Chicago, Illinois –
Being up 2-0 after 30 minutes was not enough for Chicago Fire FC, who gave up three goals in the second half en route to a 3-2 loss to Charlotte FC at Soldier Field.
After Chicago was whistled for two fouls in the opening two minutes, giving Charlotte control, the Fire opened the scoring.
Xherdan Shaqiri made a run from midfield to the edge of the penalty area that made its way around to Brian Gutiérrez on the right side. After a few passes around the area, the ball made its way back to Gutiérrez who took a shot that was deflected into the air. The shot was corralled by Mauricio Pineda, who took three dribbles and hammered a left-footed shot into the far corner to give the hosts the 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest.
Charlotte would not allow Chicago to relax, nearly scoring a goal of their own in the 5th minute. Brandt Bronico ripped a shot from the left side of the penalty area that forced Gabriel Slonina into a diving save. The rebound fell perfectly to Karol Swiderski but his shot was right at Slonina and lacked any pace.
After both sides had exchanged possession, Chicago found Jhon Durán sneaking behind the Charlotte defense in the 10th minute. Durán took control of the ball at the edge of the Charlotte penalty area but his shot failed to test Kristijan Kahlina, who made an easy save.
Despite being down 1-0 after 20 minutes, Charlotte possessed the ball for more than 70% of the opening portion of the match.
After winning his team a short corner kick after being fouled in the 22nd minute, Swiderski played a dangerous ball into the Chicago penalty area only for it to be cleared away by Durán, thwarting that Charlotte chance.
But just as Charlotte was about to find their footing, Chicago doubled their lead.
Gutiérrez made a half-field pass over the top of the defense that found Boris Sekulic in stride down the right flank. Sekulic collected the ball at the edge of the penalty area and layed a pass off to Durán who turned and took a left-footed shot that beat Kahlina near-post to make it 2-0 Chicago in the 30th minute.
Things then got chippy in the 37th minute after Durán tackled Bronico in the open field. Bronico then shoved Durán after the play, so they were both assessed yellow cards.
Charlotte again almost scored, this time off of a corner kick in the 41st minute. Kerwin Vargas’ feed from the corner found Derrick Jones at the far-post. Jones got every piece of his header and the shot bounced off the post, maintaining Chicago’s 2-0 lead going into halftime.
Charlotte would come close to scoring, but they were their own worst enemies in the build up. Swiderski would find the back of the net in the 49th minute but after VAR took a look at the play, it was determined that Bronico fouled Kendall Burks in the buildup, negating the Charlotte goal and keeping that match at 2-0.
It was nearly a 3-0 match in the 61st minute. Shaqiri brought the ball into the Charlotte penalty area before it made its way to Christopher Mueller. Mueller made a run to the end line before laying off a pass intended for Durán in the middle of the penalty area that was cleared away by the visitors.
After what appeared to be a handball on Charlotte, the visitors found themselves with a corner kick in the 69th minute. The corner ended up bouncing off the head of Adilson Malanda directly to the left foot of Swiderski, who rocketed a shot into the net to make it 2-1 with just over 20 minutes remaining.
That wouldn’t be all for Charlotte.
Khalina played a ball over the top that found substitute McKenzie Gaines in stride down the right side. Gaines played a hard pass across the penalty area that fellow-substitute Nuno Santos knocked into the net to level the match in the 76th minute.
Charlotte tried to take the lead in the 86th minute, however Yordy Reyna’s shot from a set piece sailed over the bar, keeping the match at 2-2.
The Fire had a dangerous set piece of their own a minute later that was won by Chris Mueller. Shaqiri took the shot on from 22 yards and just missed the near-post.
Five minutes into stoppage time, Charlotte FC secured all three points. After the ball bounced off the crossbar, Swiderski collected it in the penalty area. His first shot was deflected back to himself and Swiderski tapped the ball into the net to give Charlotte the 3-2 lead, their first lead of the game, in the 96th minute of the match.
Swiderski’s two-goal brace was his third of the season, raising his goal total to eight in MLS.
Both sides took 14 shots, with Charlotte bettering Chicago six to four on shots on target.
Charlotte’s playoff hopes are still alive with three matches remaining. The expansion side currently sits at 10th in the eastern conference standings with 38 points.
The loss eliminated the Fire from playoff contention, as they currently sit 12th in the eastern conference with 35 points and just two matches remaining on their 2022 schedule. The Fire become the fourth team in MLS history to miss the playoffs five consecutive years after Toronto FC (2007-2014), Chivas USA (2010-2014), and Houston Dynamo (2017-present).
It’s hard to explain how the Fire could for a second time this season at home drop a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2.
“It’s just us not wanting it enough,” said Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson. “Before I even answer that, I just want to apologize to our fans. They had to go through that a second time this year in a game this important, that we can put ourselves in a good position to extend at least another week, a couple of weeks, extend our playoff hopes. And we just come out of the second half and just decided we’re not going to defend, we’re not going to play disciplined and just do whatever we want. And so, I apologize for that, because that’s not good enough.
“As far as how it happened. It’s just them wanting more than we did and it’s not acceptable. I’m very upset, I’m very disappointed right now. That 45 minutes, the second half, that wasn’t a good enough team, I thought, all right. All across the pitch in the second half, we just did not stick to the game plan. You know, guys weren’t playing their roles. You know, we have certain guys whose roles are to do certain things. You know, guys are not defending when they should, guys were not playing the ball when they should. It was just like 11 individuals out there in the second half. Even against the Columbus game, I didn’t see that. You know, Columbus played a really, really good second half and beat us. Tonight, we just self-destruct.”
The Fire have two weeks before their next match against FC Cincinnati with a 6:30pm CT kickoff on WGN-TV.
