San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Chicago Fire FC
SAN JOSE, CA—Against the worst defense in Major League Soccer, the Fire were unable to capitalize on its chances until it was too late and much like any loss in the past five seasons, the lack of finishing combined with defensive lapses led to another frustrating defeat. This time, it was 2-1 to San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park. The Fire are now winless in their last nine matches away from home and are now a shocking 7-48-18 on the road since the start of the 2018 season.
The Fire had numerous chances to go ahead in the first half, but either the build-up would either take too long to develop, there was hesitancy in shooting first time, or they just shot straight to goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.
Indeed, the lack of first half precision led to a early second half goal for the Earthquakes as they had no fewer than five chances in quick succession in the 47th minute. It started with a Jamiro Monteiro shot saved by Gaga Slonina, then Marcos Lopez shot one of the crossbar. A third shot was blocked, then Cristian Espinoza shot one off the post. Finally, Benji Kikanovic—who had yet to score this season until this night—put it into an empty net to put San Jose ahead.
The Fire though they would have a chance to equalize in the 84th minute after it appeared the Rafael Czichos was clipped from behind by Judson. However, after a VAR review, it was determined not to be a penalty and the Quakes would score two minutes later through Kaikanovic. Indeed, Kaikanovic was a crossbar away from a hat trick.
Brian Gutierrez got a consolation goal late into stoppage time, but it won’t stop questions to be asked of the Fire. Chief among them is should Kacper Przybylko continue to start up front? Should Xherdan Shaqiri be benched after leaving with another knock that according to coach Ezra Hendrickson wasn’t ‘anything major’? Should Brian Gutierrez and/or Jhon Duran start on Saturday against Columbus at home at Soldier Field (7pm, WGN-TV)?
“I’ll sit down with the coaches and we’ll definitely talk about going forward what we need to do,” said Hendrickson, “especially in the immediate with this game coming up this weekend. That’s something we’ll discuss among other things.
“But we need to get some wins. We need to put guys on the pitch who are going to help us get those wins. We’ll decide that in the next few days, how we’re going to come out next weekend.”
Right now, the club and fans alike are probably asking, “When will this all end?”
SCORING SUMMARY:
SJ-Benji Kikanovic (unassisted) 47
SJ-Benji Kikanovic (Monteiro) 87
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (Duran) 90+5
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Chris Mueller (caution, delaying a restart) 27
CHI-Gaston Gimenez (caution, tactical foul) 43
SJ-Paul Marie (caution, tactical foul) 63
SJ-Benji Kikanovic (caution, reckless foul) 73
SJ-Marcos Lopez (caution, reckless tackle) 75
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-2-3-1): #1-JT Marcinkowski; #3-Paul Marie (#22-Tommy Thompson 74), #13-Nathan, #15-Tanner Beason, #27-Marcos Lopez; #14-Jackson Yueill, #17-Jan Gregus (#93-Judson 79); #10-Cristian Espinoza (#6-Shea Salinas 90+4), #35-Jamiro Monteiro, #28-Benji Kikanovic; #11-Jeremy Ebobisse
Subs not used: #12-Matt Bersano, #23-Oskar Argen, #25-Ousseni Bouda, #5-Eric Remedi, #16-Jack Skahan, #44-Cade Cowell
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-Gaga Slonina; #2-Boris Sekulic (#14-Jhon Espinoza 61), #23-Carlos Teran, #5-Rafael Czichos, #3-Jonathan Bornstein (#36-Andre Reynolds II 46); #31-Federico Navarro, #30-Gaston Gimenez; #21-Fabian Herbers (#7-Jairo Torres 72), #10-Xherdan Shaqiri (#40-Brian Gutierrez 61), #8-Chris Mueller; #11-Kacper Przybylko (#26-Jhon Duran 77)
Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #33-Victor Bezerra, #99-Stanislav Ivanov, #37-Javier Casas, #14-Jhon Espinoza, #26-Jhon Duran
TOTAL SHOTS: SJ 22-18 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: SJ 8-6 CHI
FOULS: SJ 11-17 CHI
OFFSIDES: SJ 2-0 CHI
CORNER KICKS: SJ 4-5 CHI
SAVES: SJ 5-6 CHI
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Ian Anderson, Miceal Barwegen
4th Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
Weather: Fair and 68º
Attendance: 13,224
Man of the Match: Benji Kikanovic (SJ)
