I had been warned in the press box covering my first Chicago Fire game at Soldier Field that this team tends to blow leads, and they continued their reputation by giving up a goal in the 89th minute for the 1-1 equalizer.
Head Coach, Ezra Hendrickson said, “We just have to get people on the pitch, who are going to man up in situations like this when the game is on the line and say, “My man is not going to be seen. We are never lose this game because I let my man go free the box.” Because it's ridiculous now.”
The Red Bulls subbed Cory Burke off the bench for Tom Barlow in the 57th minute. Burke, who notoriously scores against the Fire, made an impressive entrance with a header on goal during his first 30 seconds on the pitch. Cory capitalized on another header to tie up the match with an assist from John Tolkin.
“We're at home, a minute or two left to go. They get a corner and we lose our mark. Once again. We are just going to have to spend a good, maybe a whole training session just defending corner kicks, because we're just horrible at it,” said Hendrickson.
Chicago struggled in the last twenty minutes to hang onto their 1-0 lead as the Bulls shifted momentum and began to control the majority of possession. The Fire became sloppy as the Red Bulls countered them with more aggressive plays in their final third.
Captain, Rafael Czicho said, “We want to make the playoffs, we have to stop only defending when we are leading the game.”
Saturday night was the third time this season and the second time at home that fans watched the Fire blow a three-point game with careless defending in the final moments.
Despite having limited subs, Xherden Shaqiri still coming back from an injury and five yellow cards against Chicago, Hendrickson blamed the tie solely on their inability to defend set pieces.
Ezra said, “It's early in the season, yes, but these points are crucial. And it's not like we're out of these games. We're in these games. We put ourselves in a position to win these games. But that commitment at the end has to be there.”
“We are frustrated. We're losing points, especially at home. We're still undefeated. But, every game here feels like a loss. It's happened numerous times. I think we have to think about our mindset when we lead a game. I think it's not right, only to defend after and not to work for the second or third goal,” said Rafael Czichos.
Although, it seemed as if the Chicago Fire were having defensive lapses the entire game while under high pressure. It was just less obvious in the first half while the Fire controlled possession.
The Bulls hit the crossbar in the 19th minute. A goal that early could’ve brought down morale at Soldier Field.
Chicago was also getting caught with a high line as John Tolkin weeded through balls to the midfield and caused the Fire’s back four defenders to get out of position with dangerous crosses overhead.
However, the Fire also had some good opportunities in the first half that fell short. Goal scorer of the night, Kei Kamara, noted that they should’ve put away their chances. Chicago had a 4-3 break in the 44th minute, but with poor spacing couldn’t find the proper angles to create a goal-scoring chance in the final third.
“I got a goal but it should’ve been a couple more goals. We’ve been building from the first game and trying to maximize the points,” Kamara said.
Chicago will be the underdog next Saturday with a 22% expected winning probability. They will have to take advantage of key moments in the final third and keep forward momentum going for the entire 90 minutes to clinch three points.
