Photo: Leslie Smith
Chicago Fire 3-1 Orlando City SC
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—It had been 5,828 days since Fire fans last celebrated a playoff win, 4,739 days since the Fire last scored a goal in the MLS Playoffs, and 2,919 days since they last were in the playoffs. All of those numbers can be reset to 0 after a dominating 3-1 win over Orlando City SC in the Wildcard Round at SeatGeek Stadium.
Photo: Leslie Smith
It was all Chicago Fire from the opening kickoff as they kept the ball in the attacking half for most of the first half and forced more than a few Orlando turnovers. The only thing the Fire did not do was score a goal in the first half. The Lions were lucky to get to halftime at 0-0, but their luck ran out four minutes later.
The Fire’s dominance continued and it eventually paid off as Jonathan Dean set up Brian Gutierrez who shot past Pedro Gallese for the opening score in the 49th minute. Gutierrez would have two more shots go off the woodwork in the second half.
Eight minutes later, Orlando was all out of sorts culminating in an attempted clearance by Gallese being blocked by Hugo Cuypers and went into the net to make it 2-0. Ten minutes later, Cuypers would be left completely unmarked in the area and beat Gallese far post to make it 3-0.
Orlando would get a consolation goal in the 89th minute through Tyrese Spicer, but the season for the Lions ends on a five-match winless streak and winning just one match after August 16th.
It was qujite the departure from the match at New England on Decision Day where the Fire lost focus at times. On Wednesday night, they appeared laser-focused.
“Since our result on Saturday, we were fully focused,” said Fire forward Hugo Cuypers. “And and I think from the start, you felt everybody just going a little bit more into it, and and every other guy that wanted to do or or did something positive got the the other one next to him going, and and we got that whole vibe during the whole game. Like you said, the emotions were under control. We didn’t panic when we didn’t get our goal first half.
“[In the second half, we] went with the same intensity second half and and then got rewarded. it’s also it’s also positive for the team, for the city, for the club that’s been working so hard to get that that first playoff game, that first win at home. I think is massive.”
Next up for the Fire are the Supporters Shield winners in Philadelphia Union. Game 1 will be at Subaru Park on Sunday (4:30pm CT, Apple TV/FS1/Fox Deportes) and they’ll look for different results after losing to them twice during the regular season.
“I think the rest will help us,” said Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter. ”We have three days, three clear days to recover and get ready to go. You know, Philly was the best team in the league this year, indicated by the supporter shield. [They are] a very good team. I think they kicked our butt the first two times we played them.
“I think all we can do is better than that, right? You can’t do worse. So, you know, we’ll put together some things and we’ll be working the next couple days to recover and prepare to, you know, to go to feeling, play a good game.”
Game 2 will be at SeatGeek Stadium on Saturday, November 1st (4:30pm CT, Apple TV) and, if necessary, Game 3 would be back at Subaru Park on Saturday, November 8th.
For now, though, Fire fans had waited 16 long years to celebrate a playoff win, and that win finally came in dominating fashion.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (Dean, Zinckernagel) 49
CHI-Hugo Cuypers (unassisted) 57
CHI-Hugo Cuypers (Zinckernagel, Bamba) 67
ORL-Tyrese Spicer (Marin) 89
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Andrew Gutman (caution, reckless foul) 45
ORL-Eduard Atuesta (caution, reckless tackle) 58
ORL-Rodrigo Schlegel (caution, tactical foul) 74
ORL-David Brekalo (caution, tactical foul) 90+1
CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #1-Chris Brady; #15-Andrew Gutman, #16-Joel Waterman, #3-Jack Elliott, #24-Jonathan Dean; #17-Brian Gutierrez (#23-Kellyn Acosta 86), #42-Dje D’Avilla, #35-Sergio Oregel Jr. (#6-Rominigue Kouame 81); #19-Jonathan Bamba (#7-Maren Haile-Selassie 81), #9-Hugo Cuypers, #11-Phillip Zinckernagel
Subs not used: #25-Jeff Gal, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #34-Omar Gonzalez, #12-Tom Barlow, #36-Justin Reynolds, #5-Sam Rogers
ORLANDO CITY SC (4-4-2): #1-Pedro Gallese; #4-David Brekalo, #6-Robin Jansson, #15-Rodrigo Schlegel (#21-Adrian Marin 75), #30-Alex Freeman; #77-Irvin Angulo (#14-Tyrese Spicer 50), #5-Cesar Araujo (#25-Colin Guske 75), #20-Eduard Atuesta, #87-Marco Pasalic (#9-Luis Muriel 69); #10-Martin Ojeda, #13-Duncan McGuire
Subs not used: #12-Javier Otero, #24-Kyle Smith, #96-Zakeria Taifi, #17-Dagur Thorhallsson, #11-Nicolas Rodriguez
EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 3.5-0.3 ORL
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 25-7 ORL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 9-4 ORL
FOULS: CHI 11-11 ORL
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-1 ORL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 3-3 ORL
SAVES: CHI 3-6 ORL
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referees: Ryan Graves, Walt Heatherly
4th Official: Rosendo Mendoza
VAR: Timothy Ford
AVAR: Tom Supple
Weather: Cloudy and 48º
Attendance: 13,783
Man of the Match: Hugo Cuypers (CHI)
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