Chicago Fire holds back RBNY.
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–After a two-week break, the Chicago Fire needed some time off to recoup and pull itself back together from an off-track beginning of the season seeing a couple of losses to the LA Galaxy and Seattle while getting a draw hosting Orlando SC.
The club needed to address a number of issues on the field with the biggest on how to find its defensive structure and be able to compete against its opponents.
Chicago played a more defensive and possessive approach and found a way to hold off the New York Red Bulls 1-0 at SeatGeek Stadium on Saturday afternoon for its first victory of the season.
“We had to adjust our style and we played the way we believed not the only, but the best way against a good team,” Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic said. “We really admire what (New York Red Bulls) are doing there with their style and culture. They have a fantastic coaching staff too. It was a hard game for us and we learned that we’re capable to play a team like this.
“We were all on the same page, 11 or 13 players that played today. We had focus and concentrated from the first seconds to the last. We’re capable to do good things. Everybody on the team knows that we had to make adjustments. Against a good team that was our plan to stop them.”
The Fire managed to keep shots down to a minimum coming from the New York Red Bulls which made it much easier for goalkeeper David Ousted earning his first clean sheet since joining the club as he made one save with the Red Bulls taking a total of 7 shots in the match.
“I thought we were very good in the battle of this game,” Ousted said. “We knew this would be a tough game with a lot of duels and we came out on top. We won a lot of them and played tough today. Communication was a huge difference. We had to deal with some injuries and had to have a make shift backline. This group showed today it had cohesiveness that we can make something out of this and make us a good team. We did limit the back space, limited their runs behind, which made it a lot easier. The guys in front of me did well. We did limit some of their
crosses and opportunities.”
It really took a strong effort from nearly everybody on the field falling back on defense against the Red Bulls, especially in the last 20 minutes. That’s when the Fire were pushed back on its heels and had to make sure that there wasn’t a clear opportunity on goal. New York was limited on its chances toward the Fire goal for the most part.
“We were solid in the back,” said Johan Kappelhof, who was on the backline. “We weren’t as high as usually. We changed up a little bit to more solid in the back and not give up space behind us. Because, (New York) can be dangerous, they get in behind. We were compact as a team, lower on the field, and that’s what we planned to do. They can be dangerous on the counterattacks with the space behind. It was much better than the games before. Now, we need to keep this level for the next game.”
If the Fire can sustain its defense from this game onto others, the club may be taking on a stepping stone on improving its defensive structure. One victory can lead to more, but the Fire will have to enjoy this one and take things one match at a time.
Chicago Fire
