Chicago Fire 1 – 1 Toronto FC
Chicago Fire:apple-converted-space"> Sean Johnson; Lovel Palmer, Jeff Larentowicz ©, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares; Grant Ward (Patrick Nyarko 80’), Matthew Watson, Razvan Cocis, Alex; Sanna Nyassi (Harry Shipp 69’), Quincy Amarikwa
Substitutes not used: Kyle Reynish, Patrick Ianni, Logan Pause, Benji Joya, Chris Ritter
Toronto FC: Joe Bendik; Mark Bloom, Justin Morrow, Nick Hagglund, Ashtone Morgan; Kyle Bekker (Daniel Lovitz 80’), Warren Creavalle (Luke Moore 59’), Michael Bradley ©; Jackson, Dominic Oduro (Dwayne De Rosario 5’), Gilberto
Substitutes not used:apple-converted-space"> Chris Konopka, Bradley Orr, Ryan Richter, Jeremy Hall
Scoring Summary
CHI – Lovel Palmer (Sanna Nyassi) 11’
TOR – Dwayne De Rosario (Gilberto, Nick Hagglund) 89’
Misconduct Summary
CHI – Sanna Nyassi (caution) 41’
TOR – Nick Hagglund (caution) 47’
TOR – Justin Morrow (caution) 62’
Referee: David Gantar
Assistants: Anthon Vasoli, Jason White
Fourth Official: Kevin Terry Jr.
Attendance:apple-converted-space">18,691
Quotes:
Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On the impact the missed penalty kick had on the match
“I want to say that penalty kicks have haunted us this year, especially at home. We still have to see the game out, though. Forget the penalty kick; 1-0, late in the game, we have to find a way to sort it out. It's just lax marking again, not having that real, last do-or-die spirit to win the game; that's what's missing. I can't fault the guys for their continued efforts, but their mental breakdowns have hurt us. I think that's a big thing for us. We've tied another game; we should've won it, to be honest. We had a few chances late, but we should have put the game away. But we didn't; what happens in football if you don't finish up an opponent early is giving them a chance to get back in the game. They actually could've won it. I haven't seen that play on video, but they could've won 2-1. Just disappointing. Same old story. I felt we were in control of the game, doing great. I thought we had some nastiness to us, and some real drive, and created some good chances, had a good spell in the first 20; Toronto came into the game a little bit, then we had a good spell towards the end of the first half. Second half is even-ish, but we had some good chances on the break. We had the penalty kick which would have sealed the deal, I think. And then we missed it, and then we conceded late on a set piece goal, which is really disappointing.”
On the controversial no-call late in the game
“I haven't seen the play. It didn't look like it was a foul, or whatever the ref called. We got lucky on that one. But we need to win; another tie is not great for us. Usually, you find a ways to lose matches as a group, as a lot of coaches say, but we find ways to tie matches, when we should be winning them. It's frustrating, but it's where we are at. I've never made excuses, and I wouldn't hide behind anything either, but we're not quite good enough. It's what we are. We need to make changes and make sure we're better moving forward for sure.”
On the playing surface
“It's not great, to be honest. If you look at the two chances in the first half, when Quincy [Amarikwa] had a chance, I think Alex had a really good chance right before halftime; if the surface is a really clean, tight-knit surface, it's a little bit easier to concentrate on the actual finish rather than where the ball is going to bounce. It's not great, not great at all. They play football games, high school soccer games, and all that stuff on our field. We have no control over that. The stadium has control of it. We rent the field, so they do whatever they need to do on it to make money. We're at the mercy of that, and that's what we get, not a great surface.”
