The Chicago Fire fell 3-2 to the Houston Dynamo on Sunday, dropping their fourth home match of 2018 after losing just twice at Toyota Park in 2017 when they finished third in the Supporters' Shield standings.
The loss puts them six points behind the New England Revolution, who currently sit in the sixth and final playoff spot in the East. With 23 matches to go, there's plenty of time to make a run for the playoffs but star midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was clear when he was asked if he was frustrated after the match.
"Yes. That's true. We were leading 2-1, we came back I think in a good way. We gave away the penalty in the game. And that's not good enough, that's clear. We play at home, too many losses. There are some situations in the game where you have a feeling, 'okay, we're in a good way,' but then we kill our self unnecessarily."
The Fire have dealt with injuries all season, with Michael de Leeuw, Djordje Mihailovic and now Matt Polster all out with long-term injuries. The task became even more difficult on Sunday, as starting defensive midfielder Dax McCarty was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Schweinsteiger also sent a message to the whole club in the postgame scrum after voicing his frustrations.
"Yes, everyone has to step up. It doesn't matter if it's a guy like Alan Gordon or a rookie. Everyone has to give their best performance, not only on the weekend but also during the week. I've played soccer professionally since 2002 and I try to improve every single day and that is my attitude, everyone has to have that attitude not only the players but the kit man, the physios, the coaches, everyone has to have that otherwise you will be stuck and that's not good.
"Of course we can always say week to week, 'we have to look forward, we have to look forward and forget about that,' but I disagree at the moment, we have to step up , everyone has to take responsibility, should not always be the veteran players, every player on the field has to step up. You play a game 11 against 11, and not 11 against five. So that's the message but it's just a sad day because I think we were 2-1 up and if you would play a little bit more soccer we probably would have won the game."
You can find Schweinsteiger's full postgame comments in the video above.
