Nothing Earthshaking: San Jose Earthquakes 1, Chicago Fire 0
Any ounce of existing Chicago Fire momentum died with a quiet whimper tonight as the Men in Red stumbled to a 1-0 loss against the last-placed San Jose Earthquakes.
The Fire had rallied from 3-1 down late to win 4-3 against the Philadelphia Union last Wednesday but could not build on that moral victory against a hapless Quakes team, to whom they handed their first shutout of 2024.
A stoppage time red card against Philadelphia meant the Fire would be without head coach Frank Klopas against San Jose, so assistant coach Paulo Nagamura took over for the night. The ex-Houston Dynamo manager brought Chris Mueller into the lineup as a right wing back following an impactful second half on Wednesday, as well as DP Gastón Giménez, who wore the captain’s armband.
Despite an encouraging appearance against the Union, Mueller’s addition to the team from the opening whistle did very little to help the Fire. He looked lost and a shadow of the player who had been a true game-changer in the previous match. A slow first half saw the Fire muster just one shot on target, coming from an in-form Hugo Cuypers, but the group collectively mustered just 0.18 xG in the first 45.
Failure to jump to a strong start hurt the Fire in the second half, and San Jose pounced almost immediately coming out from the locker room. Mueller lost track of Hernán López when Cristián Espinoza played a long ball over the top, leaving the Argentine to score one-on-one from close range.
The Fire grasped at half-chances for the remainder of the half, but looked tired and lacking ideas. Though they put together eight total shots, none really seemed to threaten William Yarbrough in goal. Despite visibly looking shaky throughout the full match, the Fire totally failed to take advantage of San Jose’s struggling 35-year-old goalkeeper and a Quakes backline that had shipped 30 goals in their last 10 games.
Now, the Fire face a tremendously difficult schedule before the MLS season pauses for Leagues Cup. They’ll face 5th placed NYCFC on Saturday (in their final home game before Miami on August 31st), league-leading FC Cincinnati away the following Wednesday, and then Inter Miami themselves on Saturday, July 20th.
For a team already three points out of a playoff spot, things are only going to get trickier, particularly when they can’t make the most of nights like tonight.