On the spirit of the club after another tie
“You have to ask the players, but I think from a coaching staff and from a club point of view, we've never given up. I think we've always had a positive attitude in our approach to every game we've had. I'm a realist; I don't mince words when we've not played well, I will tell you that. If I think we've been a little bit unlucky, I'll tell you that as well. I think a little bit more luck our way this season might have helped us. But again, every team will say the same thing: that we could have won that one, should've lost that, etc. We're not quite there, and I think that that's the big thing. We've got a couple of injuries at the wrong time. It's nice to see Patrick back on the field at home; we've not had him for two or three months, and he's a good player. Robbie Earnshaw comes in and makes an impact in two games, then gets a calf strain, and we haven't had him for two weeks. Mike Magee had surgery, and he's out. These guys are difference-makers in matches. Again, I'm not making excuses at all, because we should have got three points tonight, no matter who's out, because we played well enough to win. But we couldn't get it done. But we'll keep going, we always do. I think my positive attitude is to do the best with what we have, and move forward, try to build on it, and it won't be any different heading into the end of the city.”
On Quincy Amarikwa's performance
“I think Quincy played well. Quincy's one of those forwards that takes a lot of battering; he likes to make contact. Quincy's attitude is really good. I think he played well last week in New England; although we lost, I thought he had a good game, and I thought he had a good game tonight, and leads the line well. I thought he ran out of gas a little bit late. It would've been nice to have been able to put someone on for him, but I think that we still should've saw that through. I think Quincy as an individual has done well, done okay this year. He's gotten goals, he's worked hard. It just would've been nice to have Robbie or, we just signed Florent [Sinama-Pongolle] too, to replace him with one of those guys to maybe make a difference.”
Chicago Fire defender Jeff Larentowicz
On the missed penalty kick:
“It went low and to the left. The keeper made a save – I didn’t put it all the way in the corner, which gave him a chance to save it.”
On TFC’s equalizer:
“It was a corner kick that came out toward the top of the box, the guy who hit the initial head ball never gave Razvan [Cocis] a chance to jump. From the way it looked live, it seems like it was a foul. The ball gets knocked down the center of the box. I’m not even sure who scored it, it was a loose ball.”
On the result:
“I told the guys, everybody fought and fought hard. We did enough to win the game. I told them I take responsibility; I should have put the game away in the second half - I didn’t do that and it gave them a chance to score the goal. It was an important game tonight; it’s unfortunate to not get three points.”
On writing the loss of as bad luck:
“No, you can’t do that, we’ve done that too much this year. I don’t believe in bad luck – you take your chances or you don’t.”
Chicago Fire defender Lovel Palmer
On the result:
“This was not the result we wanted. Unfortunately we gave up a goal in the 89th minute, that’s always a tough one after battling so hard. We say it all the time, you have to play for 90+ minutes and we can’t take a play off.”
On scoring his first goal with the Fire:
“I’m happy to get my first goal. I would have wanted it to come earlier, but the month of September is something very close to me - it’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. So, I’m happy I got the goal and I celebrated like I did.”
On TFC’s equalizer:
“It was just Dwayne DeRosario being the poacher that he is. He popped up free in the box in the 89th minute. It’s just unfortunate, I just wish someone was there to get a toe on it and clear it out of the box. It’s been the kind of season we’re having that we just can’t get a break. We play well for 80 minutes or 45 minutes, now we just need to put together a good string of 90+ minutes. Just like I say every day, try and play for 90+ minutes and not take a play off.”
On how to move forward:
“We can’t give up. As long as there’s a chance, we’ll keep battling every day. As players we come to practice every day and work hard, the coaches are working hard trying to find ways, trying to find solutions and just have to be professionals and stay focused. With seven games to go we have to keep battling and get every point we can get. “
Chicago Fire midfielder Patrick Nyarko
On how he’s feeling on his return:
“I feel great. My fitness is lacking a little bit, but I keep building it up at training and a couple of reserve games, I’ll get there. It’s just a matter of getting into games and getting the confidence back.”
On the result:
“Tonight’s result basically just sums up our season. You could go through all the of our games this season and about half of them we could have won or we deserved to win. Sometimes that’s just how the season goes. Today could have been comfortable way ahead of time, but the last few minutes we started seeing the finish line rather than play through and we allowed them back in the game and they created a chance and scored. It just very unfortunate, but like I said we just need to get better at finishing games.”
