Inter Miami CF 0-0 Chicago Fire FC
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL–The Fire and Inter Miami played to a 0-0 draw at DRV PNK Stadium on Saturday night. It is the 13th successive year that the Fire have not won their opening match of the season (8 losses, 5 draws).
The closest the Fire got was in the 32nd minute when Stanislav Ivanov shot one off the goal post. Both Ivanov and Kacper Przybylko would be denied either side of halftime by Clement Diop in goal for the Herons.
Leonardo Campana nearly put the Herons up after nine minutes heading a Gonzalo Higuain cross off the top of the crossbar. Ariel Lassiter had a pair of chances in the last five minutes–one would be saved by Gabriel Slonina, the other was wide of target.
“I thought we came out and played really well the first 10, 15 minutes of the first half,” said Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson. “We were moving the ball. The speed of play was the way we want to play. In the middle of the first half, I thought they got a hold of the game and got the better of the game for about 15 minutes but then towards the end of the half, we regained control of the game. So, I thought first half was really, really good.
“Second half we got a little gassed towards the end but the guys put in the effort. It’s a point on the road. We’ll take it. But we know that there’s some stuff we need to work on. I thought the speed of play at times got us in trouble and we didn’t move the ball quickly and they could turn us over and counterattack against us. So we have to clean up some of that stuff.”
The Fire will have their home opener next Saturday at Soldier Field against Orlando City SC at 5pm (WGN-TV).
SCORING SUMMARY:
None
BOOKING SUMMARY:
MIA-DeAndre Yedlin (caution) 53
MIA-Damian Lowe (caution) 74
MIA-Jairo Quinteros (caution) 77
CHI-Jhon Duran (caution) 87
TOTAL SHOTS: MIA 17-16 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: MIA 3-3 CHI
FOULS: MIA 20-8 CHI
OFFSIDES: MIA 2-3 CHI
CORNER KICKS: MIA 4-5 CHI
SAVES: MIA 3-3 CHI
Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Assistant Referees: Brian Dunn, Charles Morgante
4th Official: Elvis Osmanovic
Attendance: 15,973
Man of the Match: Gabriel Slonina (CHI)
