David Accam gave the Fire late draw against Columbus Crew SC on Saturday (photo credit: Chicago Fire)
COLUMBUS, OH—For the first time since 2012, the Chicago Fire did not begin the season with a loss. It’s not a win either, but an improved second half by the Fire earned them a draw at Columbus as it ended 1-1.
The first half saw many of the frailties that plagued the Fire the last couple of seasons: lack of endeavor up front, nervy defensive moments, and leaving players unmarked. Indeed, it led to a 17th minute goal headed in by Ethan Finlay after a cross from Justin Meram.
Adjustments were made formation-wise, the Fire showed signs of life in the second half. After being outshot 7-2 in the first half, they would outshoot the Crew, 10-3 in the second. Their endeavor was rewarded in the 73rd minute when David Accam sidestepped a defender and beat Zack Steffen far post.
The Fire had a pair of chances to snatch all three points, but Steffen stopped Michael de Leeuw in the 83rd minute and remaining shots were off target.
Jorge Bava made three saves on the day included one on Justin Meram early from close range and one on Ola Kamara early in the second half.
“I think we started very well,” said Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic. “We didn’t have a good first half, but credit our players with a great reaction. We made some adjustments, and we had a very good game. In the second half we had very good opportunities, same as in the first half but we didn’t convert. David’s goal gave us more confidence and then we started to play much better and created more opportunities. We were very close to scoring the second goal. In the end, I think it’s a good start to the season, it’s good coming back from a negative result. This is a huge boost for our team, now we look to Real Salt Lake, we have to prepare and recover for that game.
“Thirty minutes into the first half, we switched to 4-3-3 and that helped us to spread a little bit more in the midfield line, so David Accam could be closer to Brandon Vincent and help him to cover Harrison Afful, because he was obviously very dangerous in the first half. And then, we also dropped Dax McCarty to help out in the defense and cover Federico Higuain better. And then a huge, huge commitment from the guys, it’s all up to them. Whatever we, the coaches imagined or whatever we want to do, whatever is the plan, it’s about the player so I think fantastic reaction, I’m proud of our players and our comeback was great.”
Dax McCarty had a solid match in the midfield and sees potential in this team even though may be a ‘project’ at the moment.
“Lot of potential. Lot of potential in this team,” said McCarty. “I still think we have a long way to go, for sure, we’re a project I would say still. Obviously we were missing a very important player in Juninho today, I thought John Goossens stepped in the middle of the field and played really well, had a couple of good chances, probably could’ve scored a goal. I thought for the most part we grew into the game. It was a tough first half, like I said, but the second half we showed more of our potential. We were dangerous, I think once guys play a little bit more together and get on the same page, our ceiling is as high as we want it to be. We certainly have the potential to do some damage in this league. The playoffs is always the goal, so we are going to try and make the playoffs and make a deep run in the Open Cup and we’ll see how we can do it.”
The Fire play their home opener next Saturday against Real Salt Lake. Kickoff is at 1pm on CSN Chicago.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CLB-Ethan Finlay (Meram) 17
CHI-David Accam (Goossens) 73
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CLB-Federico Higuain (caution, dissent) 41
CHI-John Goossens (caution, tactical foul) 81
COLUMBUS CREW (4-2-3-1): #23-Zack Steffen; #25-Harrison Afful, #24-Nicolai Naess, #4-Jonathan Mensah, #2-Jukka Raitala; #8-Mohammed Abu (#7-Artur 76), #20-Wil Trapp; #13-Ethan Finlay, #10-Federico Higuain, #9Justin Meram; #11-Ola Kamara (#12-Adam Jahn, 69)
Subs not used: #41-Brad Stuver, #21-Alex Crognale, #31-Connor Maloney, #16-Hector Jimenez, #28-Niko Hansen
CHICAGO FIRE (4-4-2): #1-Jorge Bava; #5-Michael Harrington, #4-Johan Kappelhof, #66-Joao Meira, #3-Brandon Vincent; #12-Arturo Alvarez (#9-Luis Solignac 74), #6-Dax McCarty, #7-John Goossens (#18-Drew Conner 90+6’), #11-David Accam; #8-Michael de Leeuw, #23-Nemanja Nikolic (#10-David Arshakyan 90+3’)
Subs not used: #28-Matt Lampson, #16-Jonathan Campbell, #22-Patrick Doody, #13-Brandt Bronico
TOTAL SHOTS: CLB 10-12 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: CLB 4-3 CHI
FOULS: CLB 15-6 CHI
OFFSIDES: CLB 3-5 CHI
CORNER KICKS: CLB 5-6 CHI
SAVES: CLB 3-2 CHI
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Referee’s Assistants: Danny Thornberry, Kevin Klinger
4th Official: Mark Kadelcik
Weather: Cloudy and 35º
Attendance: 15,023
Man of the Match: David Accam (CHI)
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
