Fire and Montreal a wash in draw

Chicago Fire 1-1 CF Montreal

CHICAGO, IL—One could be forgiven if they were afraid the Fire were entering a trap match against a CF Montreal side that were bottom of the East and looking to make an impression under new interim coach Marco Donadel. They would be justified in those fears as the match would end 1-1 on a rainy night at Soldier Field.

It was the visitors who had most of the initiative on this night, outshooting the Fire, 17-6 and 7-2 in shots on target. The Fire struggle to breakdown Montreal’s defense, but they did do that five minutes before halftime. Jonathan Bamba’s flick in midfield sent Andrew Gutman down the flank and Gutman would send a cross to Phillip Zinckernagel who finished from close range to give the Fire the advantage.

However, five minutes into the second half, Montreal came up with an equalizer. Luca Petresso sent a cross to an unmarked Dante Sealy who leveled matters for the visitors.

It could arguably have been more for CF Montreal on the night were it not for Chris Brady who made six saves on the evening including a couple in the 89th minute on both Bryce Duke and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. But even Brady nearly made a fatal error a half hour earlier after coming out toward the right side to beat an attacker to a long ball. He did not get to it, but recovered in time to deny Duke a prime chance.

In the end, it was a point the Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter didn’t feel his team deserved. Berhalter didn’t think it was complacency on the Fire’s part, but rather a lack of embracing how difficult Montreal would be as an opponent.

“I think we talked all week about how difficult Montréal was going to be. And that’s why we talked all week about how difficult Montréal was going to be, because they were difficult. We knew they were going to be very aggressive defending one-versus-one, and we did a poor job of solving that, a really poor job.

“I told the group, we’ll take the point and run, because we didn’t deserve a point, that’s for sure. It was a poor performance by us. And I think I’m most disappointed with the competing in it. I think that’s what I missed a little bit. We knew it was going to be a difficult match; we knew it was going to be a battle. And I think we came up short in that end.”

Ultimately, it was a match at home that the visitors dictated and the Fire were fortunate to get a point out of on a disappointing night.

“We’re still looking for first home win,” said Fire defender Andrew Gutman. “I think anytime you play at home, you should dictate the game. You should be the one on the front foot, and I felt like we weren’t that tonight. But at the end of the day, it’s a point and we just move on.”

The Fire move on to next Saturday to take on defending Eastern Conference champion New York Red Bulls. Kickoff is at 6:30pm CT on Apple TV.

For more of Leslie Smith’s photos, please click on the link to her gallery.

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Phillip Zinckernagel (Gutman, Bamba) 40
MTL-Dante Sealy (Petresso) 50

BOOKING SUMMARY:
MTL-Victor Loturi (caution, tactical foul) 23
CHI-Andrew Gutman (caution, tactical foul) 47
CHI-Phillip Zinckernagel (caution, reckless foul) 53

CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #1-Chris Brady; #15-Andrew Gutman, #3-Jack Elliott, #5-Sam Rogers, #2-Leonardo Barroso; #22-Mauricio Pineda, #35-Sergio Oregel, #47-Sam Williams (#6-Rominigue Koumane 57); #19-Jonathan Bamba (#26-Omari Glasgow 90+1), #9-Hugo Cuypers (#12-Tom Barlow 79), #11-Phillip Zinckernagel (#7-Maren Haile-Selassie 79)

Subs not used: #25-Jeffrey Gal, #4-Carlos Teran, #34-Omar Gonzalez, #36-Justin Reynolds, #40-Diego Konincks

CF MONTREAL (5-4-1): #40-Jonathan Sirois; #25-Dante Sealy, #13-Luca Petresso, #24-Geroge Campbell, #16-Joel Waterman, #39-Aleksandr Guboglo (#11-Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty ; #23-Caden Clark (#7-Kwadwo Opuku 81), #22-Victor Loturi, #6-Samuel Piette (#4-Fernando Alvarez 81), #10-Bryce Duke (#8-Dominick Iankov 90); #9-Prince Owusu (#14-Sunusi Ibrahim 90)

Subs not used: #1-Sebatian Breza, #3-Tom Pearce, #5-Brandan Craig, #27-David Bugaj

EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 0.7-2.5 MTL
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 6-17 MTL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-7 MTL
FOULS: CHI 19-14 MTL
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-5 MTL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 2-8 MTL
SAVES: CHI 6-1 MTL

Referee: Elijio Arrecuin
Assistant Referees: Jose Da Silva, Adam Garner
4th Official: Ismir Pekmic
VAR: David Barrie
AVAR: Joshua Patlak
Attendance: 16,278
Weather: Rain and 55º
Man of the Match: Chris Brady (CHI)