Fire back home and back to reality with Nashville loss

Chicago Fire 0-2 Nashville SC

CHICAGO, IL–In the second half of a Soldier Field soccer doubleheader, Chicago Fire FC dropped a 2-0 decision to Nashville SC leaving the Fire 1-2-4 at home.

Both teams had quality chances in the first half only to be denied by inaccuracy as Jonathan Babma’s shot in on goal went wide in the 19th minute. Jeisson Palacios headed a ball off the goal post in the 32nd minute. Other shots would be denied by the goalkeepers.

In the second half, Nashville retained their intensity, but the Fire did not. Indeed, halftime substitute Andy Najar would be the catalyst for both Nashville goals. The first came in the 56th minute as he found an unmarked Hany Mukhtar at the edge of the box who put it past Jeff Gal near post. The second goal came in the 75th minute as he found Sam Surridge in the box as the latter would get around a defender and score from close range.

For head coach Gregg Berhalter, it’s about trying to maintain the level from the first half and apply it to the whole 90 minutes.

“I think we weren’t good enough in decisive moments,” said Berhalter. “I think we played a good match. I think therewere really good moments in the match, but in the deciding moments, in the penalty boxes, we weren’t
good enough.

“We had a number of opportunities to score. We didn’t do so. We gave away, I think, two poor goals, if I’m
honest. And when you do that, it’s difficult to win games. But overall, when you look at the match, the real
takeaway for me is about us being able to maintain our level, and we weren’t able to do that for the 90
minutes, and that’s something we’re going to need to work on.”

The Fire now have eleven days before their next match which will be at home against Philadelphia. Kickoff is at 7:30pm CT on Apple TV.

Photos by Leslie Smith