In the final 15 minutes, they played for the draw and got it.

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando made his two saves in the second half and everyone held their breath through the final Fire assault before being able to leave Toyota Park with a 0-0 tie.

The tie gave RSL a record of 6-6-6 overall and a 1-6-1 mark on the road. With the other results from the league Saturday, RSL remained in first place in the Western Conference with 24 points.

"I think it was a just result," said RSL coach Jason Kreis, who watched the game from inside the stadium while serving the second game of his two-game suspension for his comments following the July 3 game at Houston. "I think we played a fantastic first half, and in the second half we did what we had to do. The mentality of the team was to go after the three but one would be good as well. One would be a success."

"I think this is another game we could have won on the road," Rimando said. "I didn't have to do anything in the first half. In the second half, we turned them away."

At the five-minute mark, RSL became aggressive and almost scored in the eighth minute when former Fire midfielder Andy Williams used the fake-and-shoot technique to put a shot at goal. It glanced off the crossbar and over.

Soon after that defender Chris Wingert dribbled hard down the right side, ran past a Fire defender and sent a cross to midfielder Kyle Beckerman, whose shot went wide right.

In the 10th minute, Javier Morales sent a corner kick into the box where forward Yura Movsisyan put his head on it but it was sent directly into the belly of Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch.

After playing 66 minutes without a shot on goal, the Fire attacked hard in the final third of the game, but Rimando wouldn't let anything get by in the final minutes.