Chicago Fire FC (4-9-5, 17 points) fell 2-1 against the San Jose Earthquakes (4-7-6, 18 points) on Sunday night at PayPal Park in San Jose, California. Homegrown midfielder Brian Gutiérrez scored the first goal of his Major League Soccer career in stoppage time, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the two second-half goals from San Jose.
San Jose applied pressure early in the second half, scoring in the 47th minute off a shot by Kikanović after a series of four rebounds inside the box. The scoring play began when Gaga Slonina saved the original shot from Jamiro Monteiro, then Marcos Lopez’s shot hit the crossbar. The rebound fell to Cristian Espinoza, whose first shot was blocked by Rafael Czichos. Espinoza recovered the ball and struck again, hitting the post. That rebound fell to Benji Kikanović, who reacted in time to touch it into the net.
Kikanović scored his second goal of the seasonin the 87th minute, just one minute after referee Victor Rivas determined that an action against Czichos in the box was not a foul using VAR. Monteiro won the ball near midfield and sent Kikanovic up the right flank. He cut around his defender and sent a ball inside the far post, just past the outstretched hands of Slonina.
The Fire eventually got on the board in 90+5th minute with a goal by Gutiérrez’s coming off a counterattack, after fellow second-half sub Jhon Durán recovered a ball in the Fire’s half. Durán carried the ball and played a perfectly-weighted pass into the box where Gutiérrez was making a run behind the defense. He faced San Jose goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski one-on-one, sending the ball on the ground under the goalkeeper and into the open net.
Throughout the match, Chicago goalkeeper Gaga Slonina logged a season-high six saves, increasing his season total to 37.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns home to host the Columbus Crew on Saturday, July 9 at Soldier Field. Beginning at 7:00 p.m, the match will be televised on WGN-TV and CF97 Live, and transmitted locally in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #CF97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Notes:
- Slonina made a season-high six saves against San Jose, the first time he has made at least five saves in an MLS match since making five saves against Orlando City on April 9.
- Brian Gutiérrez scored his first Major League Soccer goal against San Jose, and forward Jhon Durán registered his second assist of the season.
Box Score:
San Jose Earthquakes 2:1 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
SJ - Kikanović (1) (WATCH) 47’
SJ - Kikanović (2) (Monteiro 5) (WATCH) 87’
CHI - Gutiérrez (1) (Durán 2) (WATCH) 90+5’
Discipline:
CHI - Mueller (Yellow Card) 27’
CHI - Giménez (Yellow Card) 42’
SJ - Marie (Yellow Card) 63’
SJ - Kikanovic (Yellow Card) 73’
SJ - Lopez (Yellow Card) 75’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Slonina, D Sekulić (Espinoza, 62’), D Terán, D Czichos ©, D Bornstein (Reynolds II, 46’), M Herbers (Torres, 72’), M F. Navarro, M Shaqiri (Gutiérrez, 62’), M Giménez, M Mueller, F Przybyłko (Durán, 77’)
Subs not used: GK Richey, F Bezerra, M Casas Jr., M Ivanov
San Jose Earthquakes: GK Marcinkowski, D Marie (Thompson, 74’), D Nathan, D Beason, D Lopez, M Yueill ©, M Gregus (Judson, 79’), M Monteiro, F Espinoza (Salinas, 90+5), F Ebobisse, F Kikanovic
Subs not used: GK Bersano, M Remedi, M Skahan, D Agren, F Bpuda, F Cowell
Stats Summary: SJ / CHI
Shots: 22 / 18
Shots on Goal: 8 / 6
Saves: 5 / 6
Passing Accuracy: 80.9% / 70.9%
Corners: 4 / 5
Fouls: 11 / 17
Offsides: 2 / 0
Possession: 55.5% / 44.5%
Attendance: 13,224
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Ian Anderson, Micheal Barwegen
Fourth Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Younes Marrakchi, Tom Supple
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
On the status of Xherdan Shaqiri…
“He's fine. He just had a little hip injury but I don't think anything major. Still has to be seen, but I don't think anything major. We just wanted to make sure that it didn't get worse, whatever it is, that was bothering his hip.”
