Frustration sets in for Fire in 5-1 loss to Monaracas Morelia

Dazed and confused and tired and frustrated.

That's how the Fire looked Wednesday night at Toyota Park, suffering its worst loss of the season, 5-1 to Mexican club Monaracas Morelia in SuperLiga action.

"It looked like a bunch of tired guys and just bad soccer from start to finish," defender C.J. Brown said. "(Morelia) looked fresh in their preseason, and it was pretty embarrassing, basically."

The loss drops the Fire to 0-4 in international games this season, with SuperLiga home games to come Saturday and Tuesday. The club is 4-5-5 in MLS play.

"I don't even think in MLS we're holding our own," Brown added. "Yeah, we're getting ties, but that's not what the Fire's about. We're not satisfied with ties. We charge to win. And it's not happening. I don't think we're holding our own in MLS.

"What are we? Second or third to last? If you put all these games together, it's not good enough. It's not good enough. We're not holding our own in MLS and we're not doing it in the international games. It's not a good year."

Not even Manchester United, the famed English Premier League club that trained on the Toyota Park pitch for about an hour Wednesday afternoon, could inspire the Fire.

Morelia scored its first goal in just the third minute when Elias Hernandez worked his way behind the Fire back line to go 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra.

In the 34th minute, after one cross skipped cleanly through the Fire penalty area, Morelia's Hugo Droguett sent another one back in, finding Luis Gabriel Rey alone about 4 yards from the open goal for the easy tap in. Five minutes later Miguel Sabah also converted an easy shot that he couldn't miss.

The Fire appeared to find new life in the second half. In the 48th minute Justin Mapp chipped a pretty pass into the Morelia penalty area to rookie right back Steven Kinney, who slipped it under goalkeeper Yair Urbina with his left foot. But Morelia responded less than two minutes later when Rafael Marquez Lugo blasted a shot past Dykstra from 20 yards out. Jaime Lozano added the fifth goal in the 70th minute.

"We've been trying to fix things from the beginning, and things still aren't getting good," Brown said. "So if you have the answer, please. Other than that, honestly, I don't know. Guys are working in training, they're doing what they're asked. It's not clean, but they're doing it. Something's not happening, and the soccer's going down. It's not going up, it's going down."