Fire lose third straight in 1-0 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The restart of the MLS season has not been kind to the Fire.
The Fire lost their third straight game in a row after falling 1-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps at Soldier Field.
The home side fell behind early in the first half thanks to a Brian White goal in the 19th minute. White scored following a run by Ryan Gauld who slipped in a ball through the Fire defenders. White stuck his foot out and his shot came off Chris Brady who almost kept it out but the ball managed to cross the goal line.
The Fire were fortunate to go into the second half only down by one as the Whitecaps had a couple of clear cut chances to increase their lead with Brady coming up huge on occasion.
Despite being second best nearly the entire opening half, the Fire had an opportunity to open the score when Brian Gutierrez fed a ball to put Kei Kamara through on goal. Kamara’s shot ended up being saved by Vancouver’s Yohei Takaoka.
Aside from that, the Fire had few goal scoring opportunities. Xherdan Shaqiri, their marquee Designated Player, was substituted with the team needing a goal.
The Fire headed into the Leagues Cup winners of three straight and had only lost one of their previous six matches. They won their first Leagues Cup game before losing the next two.
Since then, in addition to the loss to Vancouver, they lost to Orlando City at home and the LA Galaxy on the road. They’ve given up seven goals in these three losses and scored only once.
For a team trying to fight for a spot in the MLS postseason, the Fire couldn’t have gotten to a worse start. The defensive solidity the Fire were showing prior to the break has disappeared and now look toothless in attack.
If there is a silver lining it’s that the Fire are still in a playoff spot despite three straight defeats. All their remaining games are important but perhaps none more so than their next when the Fire take on DC United – the team who is only two points behind them for the final playoff spot.
