Photo: Julie Jackson
COLUMBUS, OH—Chicago Fire FC’s fortunes will not turn for the better overnight, but it is matches like this that will make fans wonder if they are going to turn at all. A wonder strike by Darlington Nagbe was sandwiched between two defensive lapses by the Fire to give Columbus a 3-0 win to keep them unbeaten in regular season play. The Fire drop to 1-4-1 on the year and have been outscored in their last three matches, 7-0.
Przemyslaw Frankowski had a chance to put the Fire ahead in the 17th minute, but shot wide. Three minutes later, Milton Valenzuela found an oncoming and unmarked Derek Etienne Jr. for the Crew’s opening score.
The Fire had their chances, but were all denied by a well-organized Crew defense and goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell who made three saves on the night.
Darlington Nagbe made the most of his chance in the 81st minute. He would tee it up and rocket one past Bobby Shuttleworth from 30 yards out to put the Crew up, 2-0. Seven minutes later, another defensive breakdown allowed Gyasi Zardes to make amends for a missed penalty before halftime.
“I don’t know if it’s a lesson,” said Fire head coach Raphael Wicky. “Personally, I don’t think it’s a 3-0 game. I think we struggled in the first 15 minutes. It took us a while to come into the game. I feel the team actually stepped up, created chances, created good moments, very good moments.
“So, if on both ends of the field, we are not 100 percent, then it will be difficult. I think we put this team, which is one of the best of the league under a lot of pressure. We put them into danger. There were a lot of stretches in my eyes where we played really well, but then the lesson was that they were very clinical and we were not.”
“The lesson is, and again, it’s the same what we spoke about in Orlando. The last thing is that we need to be better in finishing our chances because we create chances, every single game we create chances. We need to be better in finishing them and then it’s too easy, the 1-0 is clearly too easy. It’s one long ball and there is a goal. That cannot happen. It’s too easy.”
While it is arguably a small sample in a season as unusual as this one, the early returns for the Chicago Fire are not encouraging at all. They will need to make amends on Tuesday as they make their long-awaited return to Soldier Field to take on FC Cincinnati. Kickoff is at 6:30pm CT on WGN-TV.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CLB-Derek Etienne (Valenzuela) 20
CLB-Darlington Nagbe (Zardes) 81
CLB-Gyasi Zardes (Santos, Nagbe) 88
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (caution, dangerous play) 28
CHI-Francisco Calvo (caution, tactical foul) 48
CLB-Milton Valenzuela (caution, tactical foul) 68
COLUMBUS CREW (4-2-3-1): #13-Andrew Tarbell; #25-Harrison Afful, #4-Jonathan Mensah, #3-Josh Williams, #19-Milton Valenzuela; #8-Artur, #6-Darlington Nagbe; #12-Luis Diaz (#18-Sebastian Berhalter 65), #7-Pedro Santos (#2-Chris Cadden 90), #22-Derrick Etienne (#20-Emmanuel Boateng 74); #11-Gyasi Zardes (#9-Fanendo Adi 90)
Subs not used: #28-Matt Lampson, #14-Waylon Francis, #2-Chris Cadden, #30-Aboubacar Keita, #16-Hector Jimenez, #26-Fatai Alashe, #18-Sebastian Berhalter, #9-Fanendo Adi
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-Booby Shuttleworth; #2-Boris Sekulic, #22-Mauricio Pineda (#40-Brian Gutierrez 82), #5-Francisco Calvo, #6-Miguel Angel Navarro; #30-Gaston Gimenez, #10-Alvaro Medran (#13-Brandt Bronico 89); #11-Przemyslaw Frankwoski, #14-Djordje Mihailovic (#28-Elliot Collier 61), #7-Ignacio Aliseda; #27-Robert Beric
Subs not used: #24-Connor Sparrow, #3-Jonathan Bornstein, #36-Andre Reynolds, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #16-Michael Azira, #21-Fabian Herbers, #13-Brandt Bronico
TOTAL SHOTS: CLB 9-11 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: CLB 4-3 CHI
FOULS: CLB 12-17 CHI
OFFSIDES: CLB 2-0 CHI
CORNER KICKS: CLB 1-5 CHI
SAVES: CLB 3-1 CHI
Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.
Assistant Referees: Cory Richardson, Benjamin Hall-Voppenhein
4th Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Sorin Stoica
Weather: Sunny and 82º
Man of the Match: Darlington Nagbe (CLB)
