E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Chicago Fire can't seem to catch a break at the moment. After coming out of the gates like gangbusters with an undefeated April, the Men in Red have dropped each of their four matches in May, including a 3-0 decision against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium Thursday night.
Chicago found itself down two goals before the game was three minutes old. Jozy Altidore finished off a nice passing sequence involving Juan Pablo Angel and John Wolyniec, and the opportunistic Angel doubled the lead with a skillful individual effort moments later.
"That's how it goes when it's going not so good, although I don't want to use it as an excuse," said Fire coach Dave Sarachan.
"We had our chances tonight. In a 2-0 game all it takes is the first goal to get you going. We really felt at halftime that despite the deficit we could get back in the game, but we didn't do it.
"Our last game against Dallas we hit three crossbars, we had shots get blocked. You look at New York, things went their way tonight. The pendulum will swing, be we've got to make it swing," he said.
Chicago out-shot the hosts by a 21-14 margin and forced 10 saves out of Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway, who was filling in for the injured Ronald Waterreus.
Forward Chad Barrett had several good chances to get his team back in the game, including a partial breakaway in the first half and a pair of close-range blasts early in the second.
"Conway had a great game, but I should have done better on my chances," said Barrett. "Especially on the breakaway. I let my first touch get away from me."
Striker Chris Rolfe missed his second straight game with a sprained left ankle. Rolfe had potted four goals in six outings before suffering the injury on May 12 at Toronto.
"He's been part of almost all our goals up until this stretch where we've dropped some games. Clearly when you lose a national team pool player like Chris Rolfe, it hurts," said Sarachan.
Barrett agreed with his boss.
"Chris is a guy who just finds a way to put the ball in the back of the net," he said.
"With him gone, we have to find a way to score. When I get those chances, I can't miss them. I have to go back and look at the tape and see what I could have done better."
But in order to get off the schneid, not only will Chicago have to find the net, it also will have to shore up a porous defense. The Fire have been outscored 11-3 during the skid. On Thursday, the back line of C.J. Brown, Jim Curtain and Gonzalo Segares didn't do the side's creative players, such as shifty midfielder Justin Mapp, any favors by being breached early and often.
"Tonight, we dug ourselves a huge hole, and we couldn't get out of it," said Brown. "They came out buzzing. It was hard because we were pressing the whole time. As much as you want to say we had some good possession and some good chances, we couldn't get the goal to get us back into it. Then they got the third, which is pretty much the killer."
Colombian international striker Angel put the game out of reach for the Bulls in the 68th minute with his second of the evening. Angel bagged his first MLS goal last Saturday against Columbus.
The good news for Sarachan and company is that after a stretch of four out of five on the road, the team will play its next three games in the friendly confines of Toyota Park. And the coach is convinced he knows what his team has to do to get out of its recent funk.
Said Sarachan: "We've had breakdowns and we've been punished and we've got to get that corrected."
Doug McIntyre is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
