Outclassed: Chicago Fire 1, San Diego FC 2
CHICAGO, Ill. — The Chicago Fire's home field struggled returned tonight against San Diego FC. The Fire welcomed more than 27,000 fans to Soldier Field to face Hirving "Chucky" Lozano and San Diego, but fell flat on their faces in a 2-1 loss.
Gregg Berhalter described Tuesday’s Open Cup quarterfinal loss to Minnesota as a “worst-case scenario” as the 10-man Fire were dragged through 120 gruelling minutes of action, including extra time. Several players entered the lineup having played major minutes against the Loons, including Andrew Gutman and Jack Elliott, who played all 120.
Amidst a quiet Soldier Field caused by a supporter’s end protest for the first ten minutes, the visitors struck first. MVP frontrunner Anders Dreyer was the perpetrator, with San Diego’s high press pouncing on a poor Chris Brady clearance in the eighth minute of play.
The Fire failed to provide a response in the first half, and lacked energy in all facets of their game. Mikey Varas aimed to shut down the Fire in transition, and it worked, as they struggled to generate any chances throughout. Their best opportunity came in the dying minutes of the first half, when Jonathan Bamba flashed a shot far wide of the near post.
Moments later, San Diego punished them. The SoCal team marched down the field on a quick counter attack, funnelling the ball to Lozano, who provided his ninth assist of the season for Dreyer’s 11th goal.
The Fire had a better second half, but never flipped the momentum enough for it to get them back into the game. Rominigue Kouamé replaced Sergio Oregel as a halftime substitute, making his return to action for the first time since June 7th. The left-footed midfielder looked solid, but was not enough of a creative influence from his deep-lying role to change the outcome.
The biggest chances to come back came through Hugo Cuypers. The Belgian had a poor game and missed both a one-on-one opportunity in the second half and a powerful header that was saved by Pablo Sisniega. In the 87th minute, he finally got a reward, knocking in a header from a Maren Haile-Selassie corner to cut the lead down to one.
After the Cuypers goal, the Fire finished strong, but it wasn't enough to force in an equalizer. Seven minutes of stoppage time came and went, and the Western Conference-leading San Diego stayed atop their perch. The Fire, who had entered the night in 9th place, dropped out of the playoff places and below Charlotte into 10th at the time of the fulltime whistle.
Player Ratings
Starting XI (4-2-3-1) — Brady (5); Gutman (6.5), Elliott (5.5), Rogers (6.5), Barroso (6); Pineda (6), Oregel Jr. (5.5); Bamba (5), Gutiérrez (5), Zinckernagel (7): Cuypers (5.5)
Substitutes — Kouamé (6.5), Dean (6), D'Avilla (6), Haile-Selassie (7.5), Barlow (NR)
