BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The Chicago Fire wasted a magnificent second half comeback last weekend, conceding in the 85th minute to fall to the Houston Dynamo 4-3 at Robertson Stadium.
More importantly, Chicago wasted an opportunity to further edge their way into the playoff picture. A win over the previously struggling Dynamo would have vaulted the Fire past eighth-seeded Toronto FC and into a postseason slot.
WATCH: FULL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Instead, the Fire lost, remained two points behind their Canadian rivals and returned to Toyota Park feeling frustrated.
[inline_node:316668]“There’s no way to look at it as [anything but] a missed opportunity,” Fire forward Calen Carr said Tuesday. “To fight back into the game and put as much into it as we did, then to give up a late goal and lose is frustrating.”
But despite their disappointment with Saturday’s defeat, the team is already beyond it – and even taking some positives away from it.
“The game’s behind us now,” Carr said. “The mood is still high, there’s still a lot of energy at training and guys are feeling good.
“I think that the promising thing we got out of [Saturday’s match] is that we’re playing well,” Carr added. “The soccer part looks good. We had a couple moments where we overlooked some details and got punished but I think the hard part is the soccer and that’s looking good right now.”
And that’s a good thing, because the Fire don’t have a whole lot of time to regroup. A tough match at Seattle is just a few days away, and Chicago need a result to stay within striking distance of Toronto.
“Over the last four games we’ve played really well,” Carr said. “If we can just keep that part rolling and iron out some of our mistakes, I think we still can make a really good push here.”
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @samstejskal.
