Fire defenseless against NYCFC

Chicago Fire 1-3 New York City FC

CHICAGO, IL—Things started so promising for the Chicago Fire, but defensive breakdowns would condemn the Fire to another home loss, 3-1, The Fire remain in ninth, two points above the playoff line after New York Red Bulls lost to Portland later in the evening.

The Fire started the better of the two sides. Their goal stemmed from an error by Thiago Martins that allowed Brian Gutierrez to counter. He found an unmarked Phillip Zinckernagle who beat Matt Freese far post to give the Fire the advantage. 

However, NYCFC would stretch the Fire defense by switching field and overpowering the right side. It would pay off in the 40th minute with a combination of that and no one backing up Andrew Gutman after he pushes forward. Kevin O’Toole would cross to Nicolas Fernandez who had but a tap in to level the score. 

In the second half, it was another pain point of the Fire defense—set pieces—that did them in. A bad touch off a defender went to the feet of Alonso Martinez who powered the ball in to make it 2-1 NYC. 

The Fire pressed for an equalizer, but they were routinely stymied by the compact NYC defense. Eventually, all that pushing forward for the equalizer would lead to a counter with the Fire short of numbers defensively and Seymour Reid adding the insurance goal and putting NYC in a more solid playoff position. 

For an important match that could determine who avoids the knockout match, and perhaps ensure they make the playoffs, the Fire appeared to come up short on the energy and intensity required. 

“For some reason, we didn’t have the energy that we needed,” said Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter. “We didn’t have the precision that we needed to really create more high quality goal scoring opportunities. So, end of the day, we lose and are very disappointed for the group. We’re going to have to do this the hard way. It’s going to be a dog fight and we have to embrace that. You know, if I was critical of the group, I think it was in the last 10 minutes, showing more urgency, being more direct, getting the ball in the penalty box faster, trying to pin them in. The fans come and they want to see a team that wants to win. And at the end of the game, I think we could have given them more.”

Keeping the intensity up will be imperative with five matches to go and with Red Bulls just two points behind (though the Fire have a match in hand on them). 

“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, because we’re not there yet. And for us, it’s really focusing on the five games that we have, you know, putting together good weeks of training and going out and executing those five games. If we’re good enough to get into the playoffs, we will communicate that, and that’s something that a young team has to learn, a team without experience has to learn. But [next game at Minnesota]will be a different game.”

The next match for the Fire is at Minnesota United (7:30pm CT, Apple TV), who are racing for the Supporters’ Shield, followed by Columbus and at Inter Miami. 

“I think it’s obvious I mean, we have five games left and it’s going to be five very important games,” said defender Jack Elliott. “Five games where you go in with a must-win mentality, and regardless of where a team is, it’s a position where we can go in and win, and I think we can go anywhere and do that. It starts next in Minnesota.”

Photos by Leslie Smith

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Phillip Zincknagel (Gutierrez) 13
NYC-Nicolas Fernandez (O’Toole) 40
NYC-Alonso Martinez (unassisted) 57
NYC-Seymour Reid (Gray) 90+3

BOOKING SUMMARY:
NYC-Aiden O’Neill (caution, reckless foul) 37

CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3):  #1-Chris Brady; #15-Andrew Gutman, #3-Jack Elliott, #16-Joel Waterman (#12-Tom Barlow 81), #24-Jonathan Dean; #42-Dje D’Avilla, #17-Brian Gutierrez, #10-Andre Franco (#35-Sergio Oregel 56); #19-Jonathan Bamba (#7-Maren Haile-Selassie 67), #9-Hugo Cuypers, #11-Phillip Zinckernagel

Subs not used:  #25-Jeff Gal, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #23-Kellyn Acosta, #34-Omar Gonzalez, #36-Justin Reynolds, #5-Sam Rogers

NEW YORK CITY FC (5-3-2):  #49-Matt Freese; #22-Kevin O’Toole, #80-Justin Haak, #13-Thiago Martins, #34-Raul Gustavo (#19-Strahinha Tanasijevic 90), #24-Tayvon Gray; #17-Hannes Wolf, #21-Aiden O’Neill (#32-Jonathan Shore 71), #7-Nicolas Fernandez (#26-Agustin Ojeda 80); #10-Maxi Moralez, #16-Alonso Martinez (#99-Seymour Reid 90)

Subs not used:  #30-Tomas Romero, #29-Maximo Carrizo, #35-Mitja Ilenic, #11-Julian Fernandez, #23-Max Murray

EXPECTED GOALS:  CHI 1.2-1.8NYC
TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 14-11 NYC
SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 3-5 NYC
FOULS:  CHI 7-16 NYC
OFFSIDES:  CHI 1-2 NYC
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 2-40 NYC
SAVES:  CHI 2-2 NYC

Referee:  Pierre-Luc Lauziere
Assistant Referees:  Jeremy Kieso, Jeffrey Creeson
Fourth Official:  Benjamin Meyer
VAR:  Kevin Terry Jr.
AVAR:  Jonathan Johnson
Weather:  Mostly Sunny and 75º
Attendance:  20,636
Man of the Match:  Alonso Martinez (NYC)

Follow us on bluesky

Follow us on Twitter