Chicago Fire FC (8-11-8, 32 points) fell 4-0 against D.C. United (9-12-6, 33 points) at Audi Field on Saturday night.
D.C. scored three goals in the first half, with Designated Player Christian Benteke opening the score in the eighth minute. Benteke then assisted on a goal from Ted Ku-Pietro in the 20th minute and created the play that ended with the third of the match in the 40th minute, which bounced off Chicago defender Carlos Terán’s foot and into the goal. Benteke scored a second goal in the closing moments of the match to seal the win for the home side.
With the result, Chicago moved into 10th place in the Eastern Conference, one point below the playoff line, while D.C. United climbed into ninth place. After playing three matches in the last seven days, Chicago will now have a two-week break in League play due to the upcoming FIFA international window.
NEXT MATCH: Coming out of the international break, Chicago will return to MLS action with a road match north of the border against CF Montréal. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Sept. 16 at Stade Saputo and fans can follow all the action live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. The match will also be transmitted locally in English on wlsam.com and in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #CF97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Notes:
- Striker Kei Kamara played in his 415th MLS career match, placing him in fourth place on the all-time appearance list.
- Defender Jonathan Dean (left upper leg), midfielders Chris Mueller (right upper leg) and Javier Casas Jr. (right lower leg), and forward Victor Bezerra (right lower leg) were not available for tonight’s match due to injury.
Box Score:
D.C. United 4:0 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
DC - Benteke (9) (Klich, 8) (WATCH) 9’
DC - Ku-DiPietro (5) (Benteke, 4) (WATCH) 21’
DC - Terán (Own Goal) (WATCH) 41’
DC - Benteke (10) (Durkin, 2) (WATCH) 90+1’
Discipline:
CHI - F. Navarro (Yellow Card) 20’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Souquet, D Terán, D Czichos (capt.), D Aceves (M. Navarro, 59’), M F. Navarro (Doumbia, 27’), M Giménez, M Herbers (Torres, 58’), M Gutiérrez, M Haile-Selassie (Shaqiri, 46’), F Kamara (Koutsias, 65’)
Subs not used: GK Richey, D Pineda, D Omsberg, F Przybyłko
D.C. United: GK Bono, D Najar, D Birnbaum (capt.), D Williams (Hines-Ike, 24’), D Davis (Santos, 78’), M Ku-DiPietro Fajardo, 73’), M Pirani, M Klich, M Canouse (Durkin, 78’), F Benteke, F Dájome (Ruan, 78’)
Subs not used: GK Zamudio, D Pines, M Asad, F Hurtado
Stats Summary: DCU / CHI
Shots: 11 / 13
Shots on Goal: 4 / 2
Saves: 3 / 1
Passing Accuracy: 84.7% / 85.8%
Corners: 2 / 5
Fouls: 13 / 13
Offsides: 2 / 0
Possession: 49.3% / 50.7%
Attendance: 16,075
Referee: Sergii Boiko
Assistant Referees: Jeffrey Greeson, Kevin Klinger
Fourth Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
Assistant VAR: Jeff Muschik
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Frank Klopas
Overall thoughts on the match…
“Yeah, I mean, just disappointing, obviously. What else can you say? It was a massive game, like it is. We talked about just the importance of every game. Implications in every match, playoff implications. We've been on this slide and we can't get ourselves out of it. Overall, if it was just one word to describe everything, (it) would be just - two words, huge disappointment.”
On what the team needs to do to prepare for the match against CF Montréal…
“Well, obviously a hard look at everything. We have this break now before we play. I mean, obviously we're going to miss some guys that are away with the national team. But it's an opportunity where we have to look at ourselves and evaluate ourselves and really understand what it's going to take in every match, the kind of commitment that it's going to require if we want to achieve the goals.
You know, every point now is crucial. The task ahead of us becomes even more difficult with every point we drop. You know, we are going to a place now against a team that we're fighting for the playoffs. Every match is like do-or-die right now.
Regroup. Get back on the field. Train hard. Prepare well and at the end of the day make sure that we go out there and have confidence to play better and to find ways to obviously put our chances away, but also defend well. Because if we are giving up three or four goals per game, then we have no chance to even think about playoffs.”