COLUMBUS, Ohio – After being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the Chicago Fire had only pride left to play for in Columbus on Saturday. But in a 3-0 loss to Crew SC, coach Veljko Paunovic said he didn’t even see that.
And as a rebuilding team heads into an uncertain offseason, Paunovic said the franchise will need to find players who can play for that kind of pride.
“We always play for something,” he said. “That something is our owner, our pride. It’s always there. I really don’t care if I have to win three points in a game. Whatever I have to play, I give everything. We have to find guys that understand that well for the future and from now on. That’s the mentality we have to keep and the mentality we have to improve. It has to be better.”
Paunovic called the blowout loss a “disappointing result” and a “disappointing performance,” and said the night summed up his team’s season.
“We are aware of the issues we have this season, and we have to fix it,” he said. “I think the game reflects exactly how this team feels right now, which is very fragile. We concede goals very easily, but that has been the whole season, so this game was pretty much the same.”
The Chicago boss tried to find a positive to take away from the 3-0 drubbing, but struggled.
He said the club simply didn’t create any offense.
“You can always find positive things,” he said. “What I liked about the team (is that) we tried until the end to score at least one goal. We weren’t even close, but at least that’s the mentality we need to look for.”
Paunovic declined to say whether he might take his team’s final three matches to play younger players or rotate the lineup. But he remained adamant that there is plenty his team can learn before the end of the season, even if it might be a lesson in mentality.
“You can always learn; that’s our approach, it has always been,” he said. “But what we have to learn in order to improve for next year is to compete. We’ve got to compete better.”
