It felt like 23 degrees at kickoff and even less by the time the final whistle blew on a tough performance by the Men in Red.
This game felt eerily similar to DC United’s last visit to Chicago where the Fire gave up points in stoppage time. While that involved a wonder goal via a bicycle kick, this latest involved a questionable handball penalty call against Jonathan Dean. To make matters worse, it took the ref over 5 minutes of watching replays before he came to a decision. Tai Baribo buried the penalty and United took all 3 points.
The Fire attack is just missing an offensive spark. Anton Saletros is an improvement over Sergio Oregel in the middle but there is no replacement for Brian Gutierrez at the moment. Long term, Andre Franco is the solution but he wont be healthy until after the World Cup. Phillip Zinckernagel has been occupying similar spaces but has been frustrated a lot of the season. He might be better starting on the wing. Its only been 4 games and I’m not calling for Berhalter’s head but this could be an issue that team will deal with until the summer. If they want a top 4 spot in the east, it cannot linger that long. The attack needs to improve or the play-in game beckons later this year.
Tactics
- Berhalter put out a 4321 formation at kickoff that saw the return of D’je D’avilla over Mauricio Pineda.
- Formations are fluid but SofaScore has this as the 4th different starting formation in as many games for the Fire.
Stats
- xG Battle: Chicago (1.93) v DC United (1.59)
- The Fire only had 1 SOT in the second half…. It was Hugo Cuypers penalty kick.
- 1.14 xG was generated in open play for Chicago
- Fire had 66% possession for the game but only generated 2 SOT
- Robin Lod only had 30 touches in his 65 minutes but led both sides with 3 key passes
- Jonathan Dean returned from his Red card suspension and went 10/11 in duels
- Hugo Cuypers is up to 3 goals in the 3 games he has played this season, 2/2 on PKs. Whoscored, SofaScore and FotMob all have Cuypers as a top 11 rated player this season. If he misses any time this season, the Fire’s attack will be in a world of pain.
Highlights