Chicago Fire FC 0-1 CF Montreal
CHICAGO, IL—Any momentum Chicago Fire FC had coming off a win last week ended on Saturday as a late goal by Club de Foot Montreal, followed by a potential equalizer disallowed by VAR, consigned the Fire to their fifth loss in six match, 1-0.
Despite outshooting Montreal, 19-6, the Fire once again failed to find the finishing touch. Their three best chances were in the second half. Ignacio Aliseda made a great run and fed a great ball to Fabian Herbers, but Herbers would denied by Clement Diop. Aliseda was close himself in the 84th, but again Diop made the save, which he had six on the day.
In the 87th minute, Zorhan Bassong sent a ball into the area and Mason Toye got between both central defenders to head in the game’s only score. The Fire though they had the equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time through Wyatt Omsberg, but VAR saw that Chinoso Offor was in an offside position in the buildup and the Fire would finish empty-handed. It is the fourth match in the last five in which the Fire have failed to score.
Fire head coach was asked if the result is because of a mental block or lack of confidence.
“I can’t give you this answer,” said Wicky. “I don’t think the team looked like they had low confidence, not at all. I think the team looked good, looked sharp. I think we pressed well and we had some moments where we covered balls and we created stuff.
“I don’t think the team was low on confidence. It’s just for some reason we had these big chances and we didn’t score on them. We have these little moments, these half chances where the ball doesn’t go in. Why is that? I cannot give you the answer. At the end of the day, the reality is we need too many chances to score a goal. That’s the reality.”
The reality now for the Fire is that they are second-bottom in the league with just one win and a league-low four goals in seven matches. They now have the next three weeks to figure out how to turn things around and fast. Otherwise, it will not be just the logo that needs a massive change for 2022.
SCORING SUMMARY:
MTL-Mason Toye (Bassong) 87
BOOKING SUMMARY:
MTL-Rudy Camacho (caution, tactical foul) 17
MTL-Victor Wanyama (caution, tactical foul) 62
CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #1-Bobby Shuttleworth; #2-Boris Sekulic, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #5-Francisco Calvo, #6-Miguel Navarro (#3-Jonathan Bornstein 77); #21-Fabian Herbers, #8-Luka Stojanovic, #10-Alvaro Medran; #30-Gaston Gimenez, #27-Robert Beric (#9-Chinoso Offor 77), #40-Brian Gutierrez (#7-Ignacio Aliseda 59)
Subs not used: #32-Gabriel Slonina, #4-Johan Kappelhof, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #23-Carlos Teran, #14-Jhon Espinoza, #37-Javier Casas
MONTREAL IMPACT (5-3-2): #23-Clement Diop; #15-Zachary Brault-Guillard, #16-Joel Waterman, #4-Rudy Camacho, #24-Aljaz Struna, #19-Zorhan Bassong (#12-Mustafa Kizza 90+5); #2-Victor Wanyama, #7-Ahmed Hamdi (#6-Samuel Piette 60), #8-Djordje Mihailovic (#18-Joaquin Torres 89); #9-Bjorn Johnsen, #22-Sunsui Ibrahim (#13-Mason Toye 60)
Subs not used: #41-James Pantemis, #5-Luis Binks, #23-Clement Bayiha, #14-Amar Sejdic, #29-Mathieu Choiniere
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 19-6 MTL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 6-3 MTL
FOULS: CHI 13-19 MTL
OFFSIDES: CHI 9-0 MTL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 7-2 MTL
SAVES: CHI 2-6 MTL
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Eric Weisbrod, Gjovalin Bori
4th Official: Natalie Simon
VAR: Malik Badawi
Attendance: 6,680
Weather: Clear and 55º
Man of the Match: Clement Diop (MTL)
