The Fire should’ve beaten the Columbus Crew on Saturday.
They led 2-0 after the first 15 minutes and had chances to finish the match and earn three points against one of the top teams in the league. The best opportunity to end the game came in the 86th minute when Elliot Collier sent in a low cross for Przemyslaw Frankowski, whose near-post shot was stopped by Columbus goalkeeper Eloy Room. Though it was a good save by Room, Frankowski had most of the net to shoot at but placed the ball right at the Crew goalie.
Two minutes later, Gyasi Zardes scored to equalize the match. That result continued a worrisome trend for the Fire: missing chances to score, leading to dropped points. It’s one they hope to fix Saturday when they visit Orlando City FC (5-2-4, 19 points).
“I think finishing chances or finishing plays, it’s often details, it’s often concentration, it’s often, is it the last pass, is it the final cross, is it your actual finishing?” Fire coach Raphael Wicky said. “So it has to do a little bit with everything, there’s not one button you can press and then it works. You have to keep working in training, when there is an easy solution always in training, sometimes you look at finishing, there is no pressure, no opponent, you have to be focused and concentrated and try to score all of these chances you have in training.”
Whatever the Fire (2-6-3, nine points) are doing in training has to translate better to the field. As of Wednesday morning, they were 12th in the 14-team Eastern Conference. Ten East teams will reach the postseason in an expanded format, and the Fire missing out on the playoffs would not be a good sign for their on-field progress.
The dull finishing edge hasn’t been the only culprit this season, but it’s played a part in their struggles. Wicky knows it’s something the Fire must rectify.
“You have to repeat things, you have to believe and stay positive; there’s a lot of things, it’s not just one button you can press,” Wicky said. “But we create a lot and we have to keep working in training. I think a positive attitude and belief that you can score and will score is very, very important. so it’s a mix of everything.”
Striker Robert Beric, whose first-half goal Saturday ended a seven-game dry spell, pinpointed a related issue that’s hurt the Fire all year.
“We didn’t make (big) mistakes (Saturday), and then this is still like the second half we come out, we were not our best, I think we have this kind of problem that we cannot keep the concentration on something,” Beric said. “I don’t know exactly what to say on that but we have to keep working on that. To be focused on the whole 90 minutes. We cannot draw when we are ahead 2-0, you know? We just have to keep working on our focus, on our concentration.”
