San Diego FC makes its first ever visit to Chicago. SD is riding high at the top of the Western Conference standings and pose yet another though test for the Fire. A hot humid July night on the lakefront and a start of the “Summer Concert Series”.
Fire on the attack from the opening whistle. Brian Gutierrez blasts a shot that’s saved by the diving Pablo Sisniega. Outstanding effort by Sisniega saving a goal. Things in soccer change with a blink of an eye.
That’s exactly what happened 5 minutes later where sloppy play out of the box, where Brady tosses a ball right at a San Diego player. Two passes later it’s Anders Dryer with an opening in the goalie box and does what he does best, finish and score goals. A 1-0 quick SD lead.
Dangerous play from the Fire playing from the back and it cost them. This was always the worry early in the season for the Fire, learning how to play out of the back, a Berhalter specialty. It’s too deep into a season to be making these mistakes. The whole lead-up, prior to Brady’s throw was shaky.
That goal seemed to have rattled the Fire, so lost that push and aggressiveness. San Diego in control of the ball and the game, so far. Marked by several moments of miscommunication, guys being offsides, passes off the mark, or balls that were easily intercepted by San Diego.
Do it one too many times and this San Diego team will make you pay for it. Enter Mexican superstar Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, who breaks away on the left flank and is sky-free down the sideline from around midfield all the way into the box where he nicely crosses the ball to the trailing Anders Dreyer who easily puts it away, unmarked, into the back on the net.
San Diego score on the final play of stoppage time and take a comfortable lead into the half, at 2-0. This is a brutal way to end a half. Two of the most dangerous guys on SD get to run free, no marking, and do what they do best, make a play and score.
Lots of adjustments and change of mentality will be needed for the Fire coming out of halftime for them to try to get back in the game. San Diego is playing their game and doing it well.
Philip Zinckernagel might be one of the best dribblers and skilled with the ball players in the league. Outside of Messi and a couple others, I can’t think of many that could hang with Zinc. He demonstrated this one again when you put a SD defender on skates multiple times in one possession, zig-zagging around him until he crossed the ball into the box.
Zinck had another guy trying to keep his balance as he weaved around him and took one touch too many deep into the box and ran into the outstretched hands of Sisniega. The Fire ramp up their urgency and are finally creating chances, but they are one step too late to so many quality opportunities.
Case in point, Hugo Cuypers finds himself in a one-on-one with the goalie and drags it all the way to his outstretched legs. A beat earlier and striker of his quality puts it away. Zinck has a follow-up on that play and squanders it also.
Credit San Diego for making the stops, but the Fire should have put at least one of these away and gotten on the board. Nothing is going well for them on the night. San Diego remains calm, in control and with the lead.
Dje D’Avilla comes into the game and gets a great header off a corner, but Sisniega makes another outstanding save. The guy is on his game tonight, making several highlight worth saves. Fire pushing for a score and finally get rewarded. Cuypers makes a run at the goal and gets his foot on the ball and one-times it to the corner and past Sisniega. Chicago gets on the board in the 88th minute.
Unfortunately for the Fire it was a little too late for them to get going. San Diego’s stout defense holds on and they pick up the road victory. The Fire dop a significant 3 points at home, again. The opponents haven’t been easy, but it’s now 0 points from the last two games and 3 losses in a row if you include the U.S. Open Cup loss to Minnesota.
The Fire need points badly before they slide too far back out of a playoff running. They played hard, but the mental mistakes cost them two goals they shouldn’t have given up. The transfer window can’t come soon enough, I expect there to be changes incoming to the roster.
Postgame, the crowd enjoyed a concert by Danny Lux. Now, I wasn’t familiar with him and his music, but the crowd sure did. The songs were in Spanish and it was more of a love song variety. He rocked the stadium and Lux puts on a good show. The cool thing was that he signed and posted for pictures with fans mid-performance. Good start to the Fire’s Summer Concert Series.
Notes:
- Forward Hugo Cuypers tallied his 12th goal of the season, extending his lead among Fire goal scorers this season. His dozen goals are the most by any Fire player in a single season since Robert Berić tallied 12 in 2020.
- Maren Haile-Selassie tallied his fourth assist of the regular season in Cuypers’ 86th minute goal. The Swiss midfielder matched his total from his first Fire season of 2023, when he recorded four in 32 appearances.
- Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady returned to the Starting XI for the first time in league play since the Fire’s 3-1 road victory at Orlando City SC on May 31. The Naperville native recorded two saves in the 79th regular season appearance of his career.
- Rominigue Kouamé also made his first appearance in a Fire match since the Fire’s 7-1 win over D.C. United on June 7. The midfielder checked in for Sergio Oregel Jr. at halftime, finishing the match with a passing accuracy percentage of over 90 without committing a foul in the center of the pitch.
- Defenders Carlos Terán (Lower Body), Justin Reynolds (Head) and Christopher Cupps (Lower Body); and midfielders Chris Mueller (Not Due to Injury) and David Poreba (Lower Body) were unavailable for selection.
NEXT MATCH:
Chicago goes on the road for two consecutive matches, first heading south to face Atlanta United at 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, July 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Fire will then travel north across the border to play against CF Montréal at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, July 19, at Stade Saputo. Both matches will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV