Chicago Fire 1 – 2 New England Revolution
Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Lovel Palmer, Jeff Larentowicz ©, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares; Grant Ward (Patrick Nyarko 75’), Matthew Watson, Razvan Cocis, Alex (Matt Fondy 65’); Sanna Nyassi (Harry Shipp 75’), Quincy Amarikwa
Substitutes not used: Kyle Reynish, Patrick Ianni, Logan Pause, Benji Joya
New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth; Darrius Barnes, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, A.J. Soares; Diego Fagundez (Teal Bunbury 67’), Scott Caldwell, Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen, Jermaine Jones (Daigo Kobayashi 90+’); Patrick Mullins (Charlie Davies 58’)
Substitutes not used: Kevin Alston, Steve Neumann, Tony Taylor, Brad Knighton
Scoring Summary
CHI – Sanna Nyassi (Quincy Amarikwa) 28’
NE – Diego Fagundez (Lee Nguyen, Jose Goncalves) 41’
NE – Charlie Davies (Jermaine Jones) 60’
Misconduct Summary
CHI – Lovel Palmer (caution) 36’
CHI – Razvan Cocis (caution) 39’
CHI – Bakary Soumare (caution) 58’
NE – Darrius Barnes (caution) 74’
NE – Jermaine Jones (caution) 78’
NE – Scott Caldwell (caution) 78’
Referee: Chris Penso
Assistants: Claudio Badea, Danny Thornberry
Fourth Official: Daniel Fitzgerald
Attendance: 12,204
-Possible wrong identity
Quotes:
Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
“We’re a weird team. We do everything right tactically in the first half, shutting down their main players, we’re dangerous on counter attacks, but we gave up a silly goal before halftime and we let them right back in the match. That’s the frustrating part right now; we don’t play the complete 90 minutes right now. We have to find a way to be consistent for 90 minutes every match and we’re not quite there yet. It’s a bit frustrating but the guys give me everything they have and I can’t ask for anything else.
Absolutely, Sean (Johnson)’s been good all season for us and tonight was no different. He did it last week when Dallas had a break away and he came up with a great save and we ended up winning the game.”
Chicago Fire forward Sanna Nyassi
“I think all in all, it was a good game all around. I think we did everything right. It was just a breakaway that we thought it was offside but the guy was on. But other than that, I think we had a good game. Defensively, we were organized, and offensively. It feels good (to have scored), but we still got to finish all our chances that we create. It would have been 2-2 if I would have scored all the chances that hit the post, so we have to be clinical up front.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Razvan Cocis
“First of all, (the transition from Europe) was everything I wanted. I might not be that happy right now because we just lost, but I am really happy in general. I really like Chicago, the team, and all the conditions provided. Right now, the most important thing is to focus on the rest of the season and make sure we make the playoffs.
I thought we played well the first half. If things played our way we could have scored again and made it 2-0. We were winning the whole half, and then the goal got scored on us at the end of the half. We left Diego (Fagundez) open at the far post and he put it away cleanly. It could have easily been prevented if we marked him better. At halftime, we thought that we could go back out there the second half and continue the same game plan that we had, but we were thrown off our game by that goal.
Our main priority was to end the first half on a positive note. Although we sat back quite a bit and we didn’t have possession, I thought that we went up with numbers and were able to have a few good counterattacks.
It was the same system we played the last few games. I thought it worked well in Toronto and at home in Dallas. I think we have to take the positives from the first half and keep building on that. If we fix the problems that we saw in the second half and stick to our game plan, I think we can be really effective in this formation.”
