The Chicago Fire traveled back to the Pacific Northwest on Saturday night, reaching the midway point of their clash at Vancouver Whitecaps FC level at 1-1 before ultimately falling by a 3-2 margin at BC Place. Below are some of the news and notes to emerge from the cross-conference fixture:
- Saturday's loss snapped Chicago's seven-match unbeaten streak across MLS and U.S. Open Cup play. Prior to tonight, the Fire had not lost since a May 30th meeting with the Philadelphia Union, the team the Men In Red will now get set to host Wednesday at Toyota Park (7:30 PM, TICKETS).
- Nemanja Nikolic found net for the second straight game, registering his 32nd MLS regular season goal in 52 appearances. The 32 goals tie Nikolic with former Fire standout Josh Wolff (1998-2002) for fourth-most in club history.
- Including U.S. Open Cup, Nikolic now has 35 goals in all competitions for the Fire, with an overall strike rate of 0.67 goals per 90 minutes with the Men In Red.
- Midfielder Tony Tchani entered the game in the 78th minute and promptly scored his first goal as a member of the Fire three minutes later, doing so against the team that dealt him to Chicago earlier this year. The 29-year-old spent the 2017 season with Carl Robinson's Whitecaps, starting 27 games and scoring four goals in that time. Saturday's goal was Tchani's 15th career MLS goal in his 209th appearance.
- Defender Kevin Ellis recorded the primary assist on both Fire goals in the game, doubling his assist total on the year (4). It was the first multi-assist game of Ellis' MLS career (84 games).
- Fellow defender Jonathan Campbell also was credited with an assist, his first since October 16, 2016.
- The Fire are now 1-5-3 vs. Western Conference opponents in 2018, with another cross-conference road trip looming next weekend (July 14 at FC Dallas).
- Chicago finished with a 16-14 edge in total shots and maintained 64.8% of possession on the evening.
- The Whitecaps have won all four fixtures in the series played in Vancouver and lead the overall series 5-2-2.
