Chicago Fire FC (2-7-5, 11 points) fell 3-2 to Toronto FC (4-7-3, 15 points) at BMO Field on Saturday night. The Fire finished the match with 33 shots taken, the most in Club history, after outshooting Toronto FC 27-3 in the second half.
Despite a strong first half in which they outshot (6-2) and out-possessed (57.3% - 42.7%) Toronto, the Fire entered the halftime interval down 1-0, following a 13th minute finish from Deandre Kerr. The goal marked the second of the season for Toronto’s rookie striker.
After creating a string of chances to begin the second 45, Chicago would eventually draw level when Designated Player Xherdan Shaqiri clipped a ball into the box for defender Carlos Terán, who powered his header home from close range in the 52nd minute (WATCH). The goal marked the first of the season for Terán and the second of his MLS career.
Moments later, Shaqiri would notch another assist, combining with midfielder Gastón Giménez to create a golden opportunity for forward Kacper Przybyłko. The Polish forward intentionally struck his attempt off the ground and into the back of the net to notch his third goal of the season (WATCH), while Shaqiri notched his team-leading sixth assist.
However, Toronto would respond with two goals in seven minutes courtesy of Spanish midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo. The Designated Player converted a controversial penalty kick in the 71st minute, before burying a shot from just outside the 18-yard box to give the hosts a 3-2 lead in the 78th minute.
NEXT MATCH: Following a two-week break due to the FIFA window, the Fire will return to league play on Saturday, June 18 at Soldier Field against D.C. United. Beginning at 7:00 p.m. CT, the match will be nationally televised on UniMás, TUDN, Twitter (English audio), and Univision Radio. Tickets to the match are available for purchase here.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #CF97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Notes:
- Shaqiri tallied two assists in a single game for the second time this season (prev: 3-1 win vs. Sporting Kansas City on 3/19/22).
- Shaqiri has now tallied four assists in the team’s last four matches.
- Giménez recorded his second assist of the season, and the sixth of his MLS career.
- Head coach Ezra Hendrickson made four changes to the starting lineup for tonight’s match against Toronto FC.
- Winger Jairo Torres made his first career start for the Fire. Torres previously appeared as a substitute in the team’s last three matches as he regained match fitness following an injury.
- Forward Kacper Przybyłko made his first start since April 23, while captain Rafael Czichos also returned to the starting lineup after missing last weekend’s match due to an injury.
- Partnering with Czichos in central defense, defender Carlos Terán notched his third start of the season with defender Wyatt Omsberg sidelined due to health and safety protocols.
Box Score:
Toronto FC 3:2 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
TOR - Kerr (2) (Jimenez 3) (WATCH) 13’
CHI - Terán (1) (Shaqiri 5) (WATCH) 52’
CHI - Przybyłko (2) (Giménez 2, Shaqiri 6) (WATCH) 66’
TOR - Pozuelo (3) (penalty) (WATCH) 71’
Discipline:
TOR - Pozuelo (Yellow Card) 31’
CHI - Przybyłko (Yellow Card) 62’
CHI - Shaqiri (Yellow Card) 74’
CHI - Terán (Yellow Card) 80’
TOR - Westburg (Yellow Card) 86’
TOR - Priso (Yellow Card) 88’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Slonina, D Sekulić, D Terán, D Czichos ©, D M. Navarro, M Giménez, M F. Navarro (Gutiérrez, 86’), M Mueller, M Shaqiri, M Torres (Herbers, 75’), F Przybyłko (Durán 83’)
Subs not used: GK Mišković, D Bornstein, D Espinoza, M Casas Jr., M Ivanov
Toronto FC: GK Westberg, D Salcedo, D O’Neill (MacNaughton, 46’), D Petrasso, D Thompson, M Bradley ©, M Osorio (Nelson, 12’), M Kerr, F Jimenez (Shaffelburg, 67’), F Pozuelo (Priso, 82’) , F Akinola (Perruzza, 82’)
Subs not used: GK Bono, D Chung, M Antonoglou, M Achara
Stats Summary: TFC / CHI
Shots: 5 / 33
Shots on Goal: 4 / 9
Passing Accuracy: 72.9% / 81.7%
Corners: 1 / 8
Fouls: 5 / 9
Offsides: 0 / 9
Possession: 37.6% / 62.4%
Attendance: 25,906
Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.
