Fire control play but lose to Montreal anyway

Mason Toye’s header that found the far left corner of the net was enough to carry CF Montreal to a 1-0 victory Saturday against the Fire at Soldier Field.

The Fire (1-5-1, four points) had a 19-6 advantage in overall shots and created several scoring opportunities throughout the match, but they failed to build on their victory against Inter Miami and haven’t won back-to-back games since Sept. 23 and Sept. 27 of last season.

‘‘I think overall we controlled the game well,’’ Fire coach Raphael Wicky said. ‘‘We were, in my opinion, clearly the better team.

‘‘In the beginning, we gave up two easy balls where Montreal had two chances. But after that, I think we controlled it very well and created lots of moments. [The ball] just doesn’t enter [the net], and then there is this one cross where there are two strikers in the center. At the end of the day, we have to defend that cross better.

‘‘It’s frustrating. It’s disappointing going into a three-week break with this result, especially when you see that this is a game where we were the better team.’’

After missing several games because of injury, Toye entered for Montreal in the second half and proceeded to score his third goal in the three games he has played this season.

Toye went untouched between the Fire’s two center backs and placed a pass from Zorhan Bassong past diving keeper Bobby Shuttleworth toward the far post in the 87th minute.

After six minutes of added time, the Fire thought they had tied the score on a header by defender Wyatt Omsberg before the goal was overturned because of offside after a video review.

‘‘I have not seen the play,’’ Wicky said. ‘‘I was asking who was offside. That’s it. That’s all I asked. I was told that [forward] Chinonso [Offor] was offside. I haven’t seen the play, so I cannot give my opinion.

‘‘It’s obviously very, very hard when you score at minute 96. You celebrate, and you’re all happy. . . . It’s frustrating, but I don’t want to judge the call because I didn’t see the play.’’

Omsberg said the Fire were a bit unlucky to have lost despite dominating play for most of the game.

‘‘We prepared well, but it just didn’t go our way,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think the group knows that we have the quality. We just need to be a little bit better, just these little details need to be better, and we’ll be coming out on the right side of these games.’’

After a three-week break for the FIFA international window, the Fire will return to action June 19 against the Crew in Columbus, Ohio.