Striker
Quincy Amarikwa
and head coach Frank Yallop highlighted the difference in class at both ends of the field as the reason why the
Chicago Fire fell to their ninth defeat of the seaso
n at the hands of Sporting Kansas City on Friday.
In an open, end-to-end game, both sides had chances to score before two late strikes from
Graham Zusi
and
Dom Dwyer
gave the hosts all three points and a guaranteed place in the playoffs with two games to spare.
The Fire, (5-9-18, 33 pts) already out of the playoff picture, will lament substitute
Matt Fondy
’s late effort which was wonderfully saved by Sporting goalkeeper
Andy Gruenebaum
, who denied Frank Yallop’s men on at least six occasions with what Amarikwa described as a “Man of the Match” performance.
“I think Gruenebaum was Man of the Match, he came out with some amazing saves that kept his team in it and in the end Zusi came away with a real great goal and the rest is kind of history,” Amarikwa told reporters after the game at a packed Sporting Park.
“If you look at the game as a neutral, it was a pretty even game with chances and I thought we played well tonight and created some real good opportunities,” added Yallop. “But if you look at the quality finish from Graham Zusi, which was a terrific goal, a great strike, there’s not much you can do about that one. Then we’re chasing the game trying to get back in it with minutes left, then obviously a good finish by Dwyer.”
A disjointed opening period saw the Fire almost concede two penalties before eventually being called for one in the 12th minute when
Lovel Palmer
felled
Benny Feilhaber
. However, Dwyer blazed his shot over to give the visitors renewed impetus.
Amarikwa revealed the Fire’s gameplan was to continue to do what they have been doing all season.
“The talks in the locker room were to continue doing what we’re doing, focusing on springing guys on the counterattack and hopefully joining in on the second phase,” the Fire’s top scorer, with eight goals, said. “Unfortunately, Zusi came away with one of the best strikes I’ve seen in the league all year, and we were on the tail end of that and we couldn’t come away with three points. We really pushed for it there in the end, we went three at the back to try and get it. Fondy had a real good opportunity but Gruenebaum came up with another big save.”
The Fire will become the first team in MLS history to finish the season with more points from ties than victories if they fail to win one of their remaining two games, but as has been the case for much of the year, Yallop insisted his side deserved more from the game.
“I thought we played well, enough to get something out of the match, as we have in a lot of games this year, we’re in every game,” he insisted. “We’ve proved it again tonight, we were right there, toe to toe and we didn’t quite get it done.”