Assistant Referees: Chris Wattam, Gianni Facchini
Fourth Official: Pierre-Luc Lauziere
VAR: José Carlos Rivero, Jeremy Hanson
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
On how the team lost that match…
“I wish I could tell you. You know, it's just us, again, shooting ourselves in the foot and that's a questionable PK call. Once again we get another PK called against us that is very, very questionable, and I don't know why this is happening. But beyond that, we played very good football tonight, probably the best we've looked (all season). We finally started to get guys on the pitch, and we find a way to lose this game. It's beyond me at this point. That's not a game we should lose at all.”
On the team producing one of its best performances of the season but still falling short of three points…
“Well, it's kind of what's happened the last three or four games, just individual mistakes, individual errors. We are trying to dribble out of traffic. We talked about that at halftime, we need to get from one side to the next by playing quickly, not dribbling through the middle. Playing the ball quickly. And we don't do that, we lose it, and they come down and score right off that turnover.
So that's an individual mistake. That's just not being disciplined. That's not staying within the game plan. We have a way of playing, a style of playing, and it doesn't call for dribbling through the middle of the pitch. That's just not how we play. We wanted to switch the point of attack against this team because we saw that was a weakness against them, and we were doing that well. But the minute we decide we want to dribble through traffic, it hurts us. And then again, like I said, that PK call, to me, it looks shoulder-to-shoulder, but that's the way it goes sometimes. We’re just not getting the calls on our behalf, and for whatever reason, I don't know. But I'm getting fed up with it.”
On how much of a concern is this loss…
“Well, it's for us as a staff to make sure that these guys stay confident and it's going to take showing them film of us playing good football, but also showing them of us making silly errors. You know, doing things that is not within the game plan. That's what hurts more than anything is when we go out of our game plan, we get ourselves in trouble. But yet, we find a way to do it.
We have to stay confident. This team is going to be a good football team. We've just got to believe in ourselves, believe in that, believe in what it is that we are doing and just cut out some of these individual errors. If we cut those out, and continue to build and continue to progress like we have, I think we'll be fine. But the winning and getting the points and not losing points, at some point that has to start because we're slipping away from the rest of the group, and that's not what we're trying to do.”
Chicago Fire FC Defender Miguel Navarro
On how the team lost that match…
“I'm not really sure. It was an incredible game. Sometimes football is like that; it's unjust. We have to keep working hard and look over everything. It was really incredible. But like I said we have to keep our heads up and keep working hard and keep moving forward so that we can get points.”
On how the upcoming FIFA break can benefit him and the rest of the team…
“Yeah, it's not a break so much because I'm going to be training and I'm going to train. But you could say it's kind of like a mini-break, a mini-camp, and it will be good so that we can clear our heads so that we can prepare for games better. It was a good game. Unfortunately the three points weren't with us today but being able to go with the national team, like you said, I'm going to be able to gain experience and hopefully I can then bring that experience back with my teammates and we can get those points that we've let slip by.”
On what the team needs to do to reverse this winless streak…
“Yes, clearly we are passing through some uncomfortable situations that I'm sure no MLS team wants to go through a streak like this one. But what you do, the way that you get out of it is by working hard and facing forward. Today, the team had a different type of attitude for sure. We went out there and we really dominated the game from beginning to end. We had good passes.
But one of the things, also, is having confidence in oneself and in your teammates, looking up, if you make a bad pass or you make a bad play, continue to go move forward and work hard together. So like I said before, getting out of this streak is going to happen by working hard, and moving forward in the direction that we want to go as a team.”
On why the team hasn’t been able to grind out results as of late…
“I think we kept the same plan and the same scheme of things. We always want to keep the ball, we always want to go forward and we always want to create chances and make plays. Sometimes you grind it out. There are games that are won by hitting the long ball or going up for the second ball or going into all of the duels. But the team has not really changed its game plan and what you need sometimes, the same thing that happened when we were grinding it is attitude, confidence in your teammates, and just going out there and knowing what you're going for. So we're going to continue to do that and continue to keep working hard.”