Fire Misery Continues with Loss to Revolution

CHICAGO,IL–Whether it’s confidence or just getting the ball into the back of the net. Something is missing for the Chicago Fire in the recent bunch of matches. The last time the Fire scored a goal extends through four matches and another 12 minutes (372 minutes). It’s not the longest in franchise history, but it’s getting there with each match.

The Fire seemed to have the play in its favor over visiting New England, but lost 1-0 at Soldier Field on Saturday night.  The match itself was delayed at the onset by weather with lightning that pushed the kick-off back 50 minutes.

“I thought the mentality was good,” Chicago Fire head coach Frank Klopas said. “I thought everything with the effort was there with the guys. Besides corners, we got in the final third and we had 22 crosses. At the end of the day, I expect one-in-a-half goals. It’s not that we didn’t push the game. It’s not that we didn’t create, it’s not the right moments; we did! Yes, we’re going through a difficult moment. I know that and we’ve been working on the pitch with certain crosses, final third, finishing all that stuff this whole week.”

For the team and the coaching staff, the work effort seems to be there but the missing touch for the final moment for scoring is the missing ingredient. Still, the club is trying to keep things together.

“When you go through difficult moments, the important thing is that you’ve got to stick together,” Klopas said. “You’ve got to believe, because in moments like this you get stronger as a team. It’s not about pointing fingers and we’re in this thing all together. If I thought the effort, the mentality was there with the effort, it would be a different story. It seems like nothing is going our way. We pushed the game enough to get a goal and we didn’t, That’s the game, (New England) took a chance they had and scored. I thought we were the better team over 90 minutes, but it doesn’t show it.”

New England (2-7-1, 7 points) got the only goal they needed in the 62nd minute of play. Tomas Chancalay fired a shot from about 25 yards out that found the back of the net. The Fire (2-5-4, 10 points) had some chances around the Revolution goal, but only a few opportunities on the goal throughout the match.

“The team, we fought and did everything,” Xherdan Shaqiri said. “In games like this one, you’ve got to score. The only thing we didn’t do was to score a goal. When you don’t score against a team like this one. We need to regroup now with a few games coming up. The best thing is to win games now. I hope we can work a lot in training this week to do things better. The quality is here to bring it in the games.”

Chicago Fire will be on the road next weekend traveling for St. Louis City FC Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT, while New England plays at the New York Red Bulls at 6:30 p.m. ET.