Fire defense stands firm in win over Red Bulls

Chicago Fire 1-0 New York Red Bulls

CHICAGO, IL—Two successive clean sheets and two successive wins for the Chicago Fire as they defeated New York Red Bulls, 1-0, and jump over them in the Eastern Conference table for the ninth and final playoff spot with ten matches remaining. It was a match between a team with just two home wins in the Fire (2-4-4 coming in) against a team with just one win away from home in the Red Bulls (1-7-4 coming in).

Photo: Leslie Smith

The match had the hallmarks of a potential 0-0 draw in the offering apart from what would happen in the 40th minute. VAR determined that Alexander Hack had handled a ball in the area while sliding to prevent a scoring chance for Hugo Cuypers. Cuypers would convert the spot kick in the 44th minute to put the Fire ahead.

Prior to that, it was chance after chance going begging for the Fire with either wide shots or great saves by Carlos Coronel who had five saves on the night. On the other side, the best chance for the Red Bulls came in the 36th minute when Ronald Donkor struck a shot off the goal post.

Besides that, the Red Bulls’ attack was kept mostly at bay and while they racked up 11 shots, just three would be on target hardly troubling Chris Brady.

Carlos Teran made his first start since April 19th and played 62 minutes. Dje D’Avilla made his first home start and also played well for 74 minutes. The Fire had quite a few chances to add to their lead in the second half, but again the final touch was lacking, but in the end was not needed thanks to the firm defense.

“We talked about needing to compete in this game,” said Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter. “Red Bull is very committed in duels, very committed with second balls, and I think both Carlos and [Dje] D’Avilla did a great job in those categories.

“D’Avilla was a monster in the midfield, winning a ton of second balls, and driving with the ball; and Carlos
was great in duels, like always. It was great to have him back, he definitely made an impact, and D’Avilla
got the coaches’ man of the match.”

It is just the third home win in eleven matches, but one that could be very important in the long run with six of the final ten matches of the regular season at home.

“We desperately need the fans behind us,” said Berhalter. “We need them loud; we need a lot of them. The only way we can do that is by playing good football and winning, and we understand that. And for us, I don’t think
we’ve done our part this year at home – it’s just our third win in 11 games, and we need to do better.

“We appreciate all the fans coming out, especially on a night like tonight, to give us that boost. It was a
big Eastern Conference game – six-pointer.”

The Fire get next weekend off as they are not participating in Leagues Cup. Their next match is scheduled for Saturday, August 9th at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview against LAFC. Kickoff is at 7:30pm CT (Apple TV).

Photos by Leslie Smith

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Hugo Cuypers (penalty kick) 44

BOOKING SUMMARY:
RBNY-Emil Forsberg (caution, reckless foul) 89

CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #1-Chris Brady; #15-Andrew Gutman (#24-Jonathan Dean 78), #4-Carlos Teran (#34-Omar Gonzalez 62), #3-Jack Elliott, #2-Leonardo Barroso; #35-Sergio Oregel, #17-Brian Gutierrez (#6-Rominigue Kouame 62), #42-Dje D’Avilla (#22-Mauricio Pineda 74); #19-Jonathan Bamba, #9-Hugo Cuypers, #11-Phillip Zinckernagel (#7-Maren Haile-Selassie 62)

Subs not used: #25-Jeff Gal, #23-Kellyn Acosta, #12-Tom Barlow, #26-Omari Glasgow,

NEW YORK RED BULLS (4-2-3-1): #31-Carlos Coronel; #5-Omar Valencia (#12-Dylan Nealis 65), #42-Alexander Hack, #3-Noah Elie, #6-Kyle Duncan (#70-Rafael Mosquera 82); #75-Daniel Edelman (#16-Julian Hall 65), #48-Ronald Donkor; #37-Mohammed Sofo (#81-Serge Ngoma 82), #10-Emil Forsberg, #22-Dennis Giengaar (#19-Wikelman Carmona 35); #13-Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting

Subs not used: #1-AJ Marcucci, #8-Peter Stroud, #15-Sean Nealis, #26-Tim Parker

EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 1.1-0.5 RBNY
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 13-11 RBNY
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 6-3 RBNY
FOULS: CHI 5-11 RBNY
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-3 RBNY
CORNER KICKS: CHI 3-1 RBNY
SAVES: CHI 3-5 RBNY

Referee: Allan Chapman
Assistant Referees: Ian McKay, Stephen McConacle
Fourth Official: Natalie Simon
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
AVAR: Jeff Muschik
Weather: Cloudy and 77º
Attendance: 29,273
Man of the Match: Jack Elliott (CHI)