In a game between two teams that aren’t really going anywhere this season, the story of the game is less about what’s happening on the pitch and more about what’s going on off of it. But, there was still a 2-2 draw played out between the Chicago Fire and DC United, so let’s actually check what happened on the pitch first.
The first half felt like it was mostly dominated by DC United until about a half hour in. DC’s only real chances in the first half were a 7th minute breakaway from Nigel Robertha after a bad giveaway and the Frederic Brillant header off of the following corner kick. The 32nd minute was when the Fire got their goal from a pinpoint header off Gaston Gimenez. Their star striker, Robert Beric, attempted to double the lead in his own way in the 39th minute. But instead of heading the ball, he simply rammed into Bill Hamid to get him to drop the ball and was obviously called for the foul.
Chicago stayed in control to start the second half, although Yordy Reyna got a chance in the 53rd minute when a parried shot landed in front of him near the top of the box; but Watt Omsberg was there to get in front of the shot. In the 61st minute, we got a good look at Chicago’s newest star when Miguel Navarro smacked a shot off of Andy Najar’s legs, sending it into the bottom near corner of the net before Hamid could even react. Things would not stay good for the Fire. In the 82nd minute, Kevin Paredes was left completely unmarked at the top of the box. His shot went uncontested as the Fire defense screened Bobby Shuttleworth and the ball bounced in off the back post. In the 87th minute, Ola Kamara converted on a penalty after Bornstein was just a touch late on a tackle inside the box. The game would end 2-2.
Here’s what we learned.
Needs More Spice
Probably the biggest thing to notice on the pitch was that there was nothing really much to notice. Neither team felt truly aggressive. While the Chicago Fire were able to push the game forward again with Alvaro Medran getting his touches and passes in, the final pass never felt like it was there. And for DC United, they held a solid portion of possession in that first half hour of the match, but they didn’t really do anything with it.
As I said, this was a game between two teams that really didn’t seem like they were ready to do anything. And the final score showed that, with neither defenses finding a way to stop the other despite fairly pedestrian offensive performances from either side. Even the stats were even to the point that it’s hard to say either team had an advantage, which is concerning to see if you’re the home team.
How Endings Start
I get that closing out a game is hard. You’re tired, you’re trying to just run out the clock so that it can be over. And, understandably, that means that there’s gonna be some mental weakness late in the game. This is the third game this season that the Chicago Fire have dropped a lead or lost a game after the 75th minute. It’s also the second time they’ve blown a 2-0 lead, although the first time it was blown less than 10 minutes after they gained it.
But this game was different in that the Fire made the same mistakes over and over. There were three separate situations that looked exactly the same and they did not make any tactical changes to solve it to the point that it finally led to a goal in the 82nd. The entire defense would collapse in on the goal, leaving the top of the box open for whoever was there.
At some point, this team has to start figuring out who to make these sort of mid-game adjustments instead of just sticking with the same plan all the way through, especially when the opposing team is noticing and exploiting that opening.
Make No Little Plans
For the longest time, every single comment I saw about “fixing the Chicago Fire” from people who weren’t fans of the Fire went along these lines: Move out of Bridgeview and into the city and rebrand the team. The argument was that it would make games more accessible to new fans in the city and would “modernize” the club. So… that was a lie.
The reported attendance for this match was 8,306, although there’s rumors that the actual number was less than 5,000. As someone there, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that low. While it is a mid-week game, it’s indicative of the way this team looks to the rest of Chicago. It’s not about being a “football town” or a “tired brand”. It’s about the fact that the Chicago Fire aren’t playing like they’re in Chicago. They look like the Chicago Blackhawks from before the massive rebuild starting in 2007, a team with no presence in the city. In just three years of genuine work to build a team, the Blackhawks were suddenly everywhere in Chicago.
People make the problem of Chicago soccer sound harder than it actually is. There is a strong soccer community in the city. Maybe a lot of it is people who care about the Premier League or Liga MX more than MLS, but those soccer fans exist and have filled Soldier Field before. It’s on Joe Mansueto to put a team on the pitch that is going to get people to show up. Otherwise, we will continue to see attendance plummet further.
“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work.” – Daniel Burnham, the man who helped rebuild the City of Chicago after the the Fire of 1871.