Montreal Impact 3, Chicago Fire 0: First Thoughts

• Speaking of rotation... (some due to injury, but...) Djordje, Doody, Campbell, and Kapp at Right Back...
• Need to get a result here tonight, been a bit of a scuffle as of late.
• Prediction: Niko finds his shooting boots tonight and gets at least one goal.

FIRST THOUGHT: The Fire’s defense has been leaky recently, it’s time to settle down and get a shutout. I’m going for a 1-0 Fire victory.

KICKOFF!

1- Beautiful night in Montreal, pitch is in perfect condition.

4- Uh oh...looks like Meira got bit by the hamstring...

5- Dean in for Joao Meira.

6- GOAL - MONTREAL. Yikes. Dean misses the ball and it goes straight to Piatti.

9- This has not been a very good start, ladies and germs.

11- Montreal know the midfield and defense are uncomfortable and they’re pressing hard.

13- Fire with a few crosses into the box, hopefully we can settle into the game a bit more here!

16- Now Chicago with a bit of build up play and they win a corner — now send it into the box!!!

17- THEY DIDN’T TAKE A CORNER DIRECT. GREAT JOB. No shot on target.

18- And Accam finally registers a shot on goal. Little by little we’ll get this.

20- Fire force a turnover and win a free kick in a really dangerous area! (SCHWEINI???)

20- YELLOW CARD - MONTREAL - VICTOR CABRERA.

21- Schweinsteiger tries to curl it to the short post but curls it a bit too much, and he’s upset with himself.

23- I like Right Back Kappelhof!

26- Fire dominating possession now. I do think there’s a chance we win this match still.

29- De Leeuw with a good chance, as the Fire inch ever so close to equalizing...

33- LAMPSON makes a save as the defense fails him!

35- PENALTY - MONTREAL GOING TO THE SPOT!

35- Lampson tripped him up as he had nowhere to go and no defenders behind him.

37- GOAL - MONTREAL - MANCOSU. 2-0 Impact.

38- GOAL - MONTREAL - PIATTI. What a goal. Wow.

42- The game is wide open now but the Fire can’t string together those final few passes. This has the possibility to get ugly.

HALFTIME THOUGHT: The entire defense is a joke right now. Lampson exposed. Yikes.

48 - YELLOW CARD - MONTREAL - DUVALL. Caught Accam in the back as he closed him down.

49- It’s gonna need to be something special to get a point out of this one...

54- There’s an ever so slight ray of hope left here as the Fire win another corner.

58- ACCAM GOAL called OFFSIDES! Oh, man...

61- Solignac on for Nikolic. No goal for #23 :(

65- Fire controlling a lot of the ball, but nothing coming of it. Still a bit of time to do something...

67- Accam saved by the keeper! And RIPS the ball away from a ball boy!

73- Nothing doing here, Impact just sitting back and defending.

77- Lampson forces a save. Looks like this one is over, folks.

82- Arshakyan on for Djordje. A bit unfair to expect a lot from the kid in this one as we were down so early and being pressed really hard.

86- Playing for pride now, as the Fire look to add a late one, but a few offsides flags keep them at bay.

88- Fire are pushed all the way up and are about to get exposed at the back, again.

Three minutes added...

90+2- Accam makes a good run down the left but he’s just overshot. Been one of those nights.

90+3- Full time, mercifully, finally.

FINAL THOUGHT: Things have not been going well as of late and tonight sort of feels like rock bottom. Hopefully Vincent and Polster can get healthy, and Meira won’t be out long. For the Fire, it all starts at the back and if we aren’t healthy defensively, the end of the season is going to be a struggle.