Fire steady in the wind against Nashville

Chicago Fire FC 1-0 Nashville SC

CHICAGO, IL—On a windy night at Soldier Field, the Fire took a very early lead and held steady despite missing key players and a late lineup scratch to win 1-0 over Eastern Conference leading Nashville SC. 

The Fire had three questions marks in its injury report. Jack Elliott was initially on the bench after an illness kept him out of the Philadelphia match, Phillip Zinckernagel came back to the starting lineup after a concussion in said Philadelphia match, but Hugo Cuypers was out due to a head injury. Jack Elliott would be a late insertion into the starting lineup after Joel Waterman took a knock in warmups. Elliott would end up playing 61 minutes and would be subbed out for Christopher Cupps. 

Meanwhile, Zinckernagle would score just 17 seconds into the match after a takeaway in midfield led to Jonathan Bamba sending a cross that the former would put in. It was the fastest goal in Fire history and tenth fastest in MLS history. 

The wind made things tricky for both teams and it made for sloppy play at times. However, the Fire would remain effective in defending that lead. Cupps and Mbekezeli Mbokazi would hold the back line firm and Andrew Gutman and Leonard Barroso would also chip in clearing balls away. 

Chris Brady ended up making four saves in the clean sheet, but his two most important came in the final 20 minutes of the match. One of which came on a free kick from Hany Mukhtar in the 74th minute that Brady would parry over the bar. Just before stoppage time, A corner came into the box and Brady moved quickly to deny Jeisson Palacios. 

The Fire would endure one more charge by Nashville in the final seconds of stoppage time, but the defense held firm and ended Nashville’s unbeaten run and got just their second win ever against the Coyotes. 

Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter praised his team’s resilience after having to deal with coming back from the international break and injuries during the two-week period between games. 

“What I was really proud of the guys is, they fought and showed the resilience that’s needed to be a good team,” said Berhalter. “It wasn’t a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, but it was an effective game, and we got the win. We moved up in the table and we beat a team that was at the top of the table in the Eastern Conference. So, really proud of the guys—proud of the effort.

“Brady comes back from international duty, makes a save that gets us three points. So overall, good night for the guys, great to have everyone back in market and ready to go.”

Equally impressive was how the Fire were able to keep a clean sheet against a hot team coming in like Nashville featuring one of the league’s leading scorers in Sam Surridge. A Nashville team that thumped the Fire, 7-2, at Geodis Park last season. 

“Nashville is one of the better teams in the league and I think this proves how far we have come as a team compared to last season, that we can win games like this,” said Fire midfielder Phillip Zinckernagel. “We can defend for 90 minutes plus. It wasn’t our prettiest football game, but yeah, we dig deep and just a great win, you know. Showed some character.”

The Fire will look to continue their winning streak against Atlanta United next Saturday at Soldier Field. Kickoff is at 7:30pm CT on Apple TV.

Photos by Leslie Smith

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Phillip Zinckernagel (Bamba) 1

BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Anton Saletros (caution, tactical foul) 73
CHI-Dje D’Avilla (caution, tactical foul) 78
NSH-Edvard Tagseth (caution, tactical foul) 80

CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3):  #1-Chris Brady; #2-Leonardo Barroso, #3-Jack Elliott (#38-Christopher Cupps 62), #4-Mbekezeli Mbokazi, #15-Andrew Gutman; #6-Anton Saletros, #42-Dje D’Avilla, #17-Robin Lod; #11-Phillip Zinckernagel (#14-Victor Radojevic 90+1), #7-Maren Haile-Selassie (#20-Jason Shokalook 81), #19-Jonathan Bamba

Subs not used:  #44-Josh Cohen, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #35-Sergio Oregel, #24-Jonathan Dean, #12-Puso Dithejane

NASHVILLE SC (4-3-3):  #99-Brian Schwake; #2-Daniel Lovitz (#27-Reed Baker-Whiting 79), #3-Maxwell Woledzi, #4-Jeisson Palacios, #31-Andy Najar; #20-Edvard Tagseth (#17-Woobens Pacius 89), #19-Alex Muyl (#8-Patrick Yazbek 61), #16-Matthew Corcoran (#41-Warren Madrigal 61); #7-Cristian Espinoza (#37-Ahmed Qasem 79), #10-Hany Mukhtar, #9-Sam Surridge

Subs not used:  #1-Joe Willis, #6-Bryan Acosta, #5-Jack Maher, #22-Josh Bauer

EXPECTED GOALS:  CHI 1.3-1.3 NSH
TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 9-10 NSH
SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 3-4 NSH
FOULS:  CHI 19-13 NSH
OFFSIDES:  CHI 3-3 NSH
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 1-3 NSH
SAVES:  CHI 4-2 NSH

Referee:  Marcos DeOliveira
Assistant Referees:  Stefan Tanaka-Freundt, Kevin Lock
4th Official:  Jon Freemon
VAR:  Carol Anne Chenard
AVAR:  Melissa Beck
Weather:  Windy and 44º
Attendance:  15,932
Man of the Match:  Mbekezeli Mbokazi (CHI)

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