SANTA CLARA, Calif. (July 23, 2014) – The Chicago Fire (3-5-11, 20 points) fell 5-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes (5-8-5, 20 points) at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University Wednesday evening. Grant Ward scored his first MLS goal as the Men in Red dropped the midweek contest.
Next up the Fire host Barclay’s Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in a match presented by Target at Toyota Park on Saturday, July 26 at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. Tickets for the match are available via Ticketmaster and www.Chicago-Fire.com.
Match Recap: http://bit.ly/1pJpDQD
Highlights: http://bit.ly/1rbeYz2
Quotes:
Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On returning to San Jose:
“It’s just nice. You have a lot of great memories and fans here in San Jose, so for me it’s always nice to come back and see old friends, see the crowd and remember the good times that I had here. When you come back with another team, you want to do really well and make a good game of it, but we didn’t do that tonight.”
On the performance:
“If you look at the game as a whole, we were really poor. I thought San Jose played really well and that usually ends in a bad result for us. It was a disappointing night for our group. We were really flat defensively and we seemed disinterested, which is alarming.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Grant Ward
On goal:
“I saw that Matt received the ball and that there was a lot of space behind their fullback, so I hit it first time and got a good strike on the ball.”
On game:
“When I come on the field - especially as a sub - I always look to bring on some energy and try and get some life into my teammates and just try and make an impact. It was great to see the field, but it would have been better if I came on under better circumstances.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Matt Watson
On moving forward:
“We really can’t take a lot from this game. I think it will be best if we just put it behind us, because there are not a lot of positives you can take from it. We’re going to try and put this one behind us and move on and kind of start from last week as opposed to this week.”
On mental lapses:
“Our communication wasn’t the best in the middle of the park and the backline. We let them have too much time on the ball and it cost us. All together, we need to get tighter and make sure they don’t have time to pick their heads up. That was the case tonight and we’re obviously disappointed about that.”
Notes:
-This match marked Fire captain Jeff Larentowicz’s 50th career MLS appearance for the Fire.
-Grant Ward’s strike in the 75th minute was the first MLS goal for the Tottenham loanee.
-This is the first time since April 11, 2009 that the Fire have conceded five goals in a MLS regular season contest. The Fire fell 5-3 to the San Jose Earthquakes on April 11, 2009.
Chicago Fire 1 – 5 San Jose Earthquakes
Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Lovel Palmer, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares; Alex (Benji Joya 84’), Jeff Larentowicz ©, Matt Watson, Harry Shipp (Grant Ward 59’); Mike Magee, Quincy Amarikwa (Matt Fondy 60’)
Substitutes not used: Kyle Reynish, Greg Cochrane, Patrick Ianni, Chris Ritter
San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch; Victor Bernardez, Jordan Stewart, Shaun Francis, Jason Hernandez, Shea Salinas (Michael Fucito 90’), Atiba Harris (Cordell Cato 70’), Sam Cronin, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Chris Wondolowski, Yannick Djalo (Khari Stepheson 88’)
Substitutes not used: Brandon Barklage, Bryan Meredith, Billy Schuler, Ty Harden
Scoring Summary
SJ – Shea Salinas (Yannick Djalo) 45’
SJ – Atiba Harris (unassisted) 52’
SJ – Chris Wondolowski (Yannick Djalo) 62’
CHI – Grant Ward (Matt Watson) 75’
SJ – Yannick Djalo (Cordell Cato) 79’
SJ – Cordell Cato (Chris Wondolowski, Yannick Djalo) 84’
Misconduct Summary
SJ – Jordan Stewart (caution) 32’
CHI – Gonzalo Segares (caution) 67’
CHI – Matt Fondy (caution) 81’
Referee: David Gantar
Assistants: Corey Rockwell, Jeff Hosking
Fourth Official: Alejandro Marsical
Attendance: 10,525
