Chicago Fire 1-1 Real Salt Lake
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–Ever been on a job hunt where you land an interview, you prepare well, you go through the interview very well, you feel you’ve done everything very well throughout the interview process; yet it does not result in the job offer and the subsequent job? Something similar can be said of the Fire where they defend well, they produce chances, they are doing most things well if not everything; yet they do not score the goals and subsequently get the wins.
Case in point, Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake before the largest crowd of the season at SeatGeek Stadium (15,609). The Fire get off to a great start as Aleksandar Katai sent a low free kick past the wall and past Nick Rimando after just five minutes to give the Fire the lead. That was the Fire’s only shot of the first half.
Let’s fast forward to something Fire captain Dax McCarty said after the match.
“The margin for error right now for us is so thin because we’re not just getting the bounces. When the margin for error is this thin as it is for us, it just seems like everything we try to do in the attacking third is not coming off. And then conversely, when the other team has an attacking chance on us, they just bury it,” said McCarty.
Such is the thin margin for error that RSL received a penalty after Mo Adams handled a ball with no opposing players near him in the 31st minute. Albert Rusnak converted the spot kick to level things at 1-1. RSL would have just two shots after that penalty while the Fire would have six.
The closest the Fire would get was in the 89th minute when Nick Rimando made a stretching save on Przemyslaw Frankowski.
“The whole season after the huge effort and after creating a lot of opportunities and missing those, the team suffers,” said Paunovic. “We believe a lot of things well. We improved in defense. We had a pretty good showing defensively and kept our goal safe. Unfortunate play on a penalty kick and that happens in the game.
“Definitely, the team does much more than what we get back. We will continue. There is no other recipe than to stay focused, work together, and focus on the next game. Most importantly, focus on ourselves to get better and not lose the faith.”
After 17 matches this season, the theme has been frustration and that club expects more from itself.
“I think we’re all a little bit disappointed, a little bit frustrated with the first half of the season,” said McCarty. “We expect more. Let me put it as simple as I possibly can: we expect more out of ourselves in this locker room and I know that there’s more out there for us. Not the result we wanted tonight, definitely a frustrated locker room again, which has kind of been the little bit of the theme of the season. Got a little bit of momentum there a couple weeks back and then it’s kind of, you know, it’s dissipated a little bit and now that big break and losing in the Open Cup and now drawing, it feels like we’ve got to get going again. Look, I know that there’s frustration in the locker room, outside the locker room, you know, we expect more of ourselves and we have 17 games to make it better.”
Meanwhile, while Paunovic lamented how his team was suffering, RSL head coach Mike Petke hailed how his team was resilient after going a goal down early.
“Resiliency and the composure to fight back was great. We had a lot of the ball in the first half to create our opportunities,” said Petke. “It was an obvious penalty kick and then for me, the balance of the team was the strength of our team tonight. Not leaving gaps, specifically centrally with the balance between Kyle and Everton and then when Nick came on. With a good attacking team like Chicago where they were able to connect a lot of passes, I thought our balance was good to deny them. But it shows that we have the resilience to go down early then fight back into the game. Maybe we got stretched trying to find the goal, but tonight was good.”
The Fire travel to New Jersey to take on New York Red Bulls on Friday night at 7pm CT on UniMas while RSL return home next Saturday to face Sporting Kansas City.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Aleksandar Katai (unassisted) 5
RSL-Albert Rusnak (penalty kick) 33
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Mo Adams (caution, reckless foul) 15
RSL-Everton Luiz (caution, persistent infringement) 35
CHI-Bastian Schweinsteiger (caution, tactical foul) 90+3
RSL-Nick Rimando (caution, dissent) 90+4
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #27-Kenneth Kronholm; #13-Brandt Bronico, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #2-Marcello, #25-Jorge Corrales; #19-Mo Adams (#11-Przemyslaw Frankowski 46), #6-Dax McCarty; #10-Aleksandar Katai, #21-Fabian Herbers (#33-Jeremiah Gutjahr 78), #20-Nico Gaitan; #23-Nemanja Nikolic (#9-CJ Sapong 63)
Subs not used: #1-David Ousted, #15-Grant Lillard, #12-Amando Moreno, #33-Jeremiah Gutjahr, #17-Diego Campos
REAL SALT LAKE (4-2-3-1): #18-Nick Rimando; #22-Aaron Herrera, #15-Justen Glad, #14-Nedum Onuoha, #4-Donny Toia; #5-Kyle Beckerman (#13-Nick Besler 82), #8-Damir Kreilach; #25-Everton Luiz, #11-Albert Rusnak, #23-Sebastian Saucedo (#12-Brooks Lennon 70); #17-Corey Baird (#50-Sam Johnson 75)
Subs not used: #51-Andrew Putna, #30-Marcelo Silva, #19-Luke Mulholland, #21-Tate Schmitt
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 7-7 RSL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-2 RSL
FOULS: CHI 18-17 RSL
OFFSIDES: CHI 3-1 RSL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 5-1 RSL
SAVES: CHI 1-1 RSL
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Assistant Referees: Philippe Briere, Kyle Longville
Fourth Official: Joe Dickerson
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 80º
Attendance: 15,609
Man of the Match: Aleksandar Katai (CHI)
Chicago Fire
Real Salt Lake
