It came off a corner in the 58th minute Saturday night. Philip Zinckernagel swung it in from the left. Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina tried to swat it away. The ball came off Chicago defender Jack Elliott and dropped to Johan Gómez at the top of the six-yard box, and Gómez put it through traffic, inside the right post.
The Fire's own match report says the ball came off Elliott's chest. Dean Smith says it came off his arm. Either way, it was the only goal of the night, and the Chicago Fire won 1-0 at Bank of America Stadium.
That one goal ended a streak. Folks, this team had not lost a league match since Aug. 1: eight straight, five wins and three draws. The last team to beat them was Chicago, too. Charlotte won five of the first six meetings between these clubs. Chicago has now won the last four. And the race for fourth in the Eastern Conference is down to a single point. Charlotte has 43. Chicago has 42 and a game in hand, meaning the Fire have played one fewer match. Seven matches left.
Charlotte was also short-handed. Four players had left to join their national teams for the international break, including Liel Abada and Idan Toklomati, who have 14 of the club's 47 league goals between them.
Smith was not in a forgiving mood. "I feel hard done by," he said. "For me, the goal's handball."
His quarrel was with the video assistant referee, known as VAR, the official who reviews plays on a monitor and can send the referee over for a second look. VAR, Smith said, "doesn't call it back for the referee to have a look where it hits his arm," and he said he could "lay the fault at VAR" for the goal.
He had the same complaint about the end of the match. Defender Tim Ream picked up two yellow cards in stoppage time, which means a red card, and the club says he will miss the next match. "I'm not sure it was even a foul," Smith said. "Tim gets two yellow cards in that for getting kicked." Captain Ashley Westwood was booked too, for asking a question, Smith said, and referees are "handing yellow cards out like confetti at the moment."
Here's the thing, though. Smith didn't put the whole night on the officials. He said the first half was poor, and he named the problem himself: "for me, it was tempo with and without the ball." The Fire's match report backs him up. The Fire outshot Charlotte 18 to 9 and put nine shots on goal to Charlotte's two. Kahlina made eight saves. By Smith's own count, Charlotte still had four big chances to Chicago's two, and finished none of them.
Then there was the injury. Forward Archie Goodwin started and came off in the 49th minute, replaced by Tyger Smalls. "We think it's a toe injury," Smith said. Then he added that his worry "was it was an Achilles injury," because Goodwin stopped suddenly. That question rides into the two-week break.
A few more things from Saturday. Smith said Pep Biel "probably should have scored with his header." Biel came in with 12 league goals, tied with former Charlotte forward Karol Swiderski's 2023 total for the most in a Charlotte FC regular season. He is still one away. And winger Nathan Richmond, out of Clemson, made his MLS debut off the bench in the 81st minute, with his parents in the crowd. He had played for the club in the Leagues Cup, a tournament between MLS and Mexican clubs, but never in a league match. "Just excitement," he said of his nerves. The loss, he said, was "a bump in the road, but the team can go really far this season, especially in playoffs."
Next up is Saturday, Oct. 10, at home against FC Dallas. Saturday was the last regular-season meeting with Chicago.
One corner. One arm, or one chest. And the streak is gone. Charlotte has two weeks to find out about Goodwin, and seven matches to keep Chicago behind them.