning the game, maybe the most solid we've looked," said Fire coach Frank Yallop, the former Canadian national team chief now in his first year with Chicago. "We limited a pretty potent team to a couple of chances. (But) we didn't look as dangerous as I think we've looked at home at times."
The Whitecaps had an opportunity in the 49th minute when a sprinting Erik Hurtado crossed directly in front of Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson but couldn't find a target.
Hurtado had both of Vancouver's shots on goal.
Fire forward Mike Magee's free kick in the 64th minute following a yellow card on Whitecaps defender Johnny Leveron was bottled up in traffic.
Wednesday's game was only the fifth all-time meeting between the teams and third in suburban Chicago. The Whitecaps were coming off a record 30 shots while rallying to a 2-2 result with FC Dallas last Sunday.
Vancouver hasn't won since a 1-0 decision over Seattle on July 5 and have just two victories since June 1.
They remain winless in Chicago with a loss and two ties.
Vancouver is idle until Aug. 10 when it hosts Sporting Kansas City.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014