TORONTO – As the Chicago Fire’s disappointing 2016 season came to an end on Sunday with a 3-2 loss to Toronto FC, nobody appeared more relieved than manager Veljko Paunovic.
“The most important thing right now is that the season is over for us,” said Paunovic. “2016 was a year where we worked hard. I'm proud of all our players; the commitment and the attitude they had the whole year was fantastic. From now on we turn to the next season, starting to work to be better.”
Decision Day held little of consequence for the Fire, who were already eliminated from the playoffs. But having strung together a pair of results over the previous two weeks, a certain measure of pride was on the line.
And despite finishing bottom of the league for the second straight year and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight, the year did see some progression.
“The whole year was a build-up for us, a process where we were getting better,” explained Paunovic. “We started in a difficult spot and we did a huge job. Credit to our players and my coworkers and staff. It was a very hard year. Many times we were challenged, but we were capable of sticking together and working hard towards our goals, which is to be successful in the coming seasons.”
The Fire took the lead against the run of play in the 18th minute through Michael de Leeuw, only to concede a penalty kick and then two more goals at the start of the second half.
John Goossens would pull one back in the 83rd minute, and if not for an excellent save from Clint Irwin 10 minutes earlier, David Accam may have added another.
There was a lot of fight in this last-placed side.
“We are professionals and we have to play hard until the last minute of the final game; that’s what we did,” said Arturo Alvarez, who set up de Leeuw's goal. “In the last half of the season, we showed resilience, we wanted to make sure that it was tough for teams to come in and play against us; they realized that. It was never an easy win against us.”
Added goalkeeper Patrick McLain, who made his first MLS start since 2013 on Sunday: “I don’t think anybody can question the character [of this group]. We have a fighting spirit; there are good things to come from this squad.”
James Grossi is a contributor for MLSsoccer.com.
