Fire continue home woes in loss to San Diego

Chicago Fire 1-2 San Diego FC

CHICAGO, IL—When it comes tp the Chicago Fire playing the top teams this season, it seems like it’s been the same old story.

“I talked to the group and we talked about it being a very similar story to when we play these top teams,” said Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter. “We’re in there, we have great effort, we put in a ton of chanced, but we’re also hurting ourselves.”

Such was the case as the Fire dropped a 2-1 decision to San Diego FC at Soldier Field before 27,631 in attendance. The loss puts the Fire’s home record at 2-4-4 and drops them to tenth position in the Eastern Conference table with Charlotte winning on Saturday night.

Despite outshooting league-leading San Diego, 18-7, only four of those shots were on target as chance after chance either went begging of was stopped by terrific defending or saves by Pablo Sisniega.

At the other end, two counters, two low crosses into the box, two goals for San Diego. The first came in the eighth minute as Luca Bombino sent a low cross that was flicked on by Hirving Lozano and then Anders Dreyer took advantage of a miscommunication between Chris Brady and his defenders with a tap-in to make it 1-0.

Photo: Len Cederholm

Just before halftime, the connection would strike again. This time, Bombino sent a long ball to Lozano who made a run down the left flank and sent another low cross to an unmarked Dreyer for another easy finish.

Again in the second half, the Fire would continue to have volumes of chances, but no goals until the 87th minute when Hugo Cuypers scored on the volley off a corner kick.

If the Fire are going to return to being one of the top teams in the league, then errors like the ones that led to the first goal need to be corrected.

“We shot ourselves in the foot the last few games and it needs to stop,” said Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady. “It’s just a matter of focus. Going at every game from the first minute. Focusing on what needs to be done and the quality of our passes. If you saw tonight, Maurico (Pineda) and I weren’t on the same page which led to the first goal. I’ll take [the blame on]that one.

“Moving forward for everybody, myself included, from the first minute we step on the field, (we) can’t have lapses. We’ve got to be sharp and ready to go.”

The Fire will be on the road in midweek (where they have had more success this season) to play Atlanta United on Wednesday night. Kickoff is at 6:30pm CT on Apple TV.

SCORING SUMMARY:
SD-Anders Dreyer (Lozano, Bombino) 8
SD-Anders Dreyer (Lozano, Bombino) 45+3
CHI-Hugo Cuypers (Haile-Selassie) 87

BOOKING SUMMARY:
SD-Onni Valakari (caution, tactical foul) 8
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (caution, reckless tackle) 30
SD-Emmanuel Boateng (caution, delaying a restart) 82
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (caution, tactical foul) 90+6

CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #1-Chris Brady; #15-Andrew Gutman, #5-Sam Rogers (#12-Tom Barlow 86), #3-Jack Elliott, #2-Leonardo Barroso (#24-Jonathan Dean 66); #35-Sergio Oregel (#6-Rominigue Kouame 46), #17-Brian Gutierrez, #22-Mauricio Pineda (#42-Dje D’Avilla 71); #19-Jonathan Bamba, #9-Hugo Cuypers, #11-Phillip Zinckernagel (#7-Maren Haile-Selassie 71)

Subs not used: #25-Jeff Gal, #23-Kellyn Acosta, #34-Omar Gonzalez, #26-Omari Glasgow

SAN DIEGO FC (4-3-3): #13-Pablo Sisniega; #27-Luca Bombino (#22-Franco Negri 90+1), #17-Paddy McNair (#25-Ian Pilcher 46), #97-Christopher McVey, #33-Oscar Verhoeven; #6-Jeppe Tverskov, #14-Luca de la Torre, #8-Onni Valakari; #11-Hirving Lozano (#77-Alex Mighten 58), #9-Tomas Angel (#24-Emmanuel Boateng 81), #10-Anders Dreyer

Subs not used: #99-Jacob Jackson, #5-Hamady Diop, #19-Jesper Loffelsend, #26-Manu Duah, #32-Milan Iloski

EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 2.5-1.2 SD
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 18-7 SD
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 4-4 SD
FOULS: CHI 17-11 SD
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-0 SD
CORNER KICKS: CHI 7-0 SD
SAVES: CHI 0-0 SD

Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Oscar-Mitchell Carvalho. Eduardo Jeff
Fourth Official: Lorenzo Hernandez
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Tom Supple
Weather: Mostly Sunny and 78º
Attendance: 27,631
Man of the Match: Anders Dreyer (SD)