Photo Credit: Don MacGregor
Chicago Fire 1-0 Montreal Impact
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–It was going to be a tough task to mark Ignacio Piatti, but it seemed it would be even harder for the Fire to score themselves. Mo Adams took care of the former and Kevin Ellis eventually took care of the latter as the Fire defeated Montreal, 1-0.
For the Fire (3-4-2), it was only their second win at home while the Impact (3-7-0) have now dropped five of their last six overall and are now 1-6-0 away from home.
For the longest time, it seemed like this would be a goalless draw. Montreal lacked a finished product either because Adams was effectively shutting down Piatti (who had only three forward passes the whole night in the attacking half) or being unable to capitalize on Fire turnovers in their own half.
The Fire couldn’t break down an Impact defense who has allowed almost three goals a game, though Aleksandar Katai shot one off the post in the first half and had a goal disallowed for a foul. Enter Kevin Ellis who moved forward in the 89th minute and rounded two defenders and then beat Evan Bush near-post for his second goal in as many matches.
“It feels good to get three points,” said Ellis. “Take the goal away, I want to give the team. We wanted to have a shutout and we got a shutout. I give credit to Mo Adams taking one of the best players in the entire league and not giving him joy in the game. Big credit to Mo and big credit to the team for working hard defensively. I’m fortunate enough to come up with the goal and we win the game and we get the three points.”
Indeed, the talk after the match besides Ellis’s goal was how the rookie Mo Adams was able to shutdown Piatti on this night.
“Knowing how hard it is to play against Piatti, and how much we struggled in the past against him, the job that Mo Adams did today was definitely a good example for all the teammates, but also all the other teams how to play against Piatti,” said Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic.
“Knowing [how dangerous Piatti can be], we have to acknowledge the huge credit to Mo Adams for the job that he did against Piatti and also helping the team in other phases of the game. He still has to work on once he wins the ball to be more involved in the organization of the game.”
Mo credited his experience in marking some of the best players in the country while at Syracuse and helping him to mark Piatti.
“It’s a task given by the coach,” said Adams. “We know that Piatti was one of the dangerous players who can change the game if given the opportunity. I was given the task of marking him throughout the whole game and I think I did a good job. He didn’t have many chances and every time he received the ball he was facing his own goal so he wasn’t a threat.”
The Fire have a quick turnaround and travel Saturday to Columbus for a 6:30pm CT kickoff on ESPN+ while Montreal returns home to face Philadelphia for a 3pm ET start.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Kevin Ellis (Kappelhof) 89
BOOKING SUMMARY:
MTL-Michael Petrasso (caution, delaying a restart) 65
CHI-Brandon Vincent (caution, reckless tackle) 66
CHI-Mo Adams (caution, persistent infringement) 70
CHICAGO FIRE (4-4-2): #45-Richard Sanchez, #5-Kevin Ellis, #4-Johan Kappelhof, #15-Grant Lillard, #3-Brandon Vincent; #6-Dax McCarty, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #19-Mo Adams (#20-Daniel Johnson 82), #10-Aleksandar Katai; #21-Alan Gordon (#28-Elliot Collier 61), #23-Nemanja Nikolic (#17-Diego Campos 72)
Subs not used: #32-Patrick McLain, #16-Jonathan Campbell, #13-Brandt Bronico, #12-Tony Tchani
MONTREAL IMPACT (4-3-3): #1-Evan Bush; #24-Michael Petrasso, #15-Rod Fanni, #22-Jukka Raitala, #3-Daniel Lovitz; #9-Alejandro Silva (#25-Louis Beland-Goyette 72), #6-Samuel Piette, #8-Saphir Taider (#21-Matteo Mancosu 90); #14-Raheem Edwards, #11-Anthony Jackson-Hamel (#7-Dominic Oduro 78), #10-Ignacio Piatti
Subs not used: #23-Clement Diop, #18-Chris Duvall, #2-Victor Cabrera, #13-Ken Krolicki
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 12-14 MTL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 5-2 MTL
FOULS: CHI 16-12 MTL
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-2 MTL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 8-3 MTL
SAVES: CHI 2-4 MTL
Referee: Sorin Stoica
Assistant Referee: Andrew Bigelow, Oscar Mitchell-Carvahlo
4th Official: Fotis Bazakos
VAR: Hilario Grajeda
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and 78º
Attendance: 10,067
Man of the Match: Mo Adams (CHI)
Chicago Fire
Montreal Impact
