For his postgame news conference, Fire coach Carlos de los Cobos declined to speak in English, as he sometimes tries to do.
The reason, he said, was because he didn’t know the English words for the adjectives he wanted to communicate. Those words, when spoken through a translator, included “disorganized” and “irresponsible.”
That was how de los Cobos described his team’s 3-0 defeat to Legia Warsaw Saturday night in the consolation match of the Sister Cities Cup at Toyota Park.
Specifically, the frustrated coach was talking about the second half, when the Fire allowed all three goals after it had played a crisp first half.
“When you put on this jersey, we have to play with responsibility,” de los Cobos said. “There were some players that did not in the second half.”
Because this was a consolation friendly, de los Cobos gave some extended time to his reserves in the first half, but even as he inserted some Fire regulars in the second half, Legia Warsaw was able to take control.
In the 59th minute, Legia scored thanks to three guys named Maciej. Midfielder Maciej Rybus fired a cross into the box where he hit midfielder Maciej Gorski. Gorski, like a hockey player redirecting a shot, deflected the cross to midfielder Maciej Iwanski, who drilled it past Fire goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra. The three Maciejs executed all this without much resistance from the Fire defense.
Gorski also helped set up Legia’s second goal in the 69th minute when he hit Sebastian Szalachowski with a through-ball. Szalachowski then beat Dykstra for his first goal and added a second goal in the 85th minute.
The Fire had a number of chances on net as well, but Legia Warsaw goalkeeper Kostyantyn Makhonovskyi denied them several times in the second half and totaled eight saves for the match.
In the final, Paris Saint-Germain and Red Star Belgrade played to a 1-1 draw with Belgrade winning 7-6 on penalties.
