Chicago Fire vs Vancouver Whitecaps: Five Things We Learned

The Chicago Fire had their unbeaten streak broken last night, as they lost away to the Vancouver Whitecaps by a 3-2 scoreline.

The hosts opened the scoring, with Kei Kamara pouncing to a loose ball in the Fire penalty area. Chicago were able to tie the game before the end of the half, with Nemanja Nikolic tapping in a low cross from Kevin Ellis. The Whitecaps pulled away in the second half, however, scoring twice to start the second half. The men in red pulled one back from Tony Tchani late, but couldn’t find the equalizer, and were not able to salvage a result on the night.

Here are five things we learned from the contest:

A Reality Check

The Fire had been in decent form coming into the game, but the loss may have served as a much needed reality check. Chicago played right into the hands of the Whitecaps, as the men in red controlled possession, only to get smoked on the counter attack time and time again. Alphonso Davies was particularly dangerous, dancing by the Fire defense time and time again. Vancouver also did well to stifle the Chicago attack, as the away side never created much on the ball. The midfield was the biggest disappointment, as the trio of Bronico, McCarty, and Schweinsteiger never really got going. It might have just been a bad day at the office, but the result still proves that the Fire are still far off from being one of the elite teams in MLS.