Two teams met at Toyota Park on Saturday night looking to break winless streaks. After a tiring 120 minutes on Wednesday, Vancouver was just looking to survive, while Chicago had a good chance to walk away with a win. The result at the end of the night, however, would be a scoreless draw that was damage control for Vancouver, and a night of frustration and continued lack of finishing for home side Chicago.
Chicago came out with commanding possession early, a marked difference and obvious lesson learned from their possessing debacle against Colorado a week before. Carlos de los Cobos presented the same lineup against Vancouver as he did the week before against Colorado. Early on, this lineup seemed to work well together. First half play from the center mid Gaston Puerari, along with Daniel Paladini in the defensive center mid position, had a purpose to their distribution and movement.
Possession was dominated by the Fire in the first half, and they created good runs down the sides once again with Dominic Oduro. Once such chance led to an amazing opportunity for forward Diego Chaves to throw a one-touch strike into the back of the net, but Chaves’ touch failed him, as he bobbled the ball at his feet just long enough for Vancouver to converge on him. He tried selling a foul in the box, as he was tied up on the play, but replays showed an obvious gaffe on his part, more than an actual foul. That would signal the beginning of the frustration for Fire fans.
Chicago had four solid scoring chances in the first half, all of which went unfinished. Chaves’ previously mentioned tumble in the box, Dominic Oduro with a one-on-one chance against Whitecap keeper Jay Nolly that he sailed over the post after putting a good move on two Vancouver defenders, Diego Chaves again later with a toe poke that glanced off the far post, and Marco Pappa with a rocket that tried to beat Nolly low and near post, but was gobbled up instead. Those would prove to be Chicago’s best chances at goal all night.
On the other side of the ball, Vancouver generated little, if any, offense throughout the entire game. It was apparent from the early minutes that Vancouver was going to do nothing to push the issue on the offensive side, with the few scoring chances they presented being taken on runs by striker Eric Hassli. One chance by Hassli, a one-on-one run against Fire keeper Jon Conway, resulted in Conway’s only real testing of the evening, as he pounced on the ball to deny the shot.
The second half saw Chicago again maintaining possession early in the half, only to have Vancouver step up to take more control from Chicago. Most of the second half resulted in few chances, with a lot of back and forth between two teams who seemed like they could care less about scoring. While this seemed true throughout the game for the fatigued Vancouver Whitecaps, it seemed definitely true of the Chicago Fire, who could have easily pressed to put the 100th goal scored at Toyota Park in the back of the net, but who instead seemed to squander chance after chance, and slowed down runs rather than attacking forward. The second half of the game was easily the most frustrating and uneventful half to watch all season. Not something the Fire could afford to do with such an excellent opportunity to take away three points.
If Carlos de los Cobos thinks he’s found his formation for this season, he needs to do some definite tweaking to his strategy. More than once in the second half, it seemed that the wingers had runs up the side with ball possession that could have generated something positive, only to drop the ball to the central midfielders. We saw similar moves from the team in pre-season, almost as if they would stop the natural run of play to pull back and instead run a set play. It’s something you’d expect a high school team to do, but not an MLS club. Momentum was broken time and again, and with a Vancouver side that would put as many as seven men back in the defensive third, it’s painfully obvious that it was a strategy that wasn’t going to work.
Furthermore, it seemed that the communication and movement off the ball for Chicago was sorely lacking. Numerous times in the first half, Corben Bone found himself in the defensive half of the field while the other midfielders and Chaves were forward in the offensive half. In addition, Gaston Puerari, brought into the club as a striker but instead playing a central attacking mid position, seemed lost at times trying to create passing opportunities in the second half. Puerari is a striker, and he’s much better at receiving a pass than dishing it out. Carlos de los Cobos is doing the team and Puerari a disservice by sticking him in a midfield role.
Bright spots were few for the Fire tonight. Gonzalo Segares seems to have found his form that was spotty at times early in the season. Segares got caught on Hassli’s second half one v. one chance, but the replay, as well as my vantage point at the game, seemed to show a grossly-offside Hassli, just one of many non-calls by the referee tandem led by Andrew Chapin.
Aside from Segares, though, Yamith Cuesta also had a good night, as did Daniel Paladini, in spite of some errant passes that Vancouver intercepted. Paladini on many occasions showed excellent field vision and a good mind for the game. Both Cuesta and Paladini, non-starters at the beginning of the year, have proven that they deserve a place in the starting lineup.
Unfortunately, those were the few bright spots for the Fire. Pappa, Chaves, Mikulic, and Puerari all had subpar games overall. Corben Bone, who was more visible than last week, still hasn’t convinced he’s worthy of a starting spot once captain Logan Pause is healthy. And what seemed to be a grudge between Oduro and Chaves over missed passing chances to feed each other the ball needs to get sorted out. That kind of childishness, if true, does nothing to help score goals, and both have been around long enough to know it.
In the end, Vancouver got what they wanted. They came into the game fatigued, on a winless streak, and in survival mode. They got a result I’m sure they’re happy with. On the other side of the ball, Chicago had a golden opportunity to put away three points and start a great run of winnable games with a victory tonight. Instead, they came away with blown chances, no goals, and many questions to be answered, both of players, as well as head coach Carlos de los Cobos. One would hope that in the next three upcoming games, two of which should be easy wins, the Fire can muster some points and not see May pass as April did….winless.
(image courtesy of chicago-fire.com)
