The Chicago Fire broke out to an early lead over Real Salt Lake on Saturday at Toyota Park. A defense that bent but refused to break saw the Men in Red close out the home opener with a win.
Nemanja Nikolic opened the scoring for the Fire, on a strange play that looked offside, initially, but was not called so by the referee. From the Chicago Fire’s website, this one, was a tough one to spot:
Well spotted, Referee!
That goal and another by Arturo Alvarez was enough for the Fire to cut off the engine and coast to a victory. Despite having the majority of possession for the match, Salt Lake simply looked incapable of scoring.
Takeaways from the match for the Fire and Salt Lake.
Chicago Fire:
Shane Murray offered a nice summary of takeaways via this tweet:
Five takeaways from @ChicagoFire's 2-0 win over RSL. Four points from two games is a great start for #cf97. Here's to building on it. pic.twitter.com/Scfaypw8WN
— Shane Murray (@SMurrayMedia) March 12, 2017
To add, the entire back line put in a great effort. Brandon Vincent looked fantastic on the left side. Even Michael Harrington had a decent day, by most accounts.
Harrington’s passing and distribution left something to be desired, but his defensive positioning was good enough that he didn’t seem to be a burden to his team.
Speaking of right back…
From a Fire press release: “Additionally, trials have ended without contract offers for Chad Barson and Ryan Taylor.” #cf97
— Danny Santaromita (@TheDanSanto) March 13, 2017
In light of recent developments, Harrington and Doody will have to do.
We’ll see how the back line holds up against Atlanta United’s attack in the next game. Surely it will be their biggest test, so far.
Real Salt Lake:
#RSL has taken 29 shots in their 2 games. Only 4 have been on goal... #RSLStats
— Charles Barnard (@ccb1212) March 12, 2017
Yikes. Real Salt Lake needs to find their offensive mojo, ASAP. As mentioned, they managed to own possession, yet still never really seemed to threaten.
RSL registered a single shot on target. They seemed to be out of ideas on how to attack, settling for cross after cross after cleared out cross.
My #RSL hot take: Sit all the veterans and start all the kids. If we are going to suck for a while, I’d rather suck with a future.
— Jeremy (@raulz801) March 12, 2017
Some of the U-20 Concacaf Championship winning kids like Brooks Lennon and Justin Glad were not available for the contest. Danny Acosta and Sebastian Saucedo were on the bench, but never made it on the field.
Know that the future is bright with those lads. Hopefully, Coach Jeff Cassar just wanted to get them some extra rest before the next match.
Match Highlights from Chicago Fire’s Website.
Next: New Rules for Refs in 2017 MLS
A couple of lucky goals were the difference today. Still, the Fire had the resiliency to sit on that lead and not give up the clean sheet.
Real Salt Lake will look to rebound against a struggling LA club. If they can get some of their U-20 kids back into the lineup, especially Brooks Lennon, it might open up things offensively for them.
The Chicago Fire, meanwhile, will need their back line to keep progressing to avoid the problems that Atlanta’s torrid attack can create. I would hope that the offense gets closer to truly clicking, too. Onto next week!