Agony to Ecstasy to Agony as Fire Drop Home Opener

BRIDGEVIEW, IL–It was agony after 45 minutes, then ecstasy after 82 minutes, and then agony at the final whistle as the Fire came from 2-0 down to go up 3-2, only to come from ahead to drop a 4-3 decision to Sporting Kansas City. The Fire are now 0-6-3 in opening matches this decade.

Sporting KC went up after just nine minutes as Graham Zusi made a run into the box to feed Johnny Russell. Richard Sanchez made the initial save on Russell, but Felipe Gutierrez headed in the rebound. A minute before halftime, Roger Espinoza found Daniel Salloi making a run down the left flank and Salloi found Russell through a few Fire defenders at sea to double Sporting’s advantage.

The Fire, who had just one shot all first half, came to life in the second half and were rewarded in minute 70 as Bastian Schweinsteiger made a run into the box and sent a cross to Aleksandar Katai who headed in his first for the Fire. 

Four minutes later, Katai sent a corner into the box. Dax McCarty’s header was initially saved by Tim Melia, but Nemanja Nikolic had a tap-in for the rebound and the equalizer. 

The Fire took the lead eight minutes from time as Matt Polster sent a cross to Brandon Vincent who set up Nikolic for a point-blank finish from five yards out to make it 3-2. 

That lead lasted only 102 seconds as the Fire got lazy in defense. Espinoza sent a ball into the box and Sanchez came out to deny Gerson Fernandes a chance, but was at sea as Jimmy Medranda put in the rebound to make it 3-3. 

Four minutes from time. Russell got in between two Fire defenders and set up Salloi who set up Gutierrez for his second of the night and the eventual match-winner. 

Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic noticed a lack of one thing in defense on Saturday night:

“Concentration,” said Paunovic. “I think lack of awareness but that’s the whole team. I’m not saying [Matt] Polster, Johan [Kappelhof], [Christian] Dean, Brandon [Vincent]. All of us. We all have to do a better job defending because if we’re not consistent this is what is going to happen. We can score a lot of goals. We proved that in the past and we did it today. But if we don’t defend well. If we commit those innocent mistakes, it’s just going to come back over and over again. So, as I said, we worked on this the whole preseason but we still have to keep working. Again, a lot of positives but it’s time to turn on the red light and start working hard.”

For Fire captain Dax McCarty, the Fire need to figure things out defensively to change the headlines.

“Credit to us for the reaction in the second half, we showed character, obviously,” said McCarty. “But it was ultimately, you look at the game and it’s a very frustrating day at the office. You want to set the tone for the season in the right way, you want to win the game. You’re ten minutes away from the headline and the story line being, ‘Chicago Fire showed great character and make a fantastic comeback, won the game 3-2.’ Yet here we are, sitting here somehow losing that game, which is insane, it’s totally insane. That’s what it is, it’s on all of us to make it better. It’s not just the defenders, the goalkeeper; it’s us as a team, the coaching staff, it’s all of us to try to figure out what we’re going to do defensively because we were all over the place defensively.”

The Fire travel to Minnesota United next Saturday. Kickoff is at 1pm and streamed on MLS Live. 

SCORING SUMMARY:
SKC-Felipe Gutierrez (unassisted) 9
SKC-Johnny Russell (Salloi, Espinoza) 44
CHI-Aleksandar Katai (Schweinsteiger) 70
CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (unassisted) 74
CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (Vincent, Polster) 82
SKC-Jimmy Medranda (unassisted) 83
SKC-Felipe Gutierrez (Salloi, Russell) 86

BOOKING SUMMARY:
SKC-Tim Melia (caution, time wasting) 33
CHI-Johan Kappelhof (caution, reckless tackle) 36
CHI-Bastian Schweinsteiger (caution, unsporting behavior) 50
SKC-Ilie Sanchez (caution, reckless foul) 56

CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1):  #45-Richard Sanchez; #2-Matt Polster (#25-Jorge Corrales 90+3), #4-Johan Kappelhof, #26-Christian Dean (#28-Elloitt Collier 88), #3-Brandon Vincent; #6-Dax McCarty, #12-Tony Tchani; #9-Luis Solignac, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #10-Aleksandar Katai (#5-Kevin Ellis 85); #23-Nemanja Nikolic

Subs not used:  #30-Stefan Cleveland, #13-Brandt Bronico, #19-Mo Adams, #22-Jon Bakero

SPORTING KANSAS CITY (4-3-3):  #29-Tim Melia; #8-Graham Zusi, #3-Ike Opara, #5-Matt Besler, #15-Seth Sinovic (#94-Jimmy Medranda 69); #21-Felipe Gutierrez, #6-Ilie Sanchez, #17-Roger Espinoza; #20-Daniel Salloi, #14-Khiry Shelton (#12-Gerson Fernandes 55), #7-Johnny Russell (#10-Yohan Croizet 90+3)

Subs not used:  #1-Adrian Zendejas, #22-Emiliano Amor, #26-Jaylin Lindsey, #19-Christian Lobato, #10-Yohan Croizet, #94-Jimmy Medranda

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 13-16 SKC
SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 5-8 SKC
FOULS:  CHI 9-18 SKC
OFFSIDES:  CHI 4-1 SKC
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 3-1 SKC
SAVES:  CHI 4-2 SKC

Referee:  Jose Carlos Rivero
Assistant Referees:  Jeremy Hanson, Logan Brown
4th Official:  Fotis Bazakos
VAR:  David Gantar
Weather:  Partly Cloudy and 38º
Attendance:  14,021
Man of the Match:  Felipe Gutierrez (SKC)