Chicago Fire FC 1-2 New England Revolution:
CHICAGO, IL–Much like chances to score on the pitch, the Fire continue to spurn chances to move up the standings and above the red line. Teal Bunbury rolled back the years to give New England a 2-1 win at Soldier Field. For the Fire, they slump to their fifth loss in their last seven matches while the Revs bounce back from their midweek loss to NYCFC and move up to fifth in the East.
The visitors’ good fortune started in the third minute after Francisco Calvo’s clearance was blocked Adam Buska. Tommy McNamara then sent a cross to Bunbury who beat former Revs keeper Bobby Shuttleworth far post for the early lead.
The Fire got some good fortune of their own in the 22nd minute after Miguel Navarro’s scuffed shot found Fabian Herbers who scored from close range. Yet despite 17 shots, only six were on target and the Fire continued to spurn chance after chance.
By chance, it would be Bunbury whose attempted cross went sailing into the net past Shuttleworth in the 54th minute. It was Bunbury’s third goal in five matches. It was also just the second of three shots on goal on the night for the Revolution, yet it proved to be the match winner.
Fire head coach Raphael Wicky is not ready to question things just yet with his team.
“Look, I’m sitting here again and I have to say the same thing, if we wouldn’t create, if we wouldn’t have a plan, if I wouldn’t see that the guys are trying and actually playing well, I would have to doubt and I would have to say I question things,” said Wicky. “That’s not the case in my eyes, so I will have to say the same thing over: we have to keep working and keep believing in what we do. We are creating chances, we are a good team and we have to keep doing that. But as well, of course, we have to be more demanding with ourselves and not giving up such easy goals as well; when we have the chances, we have to finish them. But yeah, I’m not going to start questioning everything if I see a performance like tonight.”
The Fire will look to finish Phase 1 of the return to regular season action with a win against Columbus Crew SC. The kickoff has been moved up to 2:30pm on Saturday to accommodate Univision.
SCORING SUMMARY:
NE-Teal Bunbury (McNamara) 3
CHI-Fabian Herbers (Navarro) 22
NE-Teal Bunbury (unassisted) 54
BOOKING SUMMARY:
NE-Diego Fagundez (caution, reckless tackle) 36
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-Bobby Shuttleworth; #2-Boris Sekulic, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #5-Francisco Calvo, #6-Miguel Angel Navarro; #30-Gaston Gimenez, #10-Alvaro Medran (#40-Brian Gutierrez 89); #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski (#3-Jonathan Bornstein 89), #7-Ignacio Aliseda, #21-Fabian Herbers (#27-Robret Beric 59); #28-Elliot Collier (#14-Djordje Mihailovic 69)
Subs not used: #24-Connor Sparrow, #36-Andre Reynolds, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #16-Micheal Azira, #13-Brandt Bronico
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-3-1-2): #30-Matt Turner; #15-Brandon Bye, #2-Andrew Farrell, #19-Antonio Delamea (#4-Henry Kessler 46), #28-Alexander Buttner; #10-Teal Bunbury, #8-Matt Polster (#11-Kelyn Rowe 78), #14-Diego Fagundez (#6-Scott Caldwell 69); #26-Tommy McNamara (#70-Cristian Penilla 56); #7-Gustavo Bou, #9-Adam Buksa (#17-Tajon Buchanan 77)
Subs not used: #18-Brad Knighton, #13-Michael Mancienne, #24-DeJuan Jones, #21-Kekuta Manneh
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 17-9 NE
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 6-3 NE
FOULS: CHI 8-10 NE
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-4 NE
CORNER KICKS: CHI 5-3 NE
SAVES: CHI 1-5 NE
Referee: Robert Sibiga
Assistant Referees: Peter Balciunas, Benjamin Hall-Volpenhein
4th Official: Ismir Pekmic
Video Assistant Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Weather: Sunny and 81º
Man of the Match: Teal Bunbury (NE)
