Salt Lake shows they are the Real deal, extinguishes Fire

The Chicago Fire are lucky, one might say, that because of a scheduling quirk, they start their 2023 Major League Soccer campaign a week later than many of the other teams. After Saturday’s match at Kino North Stadium, head coach Ezra Hendrickson told reporters what he would be working on.

“Just trying to get better,” he said.

If it sounds like he’s not being specific, it might be because there is quite a long list of improvements that need to be made after Saturday’s drubbing at the hands of Real Salt Lake. The 3 - 0 scoreline was as much a tribute to a skillful Real Salt Lake side as it was an indicator of Chicago’s poor organization, lack of motivation and tactical incoherence in the attack.

In the opening moments of the match, it looked as though it would be a good contest. Despite the unusually early 11 a.m. kickoff, the crowd was vocal and cheered on both teams in the first 20 minutes as play moved back and forth.

But, a defensive error gave RSL an opening in the 23rd minute. Braian Ojeda sent a rocket past Fire keeper Chris Brady.

It was one of the first chances for the Utah side, but it gave them momentum that they didn’t lose the rest of the half.

Brady stopped a close-range shot from midfielder Jasper Löffelsend in minute 40, but was unable to control it and it fell to the feet of Jefferson Savarino. The Venezuelan international easily finished before Brady could get in his way.

Savarino finished a second goal only moments later.

The match featured a lot of physical play, much to the delight of the crowd which oohed and aahed every stray elbow and ankle. However, tensions boiled over in the final moments of the half when players from both teams got into a confrontation in Chicago’s half of the field. Only RSL’s Maikel Chang received a yellow card for the incident.

Hendrickson’s half-time speech must have had some effect on the team as a much more confident Chicago attacked RSL’s goal in the opening moments of the second stanza. Things broke down quickly, however, when in a break in the action to tend to an injured RSL player gave Chicago center back Rafa Czichos a chance to voice his frustration with the front line. When Hendrickson tried to calm him down from the sidelines, Czichos directed a profane rant at his coach that could be easily heard from the stands.

Despite the dustup within the team, the Fire had its best chance of the match within seconds of it being restarted. Forward Kacper Przybyłko took a shot from close range that would have, for any team that had the soccer gods on its side, gone in. He had the keeper beat, but instead, it hit the post and no other Chicago attacker was there to make a second chance.

It slowly became time for RSL to put the lid on the game. A small crew of substitutes, including former FC Tucson players Ilija Paul and Danny Musovski, came into the match around the hour mark.

RSL’s Justin Meram, a former Yavapai Rough Rider and Arizona Sahuaro, had the last chance of the match just moments before the final whistle. Brady saved the shot, keeping his team from further humiliation.

It was a poor performance for the Fire by any standard. Much of the criticism of the team has been about a lack of finishing, but they didn’t take very many chances on Saturday. A Chicago forward was more likely to be having to chase an RSL player than he was to be taking a shot for much of the game.

It was more than just lack of chances, said Hendrickson.

“The mentality for those first 45 minutes is something that is not going to happen on this team,” he said after the match. “We need to be more together right now…we’re not playing together and we have to fix that first and foremost.”

Real Salt Lake players and staff were, understandably, more upbeat about the performance. Even so, coach Pablo Mastroeni chose to reflect on what he thought was a successful preseason overall.

“I think we have a really good idea as to how to break opponents down and also defend opponents that play in different shapes,” he said. “So, I think this was a very good trip.”

“To cap it off with this performance validates the trip,” he added.

As to individual performances, he pointed to Severino (“special”), Ojeda (“immense”), goalkeeper Zach McMath and Tucson native Justen Glad. Also, he got to play a crew of draftees. Usually in MLS, they will spend their first season on the bench or on loan to lower division affiliates, but he’s already seen strong performances out of them.

“Their ability to really grasp concepts is somewhat different than what we are used to,” he said. “I think that the understanding of what their role is and their ability to execute has been top level.”

Real Salt Lake begins their season on February 25 in British Columbia against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Chicago starts their season on March 4 at home against NYCFC.