Josh Sargent marked his return to the Toronto FC starting lineup with the equalizing goal on Saturday evening, but the Reds’ winless streak reached eight games as the Chicago Fire came away with all three points in a 2-1 victory at Soldier Field.

The Reds will now be out of action for seven weeks for MLS’ World Cup break, until they visit rivals CF Montreal at Stade Saputo on July 16, the day after the World Cup semifinals wrap up. They will get a couple of weeks off, before returning to training for a second preseason of sorts.

Sargent made a great run between two defender to receive a perfect through ball from Alonso Coello, before blasting it into the top right corner in the 34th minute. Saturday’s game marked 100 Toronto FC appearances for Coello.

Robin Lod gave the hosts the lead 22 minutes in, finishing off an impressive team effort that saw them slice through several Toronto defenders in quick succession before the Finnish forward found the bottom right corner of the net.

Andrew Gutman gave the Fire the lead again in the 65th minute, rising high to head the ball past Gavran after the TFC netminder conceded a corner kick with a save moments earlier. Gutman’s effort landed in the bottom left corner after a Philip Zinckernagel cross that TFC couldn’t deal with.

Robin Fraser though that his team’s performance on the night was solid, but again they let themselves down with a couple of mistakes that got punished.

“I thought the performance was really quite good,” Fraser said to reporters after the match. “[Chicago is] a good team, lots of talented players. They really hurt you in moments where they can get behind you, and I thought by and large we did pretty well, not only in containing them, but creating quite a few chances in the first half.

“I thought we had good chances and it’s disappointing, because the team oftentimes has done well enough to win but just small mistakes happen. A lot of it was so good, the goal was so good, so well taken. Good win by Alo (Alonso Coello), great finish by Josh.

“It’s disappointing but it’s a group I really believe in, and I just look forward to getting back after the break.”

Sargent missed the last three games with a thigh injury, but nearly found the back of the net four minutes into the game, lunging to get onto the end of a low cross into the box from Malik Henry, redirecting it on target. Chris Brady, who was included in the leaked American World Cup squad on Saturday, made a good save in the Chicago net to keep the game scoreless. Sargent, nor Djordje Mihailovic or Walker Zimmerman, were included in the squad.

Sargent started up top and played a pre-planned 60 minutes, with Derrick Etienne Jr. and Malik Henry on either wing. The midfield behind them was Coello, Jonathan Osorio and Daniel Salloi, and the backline in front of Luka Gavran was Kobe Franklin, Nicksoen Gomis, Walker Zimmerman and Jackson Gilman from left to right.

Theo Corbeanu also returned to the bench for the first time this season after a knee surgery during preseason, replacing Etienne Jr in the 74th minute, while Jules-Anthony Vilsaint was on the bench as well after missing three games with a groin problem, replacing Henry in the 85th minute. Former Toronto FC II defender Gilman signed a first team contract on Friday after impressing in his MLS debut last weekend as well as in the Canadian Championship, earning a well-deserved opportunity to play regular first team minutes.

After Lod opened the scoring, Salloi tested Brady with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, but sent his shot right at the goalkeeper. Maren Haile-Selassie, who assisted the opener, forced a save out of Gavran at the other end of the pitch seconds later as well as the Fire looked to extend their lead.

Sargent had other ideas, though, tying the game with his powerful finish to make it 1-1, which is what the score would be going into halftime. Etienne Jr tested Brady with a powerful low shot in the final seconds of the half, but Brady had a good view of it and made a relatively comfortable kick save.

Etienne Jr nearly gave his side the lead four minutes after the break as well, firing a low shot across goal after a good start to the half from Toronto FC, but sending his effort just wide of the back post.

When Sargent was replaced by Emilio Aristizábal after the hour mark, a lot of the chances dried up for Toronto, but Salloi in particular was trying to drag his team back into the match, as usual, after Gutman restored Chicago’s advantage.

Gavran made another big save in the 84th minute as the Fire sent wave after wave of attacks at the TFC net, pushing for an insurance goal.

Hugo Cuypers’ incredible streak of scoring in 10 consecutive matches to open the season came to an end at the hands of the Reds, who constantly had someone following him around to keep him quiet. Zimmerman made a big tackle on Cuypers in his own box in the 90th minute to not only keep the Belgian striker off the board, but give TFC a chance to find a late equalizer.

“There was no particular plan for him,” Fraser said after the match. “We know he’s a good player, he runs hard, he runs behind, and he’s been a lethal scorer. It was much more about the team effort and team structure, and I thought what it came down to was Walker, Nicksoen, Zane, Jackson, Kobe, Raheem, they all did a really, really good job of playing positionally well and dealing with transition.

“Real credit to them for obviously keeping him off the board, but I thought an overall really good performance, and again it’s just marred by one or two mistakes, but I thought overall the group worked really well, and the defenders had to do a lot of individual defending, and they did really well.”

They were awarded a late corner after Brady took too long to release the ball, a rarely-enforced MLS rule, and Gavran came closest to scoring another improbable late goal, like he did against Philadelphia in April.

The visitors couldn’t find a goal in four minutes of stoppage time, though, falling 2-1 to extend their winless streak to eight games heading into the break. For Chicago, it’s a third victory in a row after previously beating Montreal and D.C. United.

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