Columbus Crew 3, Chicago Fire 0 | Player Ratings

In an absolutely spineless performance, the Fire lost 3-0 to the Columbus Crew courtesy of a Cucho Hernández hattrick within the first 23 minutes, followed up by a Xherdan Shaqiri red card to put the team’s playoff hopes on the brink of dying out. Here is a recap of the Fire’s performers.

*Players are listed in the order they lined up, followed by substitutes in the order they appeared

Starting XI

Chris Brady (6) – The Fire’s best-worst performer on the night, Brady gave away a penalty in the eighth minute of the game, setting the tone for the rest of the match. Brady made two saves, and that’s about all the positives I have, but in reality, most of the players have no positives, so Brady comes out on top.

Alonso Aceves (5.5) – Getting a full 90 minutes at left-back, Aceves could not stop the onslaught from coming but looked better than some of his teammates in the back line. Aceves won 75% of his tackles (only three total), made seven defensive actions total, and had a relatively decent passing accuracy compared to the rest of his team

Rafael Czichos (5) – Czichos, as both the captain (at kickoff) and as a defender, did not do enough in this match from either perspective to help the Fire not look mediocre. Although he is a fan-favorite and a personal favorite of mine, the leadership in the past month has not been good enough, and the team that had playoff hopes and looked as if they should make it comfortably is completely gone. Czichos had three defensive actions and engaged in a singular duel before being substituted for Carlos Terán in the 46th minute.

Mauricio Pineda (5) – As a starting center back, Mauri got swamped with defensive duties from the get-go and did not do well enough to try and get Columbus out of the 18-yard box. Pineda was limited to six touches on the ball and eventually subbed off due to injury for Wyatt Omsberg in the 29th minute.

Arnaud Souquet (4) – After getting dusted to lead directly to the first pen, and individually giving away the second pen, not much else can be said about Souquet’s performance. His yellow card also means he has hit his accumulation suspension, so he will not be in action on Saturday. Souquet was substituted for Jonathan Dean at the 46th minute.

Gastón Giménez (5.5) – In his 57 minutes played, Gastón showed a bit of hustle to win the ball back against Columbus’ overwhelming pressure, but he could not do much else besides two tackles and a 67% long ball accuracy from his 30 total touches. Gastón was eventually substituted for Fabian Herbers.

Ousmane Doumbia (5) – Although he is not known for the spectacular, Doumbia had his quietest match yet, doing relatively little when compared to his previous performances this season. Doumbia was limited to two interceptions and two ball recoveries, making zero tackles over 90 minutes.

Jairo Torres (4) - The Fire’s best-ever DP signing continued his hot streak of 33 Major League Soccer games without a goal contribution by doing nothing worth mentioning. Jairo has looked completely lost since joining from Atlas, and it becomes evidently clear with every passing game that Chicago is not the place for him. After posting a 54.5% pass accuracy over 70 minutes, he was substituted for Kacper Przybyłko.

Xherdan Shaqiri (2.5) - Shaqiri was handed the captain’s armband in the 46th minute following the departure of Rafael Czichos, and immediately started leading by example by getting sent off (40 minutes after the score was already 3-0). The league’s second-highest-paid player helped lead the Fire further into their goal-scoring drought of over 400 minutes and did nothing but try and chip Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte from close range despite having Georgios Koutsias open for a tap-in. Miami get Messi, Columbus get Rossi, Cincy get Lucho, we get this guy.

Maren Haile-Selassie (4.5) - Potentially playing his worst game for the Fire yet, Maren did not do anything of major note, generally just being a bystander while the team conceded three and then fell on their face. A 33% dribble success rate and zero accurate long balls were the only stats of note.

Georgios Koutsias (5) - Starting in place of Kei Kamara, Koutsi showed effort up top, which unfortunately is not a given anymore. His pressing was there when the Fire finally started kicking the ball around after 30 minutes, and he took on some defenders one-on-one, which again, is not a given anymore.

Substitutes

Wyatt Omsberg (5.5) - Coming on for Pineda in the 29th minute, Omsberg did the best he could have done as a substitute coming on when already 3-0 down. Omsberg did post a 93.1% pass accuracy but was unable to do anything else due to how little of the ball the Fire saw.

Carlos Téran (5.5) - Appearing as a substitute for Czichos in the 46th minute, like Omsberg, there really was not much Téran could have done to leave any impression on this game, but that is neither of the aforementioned players' faults due to their positions and scoreline when they entered the field.

Jonathan Dean (5.5) - The third defender to enter the field after being down 3-0, Dean did what he was subbed on to do. Defend. Dean passed well (88.9%) and entered into four duels.

Fabian Herbers (5.5) - Replacing Giménez in the 57th minute, Herbers could not generate anything out of midfield during his stint on the pitch.

Kacper Przybyłko (5) - Coming on as a sub for Jairo Torres in the 70th minute, Kacper racked in a whopping nine touches and failed to make any impact.

Manager

Frank Klopas (5) - In terms of personnel, you can only play the hand you are dealt. The subs did not make much sense, however, and in terms of leadership, what are we doing behind the scenes? This squad is in pieces, and it looks like the Fire may not score again this season. Every game, the playoffs get farther and farther away, and if we were to make it, do we even deserve it? Where did the team that went on a six-game unbeaten run go? These are the same guys who beat St. Louis twice in one week? Frank has done a lot for this club and did a great job in providing a glimmer of hope in a season that looked over shortly after it started, but I believe the best interest for this team would have been to get a manager in and have them begin preparation for next season.