MONTREAL – The first thing Montreal Impact head coach Mauro Biello did in his postgame media briefing was apologize.
The Impact dropped a 3-0 game at home to the Chicago Fire, the worst team in the league, on Saturday night.
"Fans paid to watch that? They deserve to boo," said Biello after fans voiced their displeasure at the Impact's poor performance.
Adding insult to injury, it was the first road victory for the Fire in over two years.
When asked if the Impact underestimated their opponent, Biello said, "if I tell you what was said before the game it doesn't seem like we took them for granted, but then the actions on the field seem like it.''
"I have difficulty understanding. We could have thought it was an easy game, but they fought," Impact defender Hassoun Camara said in a subdued locker room.
Biello had nothing positive to take away from the defeat. The Impact struggled in every aspect of the game.
Their attack was disorganized, passes picked off easily by Chicago.
Defensively, the Impact were lackluster. They allowed the Fire to control the center of the field and take shots from right in front of goalkeeper Evan Bush.
"It was terrible. Right from the opening whistle they beat us to every ball," said Biello.
The Impact had seven corner kicks in the match. Not one of them were dangerous. In fact, they actually hurt the Impact.
Chicago's first goal came on a counter from a failed corner when midfielders Luis Solignac and David Accam outran the Impact's backline all the way down the field.
"On a corner kick with 10 players in the zone, they have two players back. To have the guy outrun us all the way down and score a simple goal, it's unacceptable," said Biello.
Didier Drogba was notably kept off the score sheet. The Ivorian striker has scored five goals in three matches against the Fire. The chances he did have were free kicks from far outside the box. While they weren't easy saves for 'keeper Sean Johnson, they were not the usual screamers fans have come to expect from Drogba.
The bigger concern for the Impact now is addressing their back line. Laurent Ciman seems a shell of himself from last season. Combined with the lack of speed displayed by Wandrille Lefevre, Chicago's attack easily penetrated the center of the field.
Montreal currently sit fifth in the Eastern Conference with a busy schedule of three games in eight days ahead.
