Fire out of Leagues Cup with loss to Monterrey

BRIDGEVIEW, IL– The Leagues Cup has been a success for Chicago Fire FC. They won three straight matches in their opening round games and were the top MLS team. However, good fortunes couldn’t carry the Fire in the knockout stage as they were defeated by CF Monterrey, 2-1, Tuesday night in front of 18, 131 fans at SeatGeek Stadium.

“I don’t want to take anything away from the performance of Monterrey,” Chicago Fire FC coach Gregg Berhalter said. “They played, and did what they had to do, and that’s really important. I was disappointed with our team performance, but let’s be clear. Monterrey came out with intentions to make the game difficult for us. That’s what they did and scored one more goal than us. So they are deservedly are going on to the next round.”

The Fire had its chances to break a 1-1 tie in the second half, but they couldn’t create enough good opportunities in the final third. Monterrey was the side that found the eventual game-winning goal to move on to the next round of the Leagues Cup. Lucas Ocampos hit a 20-yard shot that found the left corner of the goal beyond the reach of Fire keeper Chris Brady in the 83rd minute for the 2-1 lead.

Monterrey took a 1-0 lead into halftime. As they scored in the final seconds before the break, off a free kick outside the box, that Victor Guzman scored on a header. The Fire found the equalizer in the 59th minute. Philip Zinckernagel scored in front after taking a pass from Andrew Gutman.

Fire keeper Brady had to deal with a Monterrey penalty kick in the 38th minute, though the kick went off the right post from Los Rayados.

“When we’re faced with a moment where we can make history, win and advance,”  Brady said. “We need to be at our best; with each and everyone of us on the field. We’re going to look back at this game and regret the performance we put into it. Because, I think we all feel we could’ve killed this team. Unfortunately, we didn’t take care of business, didn’t take care of our opportunities. when they came and conceded two pretty soft goals.”

FC Monterrey will move on into the semifinals against either Columbus Crew or Club America, while the Fire were eliminated from competition. Chicago will return to MLS play on m the road in Seattle Saturday at Lumen Field starting at 3:30 CT.

MTY-Guzman (Arteaga) 45+4

CHI-Zinckernagel (Gutman) 59

MTY-Ocampos (unassisted) 83

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MTY-Salcedo (yellow, unsporting behaviour) 29

CHI-Brady (yellow, unsporting behavior) 37

CHI-Zinckernagel (yellow, unsporting behaviour) 45+3

CHI-Saletros (yellow, unsporting behaviour) 63

CHI-Gutman (yellow, unsporting behaviour) 80

MTY-Rossi (yellow, unsporting behaviour) 87

MTY-Rodriguez (yellow, unsporting behaviour) 90+3

CHICAGO FIRE FC: #1-Brady, #24-Dean (#19-Bamba 84) , #16-Waterman, #15-Gutman, #6-Saletros, #42-D’Avilla (#22-Pineda 57), #8-Saletros, #35-Oregel (#17-Lod 57), #11-Zinckernagel, #9-Lewandowski, #12-Dithelane

Subs not used: #25-Gal, #7-Hallie-Salassie, #29-Poreba, #5-Rogers, #44-Cohen, #2-Barroso, #37-Turdean, #47-Williams, #14-Radojevic.

CF MONTERREY: #1-Andrada, #3-Arteaga, #13-Salcedo, #4-Guzman, #2-Chavez, #25-Pineda (#27-de la Rosa 90+5), #8-Torres (#5-Ambriz 90+1), #17-Corona (#30-Rodriguez 80+6), #7-Ocampos, #9-Rossi (#21-Reyes 90+1), #99-Cuypers.

Subs not used: #14-Aguirre, #22-Cardenas, #31-Ramos, #11-Frimbes, #10-Orellano, #32-Djurdjevic, #18-Garza, #200-Galvez

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 9-14 MTY

SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 3-4 MTY
FOULS:  CHI 9-10 MTY
OFFSIDES:  CHI 0-4 MTY
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 4-5 MTY
SAVES:  CHI 2-2 MTY

Referee: Rubial Vasquez
Assistant Referees:  Nick Uranga and Jose Da Silva

Fourth Official: Fernando Hernandez Gomez

VAR: David Gomez Araya

AVAR: Jorge Abraham Camacho

Weather: Partly Cloudy and 77

Attendance: 18,131