Fire unsatisfied with unbeaten record
Chicago laments lost leads in home draws with Seattle, KC
The Fire are 2-0-5 through seven games. Yes, they are undefeated, the only unbeaten team in the league. But five ties really reduce the significance of never having been beaten, especially when two of the ties occurred at home when the Fire held a lead.
"Being unbeaten doesn't mean anything," Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "Yeah, we are undefeated, but we are in games where we work so hard and end up getting ties. We should be winning these games and we are not and that is what matters."
The topic grew more heated with the Fire's 1-1 draw with Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday at Toyota Park. The Fire outplayed the visitors the entire contest but gave up a goal on a corner kick when the ball landed right at the foot of Seattle defender Tyrone Marshall and he had a clear and easy shot at the far corner of the goal.
Prior to that was a home game against Kansas City when the Fire took a 2-0 lead after about 20 minutes only to see Wizards striker Josh Wolff score twice in the final 15 minutes to create yet another draw.
"We have had three games at home, and we are supposed to score points at home," Fire defender Bakary Soumare said. "It is frustrating to give up leads like that. These (standings) points are crucial. It is OK to have a tie on the road but at home you need to try to get three points."
The Fire's home opener was a 1-0 win over New York on April 5, the Fire's last win. They have had four draws since.
"We think we have an edge going into every game," said forward Patrick Nyarko. "We feel we can win every game we go into. We cannot get all these ties."
"I'm concerned with so many ties," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. "(Seattle) has one chance on goal and they score. The two games at home are a little hard to swallow."
Making it worse is the Fire's pronounced goal at the start of the season, to win the Eastern Conference and earn the No. 1 seed in the playoffs so they can have home-field advantage in the postseason. They lost in the conference semifinals last year to Columbus and they believe they might have had a different turn of luck if that game had been played in Bridgeview instead of Columbus.
As it is now, despite being unbeaten through seven games, the Fire are in third place in the conference behind D.C. United (3-1-3, 12 points) and Toronto FC (3-2-3, 12 points), two teams that have taken a loss but have also managed to win one more game than the Fire.
Hamlett also cited the team's defending, which has been sharp for most of the seven games but has almost always found a moment in which they slip up and give up goals.
"We have given up 10 goals in seven games and that is not good enough," Hamlett said. "Right now we have to have that extra motivation to say 'My guy is not going to score'."
With a league-high 13 goals scored, Hamlett's point is that the Fire should have more than two wins and five ties in seven games. But they are undefeated, for what that is worth.
Kent McDill is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
