Real Bad: Chicago Fire 0, Real Salt Lake 4

The Fire hosted Real Salt Lake, looking to begin a three-game homestand on the right foot. A week earlier, they were unable to capitalize on being up a man for more than a half, settling for a goalless draw in New York against the Red Bulls.

Instead, the Fire were struck by multiple disasters, both on the pitch and in the boxscore, as they lost to Real Salt Lake 4-0 marking their worst defeat of the season and the third time in four matches that the team failed to find the back of the net.

Even if the scoreline wasn’t a familiar one, the means of the defeat – careless back passes, unmarked men off corners, and letting skilled players have time and space in dangerous areas – is painfully well-known to Fire fans.

It was a disheartening result for the Fire who hoped to capitalize on the home crowd to break out of an offensive slump where the team's only goal from open play in the prior three matches came during their last home game, off the foot of Brian Gutiérrez who was slated to get his first start after beginning that game as well as the match in New York on the bench.

The start wasn’t to be. Brian Gutiérrez was injured in pregame warmups for the Fire, spoiling the chance of a repeat of his last home performance.  It would just be a harbinger of things to come.

Gutiérrez’s injury was just one of several forced lineup improvisations for both squads. For the Fire, Carlos Terán got the nod with Tobias Salquist in concussion protocol. Gutiérrez’s injury caused Fire Head Coach to rejigger his XI, bringing on Federico Navarro for his first start of the season. This pushed Fabian Herbers up to the wing, and Chris Mueller switched to play on the right wing, inverting from his natural position.

On Real Salt Lake’s side, injuries left the team without any natural center backs, forcing Head Coach Pablo Mastreoni to get creative, deputizing Bryan Oviedo and Bode Hidalgo, both nominally fullbacks, to the position. Mastreoni chose, however, to give 18-year-old Gavin Beavers his second start of the season instead of the veteran Zac MacMath, a sign, perhaps, that he didn't expect dynamite from the Fire's expensive – though recently ineffectual – offense.

From the kickoff, the game was scrappy, with players on both sides seemingly unafraid to go for a foul. Despite the physical play, both sides had chances in the early going, but neither was able to capitalize. For Salt Lake, it was Chicho Arango who would find shots blocked or see his chances go wide. In the 16th minute, a fairly innocuous long ball for Salt Lake became a chance when Arnaud Souquet misread the play forcing Brady to stumble over him as he tried – and failed – to corral the ball, giving Chicho Arango the ball in a dangerous spot, but he couldn't convert.

For the Fire, Chris Mueller found himself in on goal on two occasions in the opening half hour. Each time, playing on the opposite of his natural side forced him to take shots off his weaker left foot, and the results were ineffectual shots that became easy work for the Salt Lake keeper.

Still, those chances seemed to push the balance in favor of the home side, but just when it seemed like the Fire were gaining definitive momentum, Alexandros Katrinis played a cross to the young, talented Andrés Gómez just outside the top of the penalty arc who sent it flying into the back of the net, giving Real Salt Lake the lead.

A few minutes later, more bad luck struck the Fire when an apparent muscle injury to Xherdan Shaqiri forced him off for Georgios Koutsias, leaving the team without a natural #10 central attacking midfielder in the lineup. Two injuries on the night, one, so far, on the match, and the  changes forced the Fire to play  out of an unfamiliar dual striker setup in a 4-4-2.

After play restarted, the next opportunity would be the Fire’s, as Kellyn Acosta took a shot from distance that challenged Beavers but was ultimately saved.

The chance would not be the start of something. In the 33rd minute, a careless back pass towards, presumably, Rafael Czichos, who was in the same ZIP code as the direction of the pass but not particularly near it, was picked up in the box by Chicho Arango who buried it for his seventh goal of the season and gave him pole position for the league golden boot race.

He wasn’t finished. Just four minutes later, Arango was inexplicably left unmarked off the back post during a Real Salt Lake corner, giving him an easy shot for his eighth goal of the season and putting his side up by three goals with the hosts still looking for their first goal in over 120 minutes of play in league matches.

Although the hosts had little momentum after going down by three, Georgios Koutsias used a skilled bit of footwork to earn the Fire a corner deep in first-half stoppage time. The ball made its way to Federico Navarro at the top of the box, who, instead of pushing the ball forward, elected to play it back to Brady in the last action of the half as boos rained down from the 14,247 assembled at Soldier Field.

That would end his night, as he was substituted off at half for Gastón Giménez after concerns regarding a knee injury – the Fire's second casualty of the match, and third on the night including Gutiérrez's injury in warmups.

On the restart, both teams had looks on the opposing goal but neither were able to break through as the momentum seemed balanced between the two sides, but that was little consolation with the Fire down by three goals.

In the 58th minute, Cuypers had his best chance in the past few matches when he took a shot from inside the box, but it was saved by Beavers.

Two minutes later, the Fire’s bad night would get worse. Gastón Giménez took to the ground with an apparent hamstring injury and had to be stretchered off, becoming the fourth Fire player to be stricken since the start of warmups, and third since the start of the match causing the Fire to bring on Tom Barlow in his stead.

The result was more disjointed Fire lineup, with three natural strikers on the pitch in Cuypers, Koutsias and Barlow, but only one natural winger and no one experienced at being a creative playmaker. Kellyn Acosta had seen two of his defensive partners leave with injuries since the start of the match.

Though they muddled through most of the second half, the Fire were unable to muster an effective response. They almost had a goal in the 87th minute when Georgios Koutsias shot the ball into the back of the net, but the play was ruled offside.

Shortly thereafter, Real Salt Lake had yet another dagger on the night, when Diego Luna – who had been taken out of Real Salt Lake’s starting lineup after a dip in form – scored a goal deep in second half stoppage time to push the game from "out of reach" to "worst result on the season."

The final reads Real Salt Lake four, Fire nil, with the Fire still looking for their first goal since Brian Gutiérrez’s strike two weeks ago, but the deficit goes deeper with the injuries to so many key Fire players.