MONTREAL, QC—Chicago Fire FC ended a miserable 1-5-0 road trip with a 2-0 loss to CF Montreal at Stade Saputo. Montreal jump to fifth in the East while the Fire remain mired in 12th.
The Fire did better in the first half compared to their last two away matches by not allowing early goals. They had two good chances of their own by Mauricio Pineda and Luka Stojanovic—both were denied by James Pantemis.
Gabriel Slonina was in goal for the second time this season for the Fire. While he did make a pair of saves, he was let down by his defense today.
Romell Quioto picked up a pass from ex-Fire Djordje Mihailovic in the 60th minute and slotted it near post to give Montreal the lead. Twenty minutes later, Mathieu Choiniere’s cross was knocked in by Carlos Teran for an own goal.
Slonina was among five changes to the Fire lineup from the abject performance at DC United. Two of those were enforced changes as designated players Gaston Gimenez and Ignacio Aliseda were left off the travel roster for violation of team protocols.
“Yeah, look, it’s disappointing,” said Fire head coach Raphael Wicky. “It’s disappointing when certain players (break a rule), it doesn’t matter if it’s a DP or if it’s a 17-year-old. There are certain rules you have to follow. There are certain things we don’t want players to do, and that’s disappointing if these things happen. And if these things happen, then they must live with the consequences.
“But of course, from our DPs, especially from our DPs, we expect more. But that would have been the same if it would have been a player that was not a DP. It doesn’t really matter. We expect people not to do that.”
Both players will be available for the next game on Wednesday at home against New England (7pm, WGN-TV). Slonina might see more time as well.
“Yes, we decided with the staff, together, to give [Slonina] a few games” said Wicky. “We spoke as well with Bobby. Bobby had a good season so far for us. But we spoke with him, and we told him that we want to see Gaga. We trust in Gaga.”
Right now though, Fire fans have little trust in anyone else on this team after this wretched road trip.
SCORING SUMMARY:
MTL-Romell Quioto (Mihailovic) 60
MTL-Carlos Teran (own goal) 80
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Luka Stojanvoic (caution, tactical foul) 39
CHI-Carlos Teran (caution, tactical foul) 49
CF MONTREAL (3-4-3): #41-James Pantemis; #16-Joel Waterman, 4-Rudy Camacho, #3-Kamal Miller; #29-Mathieu Choiniere, #6-Samuel Piette (#7-Ahmed Hamdi HT), #2-Victor Wanyama, #19-Zorhan Bassong (#38-Rida Zouhir 90+2); #18-Joaquin Torres (#21-Lassi Lappalainen 83), #30-Romell Quioto (#22-Sunusi Ibrahim 83), #8-Djordje Mihailovic (#25-Emmanuel Maciel 68)
Subs not used: #1-Sebastien Breza, #38-Rida Zouhir, #27-Clement Bayiha, #9-Bjorn Johnsen, #12-Mustafa Kizza
CHICAGO FIRE (3-4-2-1): #32-Gabriel Slonina; #22-Mauricio Pineda, #23-Carlos Teran (#4-Johan Kappelhof 87), #3-Jonathan Bornstein; #2-Boris Sekulic, #8-Luka Stojanovic (#10-Alvaro Medran 56), #31-Federico Navarro, #6-Miguel Navarro; #21-Fabian Herbers (#28-Elliot Collier 87), #99-Stanislav Ivanov (#27-Robert Beric 68); #9-Chinoso Offor
Subs not used: #1-Bobby Shuttleworth, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #38-Alex Monis, #14-Jhon Espinoza
TOTAL SHOTS: MTL 8-10 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: MTL 3-5 CHI
FOULS: MTL 14-11 CHI
OFFSIDES: MTL 2-2 CHI
CORNER KICKS: MTL 5-8 CHI
SAVES: MTL 5-2 CHI
Referee: Marcos de Oliveira
Assistant Referees: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Cory Richardson
4th Official: David Barrie
VAR: Drew Fischer
Attendance:
Weather: Sunny and 63º
Man of the Match: Ahmed Hamdi (MTL)
