CHICAGO, IL–Just a week ago, the Chicago Fire gave up a two-goal halftime lead against Columbus by giving up three-goals in a 20-minite span in the second half. It was a big disappointment for the Fire and a loss of points that was right in front of them.
Head coach Ezra Hendrickson knew the defeat hurt the morale of the club and he had to do something after that match to bring the team back together. He stepped forward with the rest of the coaches and players and called for a team meeting. Maybe, it was the right timing at the right time in taking a look back.
Since that loss, the Fire beat Toronto FC 2-0 on Wednesday night and followed it up with a 1-0 shutout over Seattle Sounders FC Saturday night at Soldier Field.
“Our backs were against the wall, so to speak. And what I told them is, when your backs are against the wall like that, you got to come out fighting, you have no choice,” Hendrickson said. “We came out really, really well against that Columbus team, which is a good team. But we floundered a bit in the second half. We let them get three goals against us. But we weren’t going to let down and give up on the season. We knew that we played well, but we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t play well enough consistently within that game.
“So, we just made sure that we sat down, we had a long 45-minute, hour meeting and we just talked about the points we’ve thrown away this year and how we could be 12, 15 points ahead of where we are right now, if we don’t throw away some of those games. They weren’t going to stop fighting.”
Chicago Fire captain and defender Rafael Czichos noted that the team meeting really did help the club and it’s a learning process moving forward.
“Yeah, it was after the loss against Columbus. We were so disappointed, and we knew we had to change something,” Czichos said. “I think we have enough quality to play good soccer. I think we’ve been showing it a lot this year already, that we have a good team. It was mentally really, really difficult for us and I think we got together as a team, and I think the last two games show that we are learning. I think these two wins are huge for us. We are back in the middle of the table and still have a chance to get what we want at the end of this season, so we are really, really happy right now.”
Czichos scored the Fire’s only goal in the 24th minute of play with an amazing header. But his big efforts were on defense with the rest of the team denying Seattle many opportunities of placing shots on goal for the entire match.
“We have nine clean sheets already this season,” Czichos said. “I think that’s really not so bad. Of course, we have a brilliant goalkeeper (Gabriel Slonina) and we work hard against the ball. We had games (where) we didn’t play well defensively, but I think in most of the games it’s really hard to get a goal against us and that’s the key factor for us. If we keep the zero, it’s easier to win games.”
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