On the takeaway from the match against San Jose…
“Well, it's disappointment. When you are on the road and you create chances like we did in the first half, some clear chances like that, a couple of them alone with the keeper, you've got to put those away. When you don't, stuff like this happens because we definitely gave ourselves opportunities to put this game out of reach in the first half and we just didn't take them.
That's something that has been plaguing us all season. We have just 16 goals so far this season. But this game was lost in the first half, not putting them away when we had the chance to.”
On what was lacking in the match and how the team can try to find consistency from game to game…
“What was missing is just our finishing. We created good chances, especially in the first half to put the game out of reach, and we did not.
When you are on the road like that and you get those opportunities, you don't know when the next one is going to be and so you have to make use of them. We are just not efficient in the box right now. We are getting there. I think our buildup in the first half, our play was good, we were moving the ball, breaking lines, getting in the box and we just didn't finish our chances. They had their chances and they finished the two that they needed and they came out victorious.
But when I say consistency, it's issues like this that we have to deal with. When we win a game like that, a big game like that at home against Philly, and then we come here and have an opportunity to really put the game out of reach and we don't, that's the stuff we need to improve on, being more consistent at winning games.”
On whether there is any consideration to making changes at the top for the next match…
“I'll sit down with the coaches and we'll definitely talk about going forward what we need to do, especially in the immediate with this game coming up this weekend. That's something we'll discuss among other things.
But we need to get some wins. We need to put guys on the pitch who are going to help us get those wins. We'll decide that in the next few days, how we're going to come out next weekend.”
On Brian Gutiérrez’s scoring his first MLS goal, Gaga Slonina making big saves and Chris Brady winning the Gold Glove at the 2022 Concacaf Men’s U-20 Championship, and what that means about what’s being done in Chicago to develop young talent…
“It's been great. Brian Gutiérrez is someone that has big potential. His ceiling is very high, and he's nowhere close to hitting his ceiling right now and it's good to see the way he's improved and developed. He's just a good footballer.
I think we all know Gaga is just a very good goalkeeper. He showed that again tonight because when he had to come up big, he did. There were some times we broke down in the counterattack and he came up big for us. And Chris is also a good young keeper that's in the ranks.
So it's good to have those two keepers in the ranks, and then a player like Guti and even a Jhon Durán who came on, I thought played well in the 15 minutes or so he got.
So that's good for the future of the Fire to see that these guys are stepping up and playing well. But it's something that this club is really trying to do as far as developing our young talent. We have a number of Homegrown guys signed that we are trying to develop and get better and that's something that we'll continue to do.”
On the thought process behind starting Fabian Herbers instead of Brian Gutiérrez…
“I think being on the road, we think Herbers is right now maybe a little more disciplined defender than Guti. So we wanted to make sure that we were secured on the wings as far as being able to get up and back.
But that's just a decision that we thought, you know, on Wednesday, Fabi played well and we thought we would go back with a similar lineup, and we just made that one change with Bornstein coming in for Andre on the left back. Other than that, we wanted to go with a similar team than we started with on Wednesday.”
Midfielder Brian Gutiérrez
On balancing the emotions of scoring his first goal but the team losing against San Jose…
“I mean, it's a good milestone for me, but obviously we didn't get the three points that we wanted tonight. That's the most important for the team, and we just want to bounce back and keep on winning these games, upcoming, at home. Three big home games, and we need to win them all.”
On whether it feels like there is a weight off his shoulders after scoring his first goal…
“For sure it's a big weight off my shoulders like you said. Just looking forward to many more games and impacting, for me and my team, and just trying to win games as much as possible and reach the playoffs.
On whether he dedicates this goal to anyone…
“To my family. They are the most important thing that I have. All the sacrifices and support they gave me throughout the years and growing up, this is for them.”
On balancing the emotions of proving himself as a pro, and a good pro, but the team is not really succeeding…
“Just taking it day-by-day, like motivating myself and my teammates, and trying to be the best pro I can be and helping my teammates succeed and helping the team succeed to get these points. I know we are not in the best situation right now, but I think this team and the mentality we have is just to keep looking forward and trying to win the most games as possible and to reach the playoffs.”