A week ago, the Fire entered a key eight-day stretch hoping to reverse their recent losing ways before the start of the MLS playoffs.
Consecutive home losses, though, have all but wiped away any goodwill remaining from the team’s solid first half.
The Fire’s struggles continued with their latest loss Saturday against struggling Minnesota United. Minnesota forward Abu Danladi scored two goals in an 11-minute span late in the first half to spark the “Loons” to a surprising 2-1 victory in Bridgeview.
The Fire (12-9-5, 41 points) have lost four consecutive games and six of their last seven to tumble further down the Eastern Conference standings.
The frustration was evident in the very quiet Fire locker room, and star midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger elected not to talk to the media.
The Fire outshot the Loons 20-8 but did not take advantage. All-Star midfielder Dax McCarty called the loss the low point of the season.
“Nobody likes losing and everyone is frustrated,” McCarty said. “You have to have confidence to score goals, and we can’t score goals right now. … It’s a simple game. If you give the other team breakaways and tap-ins, you are going to concede goals. On the other end, if it takes 25 shots to score one goal, it’s not a recipe for winning many games.”
For the second game in a row, David Accam supplied the Fire’s only goal. The midfielder brought most of the 18,048 fans to their feet by outracing a defender to knock in a shot in the 77th minute.
The Ghana native’s 14 goals are two behind team leader Nemanja Nikolic, who went without a goal for the eighth straight game.
“We know we are a good team and have strong personalities in the locker room and can come back from this,” Accam said. “We are not happy. I want the team to win, and scoring (again) means nothing to me.”
Last Saturday, the Fire had their sights on a potential turnaround facing Eastern leader Toronto FC, but after a disappointing 3-1 loss they had a week off before facing Western Conference bottom-dweller Minnesota.
“We’re struggling right now,” All-Star defender Johan Kappelhoff said. “I think we work hard, but it doesn’t go so well and easy like before. We have to finish our chances; that’s also a problem.”
The Loons (7-14-4, 25 points) had lost seven of their previous eight , and were without leading goal-scorer Christian Ramirez. Danladi, though, supplied enough offense with his first-half goals.
In the 36th minute, Kevin Molino tapped a pass to Danladi, who nailed a shot into a net that was wide-open after Fire goalie Matt Lampson slipped to the ground attempting to stop Molino’s pass.
Nine minutes later, Danladi, the No. 1 selection in the 2017 SuperDraft, earned his first professional multiple-goal game with a sliding, left-footed shot past Lampson.
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Before Danladi’s first goal, the Fire peppered Minnesota goalie Bobby Shuttleworth in the first 30 minutes.
Nikolic had five of the Fire’s 14 first-half shots, capped by a near miss on a header in the 38th minute. Lemont native Djordje Mihailovic, in his first home start, had three first-half shots, including one from 25 yards that knocked Minnesota’s Sam Cronin to the ground in the 20th minute.
“No one said it’s going to be easy,” Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said. “This is exactly what we were talking about when … we were all celebrating the great season so far and the team. We have to stick together.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai