LA Galaxy 2-2 Chicago Fire
CARSON, CA—The Chicago Fire had everything going their way in the first 45 minutes being up 2-0, but an inability to defend a pair of corners led to a 2-2 draw in the end costing the Fire two points. The Fire are now 1-18-4 in the Pacific Time Zone since 2011.
As mentioned, the Fire came out on all cylinders and took the lead on 13 minutes from the spot after Nemanja Nikolic was taken down by Jelle Van Damme. Accam converted the spot kick which had to be retaken after a Fire player had entered the area too early. Three minutes later on a counter, Accam fed Nikolic for his sixth goal in nine matches.
However, LA got more and more dangerous as the match wore on and they pulled one back on a corner kick that was headed in by Daniel Steres in the 56th minute. Nine minutes later, another corner resulted in the equalizer as Dave Romney fed Giovanni dos Santos for a tap it as the Fire’s zonal marking again faltered.
Both teams pressed hard for a winner. Baggio Husidic had tons of space late in stoppage time, to shoot, but scuffed his chance after being disrupted by Joao Meira. Nikolic thought he had scored a winner on the other side, but that was chalked off for offside which replays confirmed.
Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic thought the insertions of Romney and Boateng actually helped LA in the long run as he bemoaned two points lost.
“Well for us it feels like a loss,” said Paunovic. “We believe that the first half was great. We also think that the injuries that happened actually helped them, because it stopped our pace and our rhythm of the game that we boasted from the start. And from that moment at the start of the second substitution, we lost and we couldn’t find the rhythm again. In the second half, I think we came a little too casual, in one of our strengths, which is our defensive set pieces. We conceded two goals too easily. Too easy. And very, very similar. No reaction is something that concerns me, but on the other side, I think after the Galaxy’s goals the team reacted and we had good opportunities to score. Overall, I think a tie is….for both teams you get something, but for us we are not happy because we could have won this game.
“We have to kill the game. There is progression. We got a point on the road. We were the better team in the first half in my opinion and that’s something I like to see after the game in Toronto and the game in New York and now in LA. There is a huge progression. But with opportunities like this, we have to convert with three points. Today was very close.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger is enjoying life in Chicago, but dropped points is something he is clearly not enjoying.
“Life in Chicago is great,” said Schweinsteiger. “Playing in MLS is interesting. I’m not satisfied 100-percent, because we lost too many easy points. We gave them away. Otherwise we would have a better position in the standings. So I’m not satisfied with this, and also, sometimes in a game we can make it easier if you find the right player. In the first half we did quite well, but we have to show that in the 90 minutes.
“Today started more on the offensive position, then later on I tried to play from behind. So yeah. When we have the ball to find the right player, the free player, and we have to work on it more and more. The first half was good. It was alright, but we have to show 90 minutes. Not 45. We have to improve. It’s a point. Actually in New York we could won the match as well, so today we should’ve won the match. It’s a little bit sad. We just had one point instead of six points.”
The Fire return home after getting just one point in three away matches against Seattle Sounders FC. Kickoff is at 8pm on ESPN2.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-David Accam (penalty kick) 13
CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (Accam) 16
LA-Daniel Steres (Alessandrini) 56
LA-Giovanni dos Santos (Romney, Alessandrini) 65
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Brandon Vincent (caution, reckless foul) 59
LA-Romain Alessandrini (caution, simulation) 74
CHI-Bastian Schweinsteiger (caution, reckless foul) 90
LA GALAXY (4-2-3-1): #12-Brian Rowe; #18-Bradley Diallo, #5-Daniel Steres, #37-Jelle Van Damme (#4-Dave Romney 33), #3-Ashley Cole; #6-Baggio Husidic, #8-Joao Pedro; #11-Gyasi Zardes (#32-Jack McBean 87), #13-Jermaine Jones (C) (#24-Emanuel Boateng 43), #7-Romain Alessandrini; #10-Giovanni dos Santos
Subs not used: #22-Jon Kempin, #19-Jaime Villarreal, #20-Jack McInerney, #25-Rafael Garcia
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #28-Matt Lampson; #18-Drew Conner (#16-Jonathan Campbell 75), #4-Johan Kappelhof, #66-Joao Meira, #3-Brandon Vincent; #19-Juninho (C) (#12-Arturo Alvarez 88), #6-Dax McCarty; #9-Luis Solignac, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #11-David Accam (#8-Michael de Leeuw 68), #23-Nemanja Nikolic
Subs not used: #1-Jorge Bava, #5-Michael Harrington,#20-Daniel Johnson, #14-Djordje Mihalovic
TOTAL SHOTS: LA 12-12 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: LA 2-6 CHI
FOULS: LA 11-11 CHI
OFFSIDES: LA 1-5 CHI
CORNER KICKS: LA 8-2 CHI
SAVES: LA 4-0 CHI
Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee’s Assistants: Craig Lowry, Eduardo Mariscal
4th Official: Alex Chilowicz
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and 59º
Attendance: 24,256
Man of the Match: David Accam (CHI)
