Chattanooga falls at home for first time
In-form Chicago Fire II leaves Finley Stadium with 3 points
Chattanooga Football Club tasted defeat at home in Finley Stadium for the first time in 11 matches and 307 days. It came at the hands of Chicago Fire FC II who came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to a 53rd minute strike from Jason Shokalook.
For Chattanooga, now W8-L3-D5, it was a frustrating game in which they were slightly better on the night in terms of chances created. Roll the tape back and play it again, and the scoreline may have been very different. Nonetheless, there will be concerns that their frontline productivity has dried up and goals are crucially needed. After a difficult June in which they won no games, Saturday’s meeting with Chicago was meant to be the kick-start for the second half of their season.
Chicago, now W7-L4-D4, the win meant they had extended their impressive unbeaten run to nine games, and they now look like serious contenders in the Eastern Conference, another worry for the New York Red Bulls II to look over the shoulder at.
Both sides lined out without many surprises. One notable inclusion for CFC was that of Colin Thomas, who was handed his first start and fifth appearance for the club. Signed in April, the 23-year-old was lively throughout the first half, linking up well with the likes of Daniel Mangarov and created some issues for Fire’s right-back Peter Soudan. Another new face was that of loanee Gavin Turner, who came on in the 64th minute and caused some problems for Chicago. The DC United loanee and Thomas were praised by Head Coach Chris Nugent after the game for their performances. “Colin was really good, played well. Surprised with how long he was able to last with the intensity of his pressing. He helped us get into key areas. Gavin worked hard, defended well and was good on the ball when he got it”.
The game was full of chances for both sides. CFC (19 shots, 6 on goal, 5 big chances) saw chances from almost all of their players, including Thomas, Nathan Koehler, Tate Robertson, Daniel Mangarov, Peter Plougmand, Jalen James, Milo Garvanian, and Markus Naglestad. Captain Farid Sar-Sar had a header smack off the crossbar. At the other end, Chicago (15 shots, 6 on goal, 1 big chance) went close via Shokalook and Charles Nagle. That the game only ended up with one goal was more due to the performances of the goalkeepers, Chattanooga’s Eldin Jakupović and Chicago’s Patrick Los. Los finished the game with six saves to earn his third shutout of the season.
There was a scare for CFC’s bench and fans on 20 minutes when Jakupović went down injured and initially appeared unable to play-on. Chattanooga-native and back-up keeper Michael Barrueta had begun warming up, no doubt anticipating a first appearance of the season. It was not to be for the 22-year-old as Jakupović shook it off and resumed play.
In spite of Chattanooga’s relative dominance in the final third, it was the Fire that broke the deadlock through Shokalook. After some good work by Claudio Cassano on the left, coming inside he found Trip Fleming. Felming clipped a quick pass to Harold Osorio who poked it forward to the running Shokalook. The 22-year-old blasted a right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner and past a helpless Jakupović. A fifth goal of the season for Shokalook and a fine team goal from Chicago, started by Cassano.
The Fire thought they’d doubled their lead on 70 minutes but Fleming had handled the ball before his shot. Chattanooga’s Tate Robertson also hit the back of the net, but his 83rd minute goal off the back of a parried Naglestad strike was ruled offside.
There were shenanigans by Chicago toward the end when some confusion around substitutions, apparently due to a last-minute change-of-mind, caused a few minutes delay. The Fire were punished by playing with 10 men for a short period of time.
In the end it made no difference as they return to Bridgeview with an impressive 3 points. For Chattanooga, they’ll need to pick themselves up before a very difficult trip to Philadelphia. The Union II trail them in the table by just two points but have three games-in-hand.
"It's frustrating to lose," said Nugent. "We played well for large portions of the match. We had a lot of good territory and created good chances. Other than their goal, that was probably it in terms of clear chances they had—it was an excellent goal to their credit and the combinations were really good.
"We had a lot of the ball in the right spaces. We weren't clean enough in attacking areas throughout the field. If you play that game 10 times, we score in probably eight or nine of them. We had some chances to make it 1-0 and 1-1 and maybe two or three more, so it's frustrating. We played very well overall and we missed on a small stage of the game, and that's football unfortunately. It happens at all levels. I'm pleased with how we played and the chances we created. Individual moments can make or break you, and that's what we saw tonight."
Match takeaways
Jesus Ibarra came on in the 86th minute to make his 50th appearance for Chattanooga FC. The 27-year-old was arguably CFC’s best player last season when he made 17 appearances and logged over 1,100 minutes. He’s played less this year, I think he’s the most talented CFC winger, on his day, and I hope to see more of him in starting XIs. A great servant to Chattanooga and more than worthy of his landmark cap.
Should CFC fans be worried about the lack of goals? Should it worry them that it was roughly this time last season when their form dipped? I don’t think so, not yet anyway. All teams will endure a dip in form during a season. This year’s CFC have shown an ability to win games in different ways, something I think that should help them manage this dip and find how to return to winning form. As Nugent pointed out himself in the post-match press conference, they only won nine games in 2024, but have already won eight this year. So they’re in a better position than they were them. They are down to less than 2 points averaged per game, so something does need to be done to arrest the situation. The Head Coach is well aware of this and feels he has a resilient group of hardworking players to handle it. No need for panic yet.
Box Score
Chattanooga FC - Chicago Fire FC II
MLS Next Pro
Venue: Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, TN
Attendance: 2,822
Final Score: Chattanooga 0-1 Chicago
Referee: Tim Wagner
Scoring summary:
52' - J Shokalook (CHI)
Discipline:
10' - H. Osorio (CHI) - yellow - holding
45+1' - N. Koehler (CFC) - yellow - foul
90+4’ - T. Fleming (CHI) - yellow - poor sportsmanship
Man of the Match: Claudio Cassano (CHI) - This game didn’t have many standout players. Both goalkeepers played well, but across both teams there were just some serviceable performances. Cassano looks a real talent and it was his move that began the goal.
Line-ups:
Chattanooga FC (4-3-3): Eldin Jakupović; Milo Garvanian, Nathan Koehler, Farid Sar-Sar (C), Tate Robertson; Nick Mendonca (75’ Robert Screen), Steeve Louis Jean, Daniel Mangarov (86’ Jesus Ibarra); Colin Thomas (86’ Minjae Kwak), Jalen James (64’ Gavin Turner), Peter Plougmand (75’ Markus Naglestad)
Subs not used: J.P. Philpot, Michael Barrueta, Ethan Dudley, Keegan Ancelin
Head Coach: Chris Nugent
Chicago Fire FC II (4-3-3): Patrick Los; Geni Kanyane, Diego Konincks (C), Jean Alpha Diouf, Peter Soudan (94’ Olu Oyegunle); Harold Osorio (84’ David Tchétchao), Charles Nagle, Trip Fleming; Jason Shokalook, Vitaliy Hlyut (70’ Dean Boltz), Claudio Cassano (90’ Bryce Richards)
Subs not used: David Molenda, Juan Miguel Calle, Dylan Borso
Head Coach: Mike Matkovich
Next Games
• July 13th, 15:00 (ET): Philadelphia Union II v Chattanooga FC, Subaru Park, Chester, PA (MLS Next Pro)
• July 13th, 13:00 (CT): Chicago Fire FC FC II v New England Revolution II, SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, IL (MLS Next Pro)