New coach, same old result for Fire
The players were the same, the inconsistent play from half to half was familiar, and the result was unchanged: another draw for the Chicago Fire, this time 0-0 against Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night at Toyota Park.
The winless streak now stands at 10 games for the Fire (1-4-7, 10 points).
The biggest difference was on the sideline, where technical director Frank Klopas took over on an interim basis for fired coach Carlos de los Cobos.
Did the players notice the coaching change on the field?
“Not really,” said midfielder Corben Bone, inserted into the lineup with Marco Pappa away for the Gold Cup. “We’re players. We know how to play. The coach has information to give us before and after the game, but when we step out on the field the coach can’t do much. Frank’s a great guy and we’re behind him and we’re just moving forward.”
Unfortunately, the season is moving forward without the Fire. More than a third of the way through the season, the club is mired in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. When you’re this far in the hole, you don’t have time to talk about climbing out, you just have to climb.
“It’s going to take time. I think the mentality changed a little bit,” defender Gonzalo Segares said. “We’ve just got to keep playing well. It’s frustrating not getting a result, but we’ve got to keep working.”
The defense was a bright spot in this game, especially second-year goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who made two clutch saves in the first 10 minutes to earn his first shutout of the season.
The attack struggled, however, putting 5 shots on goal but never really scaring Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
“I thought the first half we pushed the game, we had some opportunities,” Klopas said at his first postgame news conference. “I felt (Seattle) did too. That’s been the story for us right now. We always create opportunities, but we’ve got to finish some of those.”
Fortunately, he could point to one thing that was different. A club that gave up 7 set-piece goals in its first 11 games didn’t allow anything dangerous in this one. Maybe it’s a one-time thing, maybe it’s a result of extra work in practice and a change to a man-marking system from a zone.
“It’s a positive clean sheet for Sean and the rest of the team that worked so hard,” Klopas said. “ ... We didn’t get the win, but I felt there were a lot of positives going away from this game.”
They need more than a confidence boost, though, they need a standings boost. They need 3 points. On Thursday the Fire helps open the new stadium in Kansas City.
“Hopefully,” said Bone, another bright spot on the field, “things will start going our way.”