If a season is like a cross country road trip, then the Fire had their burned cds all lined up, their favorite snacks on hand, and the open road in front of them. Last week the journey seemed new and exciting. Fans were back in Soldier Field, the offense was clicking and even though the defense continued the trend from last season of giving away cheap goals. There was still a mostly positive feeling surrounding the Fire entering the second match-day.
Unfortunately week two was when you leave home, only to realize 30 minutes into the trip that you forgot to fill up with gas. Not terrible, but definitely annoying to have to exit the highway and pull into a gas station so soon. That was the overriding feeling for me about the 3-1 defeat to Atlanta United. It wasn’t a disaster, it won’t ruin the season, but it’s definitely not great.
A lack of depth
One glance at the team sheet before the game illustrates one of the biggest differences between the two teams. The Fire’s midfield and forward options on the bench had a total of 27 minutes of first team experience. Meanwhile, Atlanta had the MLS MVP from two seasons ago, Josef Martinez, on their bench as he works his way back from the knee injury that forced him to miss most of the 2020 season. The injuries and lack of attacking depth would come back to hurt the Fire as they chased an equalizer late in the game.
The first half did have some positive moments. The Fire could have easily gone up 1-0 after nine minutes when Frankowski found himself with time and space on the right side of the box and failed to beat Brad Guzan with a low effort towards the far post. The game remained tight with only a 23rd minute Ezequiel Barco laser into the top corner separating the teams at halftime.
Super Sekulić
The second half started perfectly with some nice combination play down the left hand side of the pitch and then a crossfield pass to Boris Sekulić who hit a first time volleyed cross to the edge of Atlanta’s six-yard box where it somehow found its way past two Atlanta defenders and to the feet of Luka Stojanović to tap in and level the game at one apiece. So far this season all three Fire goals have come from a left to right crossfield pass and then playing a one touch ball into the center for the finish, in both games Sekulić getting forward to provide attacking width down the right has been a real positive.
But instead of the goal sparking the Fire into life it seemed to have the opposite effect. Atlanta slowly began to control possession and pin the Fire back into their defensive third for long stretches. Unable to play their way out of pressure through midfield the Fire resorted to hitting hopeful long (mostly unsuccessful) balls towards Berić and Offor just to get out of their own half.
Just sending it long…
It’s interesting to look at the center back partners for each team. Francisco Calvo and Kappelhof combined for 16/33 on long passes, while Miles Robinson and Anton Walkes were 22/28 on long balls.(per fbref) Basically, Calvo and Kappelhof were under pressure and were just clearing the ball out of danger areas. Which gave the ball right back to Atlanta who possessed and attacked again.
Eventually the Atlanta pressure gave them the break they were looking for when goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and Johan Kappelhof couldn’t deal with a low cross into the box and the ball ricocheted off Kappelhof into the back of the net. Going up 2-1 seemed to give Atlanta even more confidence and they sealed the game with a third goal in the 85th minute.
Atlanta had a disappointing season last year, but they have a new coach, Gabriel Hienze, and overall a much stronger squad than the Fire. It’s never good to lose, but the fact that the Fire stuck with them up until around the 60th minute is a positive for this game. More than anything it seemed like the Fire just ran out of gas. (sorry to return to the road trip analogy again)
Even though some fresh legs were badly needed. Wicky didn’t seem to trust in the young players at his disposal. He will be hoping that Fabian Herbers and Ignacio Aliseda return from injury sooner rather than later.
The Fire travel to New York to face the Red Bulls next week as both teams look for their first win of the season.
