First half of the season ends in frustration for Chicago Fire
The Chicago Fire went looking Saturday night for a bounceback victory. Instead it found a treading-water draw.
The Fire completed the first half of the 2019 season with a lackluster 1-1 tie against mediocre Real Salt Lake. The Fire is 4-6-7 for 19 points, good for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. That's a pace that would have the Fire missing the playoffs again.
"I think we're all a little bit disappointed, a little bit frustrated with the first half of the season," Fire captain Dax McCarty said. "We expect more. Let me put it as simple as I possibly can: We expect more out of ourselves in this locker room, and I know that there's more out there for us.
"Not the result that we wanted tonight. A frustrated locker room again, which has kind of been a little bit of the theme of the season."
The Fire has gone five straight league games without a victory, a drought dating back to May 11. That doesn't include the disheartening U.S. Open Cup loss to second-division Saint Louis FC on June 11.
"It feels like we've got to get going again. Look I know that there's frustration in the locker room, outside the locker room. We expect more of ourselves and we have 17 games to make it better," McCarty said.
The Fire managed just 43.9 percent possession in the game. It put just 2 shots on frame, including Aleksandar Katai's fifth-minute goal off a free kick.
Real Salt Lake (6-8-2, 20 points) evened the game in the 33rd minute when Albert Rusnak converted a penalty kick after the Fire's Mo Adams was called for a hand ball in the penalty area.
"There is no other recipe but to stay focused, work together and focus on the next game, the next opponent, and most important focus on ourselves," Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said.
Still, the Fire locker room remains cohesive, McCarty said.
"Absolutely," he said. "Absolutely. No question about it. I think it's easy in these situations to get negative and to let your frustration boil over. But the locker room is together.
"We have good veterans, we have guys with experience, we have guys that have played in this league long enough to know that you just need one or two good results to go your way. And sometimes when you're in a stretch like this you just need a little bit of luck. I mean it's not like we're out there getting dominated by teams."
But clearly the team has lost the confidence it seemed to have earned in early May. Maybe it's just not getting the breaks, as McCarty said, but it needs to start collecting wins one way or the other soon.
The second half of the season begins Friday night at the New York Red Bulls.