Ten-Man Fire torch CF Montreal

Chicago Fire FC 3-0 CF Montreal

Photo: Leslie Smith

CHICAGO, IL—On a cold afternoon at Soldier Field, Chicago Fire FC’s offense heated up despite going down a man and went on to a 3-0 win over CF Montreal getting their first home opener win since 2020 and their first home opener win in front of fans since 2017.

The first half saw the Fire once again have the better of play and once again lead at halftime. Leonardo Barroso’s cross in the 27th minute was tipped by Thomas Gilliet, but Jonathan Bamba was on the scene to score on the rebound. Bamba was one of four lineup changes from last week.

The second half would be the challenge to keep up the momentum. That challenge was made tougher in the 56th minute after VAR determined Jonathan Dean denied Hennadi Synchuk a goal scoring opportunity reducing the Fire to ten.

However, it would more of a spark for the Fire to get things going. Montreal could only muster two shots on target when the Fire made use of the 12 minutes of stoppage time to score twice. The first of the goals came four minutes into stoppage time. Hugo Cuypers was taken down in the box by Gillet and Cuypers then converted the spot kick to make it 2-0.

About six minutes later, Cuyper’s shot took a deflection and went off the bar and to the feet of Robin Lod who put in the rebound with the Montreal defense at sea.

Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter praised his team’s response after the red card mentioning how that actually sparked them to avoid a repeat of last Saturday in Houston.

“When we got the red card, what I was really satisfied with is the group got together,” said Berhalter. “Anton [Salétros] came over. He asked what formation we were playing. We gave him the information. He organized on the field, and you can see how compact we were and how good we were on sliding and the movement was on to defend. They had maybe one shot up a man, so really, really good work, and we had six or seven shots, really good chances, down a man.

“So overall, congratulations to the group. Really determined effort, and it’s nice to get the home win in the first home game.”

It was the first home opening win for the Fire in six years and the first in front of fans in nine. A win like this is a boost, especially following the disappointment in Houston, last Saturday.

“It feels really good,” said forward Hugo Cuypers. “I think it’s something we mentioned between all of us that we want not only to get a win, but to get that win for our first home game in front of the fans, and get the crowd behind us right from the start of the season.”

The Fire go back on the road next Saturday to take on Columbus Crew. Kickoff is at 6:30pm CT on Apple TV.

Photos by Leslie Smith

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Jonathan Bamba (unassisted) 27
CHI-Hugo Cuypers (penalty kick) 90+4
CHI-Robin Lod (unassisted) 90+10

BOOKING SUMMARY:
MTL-Brayan Vera (caution, tactical foul) 30
CHI-Phillip Zinckernagel (caution, tactical foul) 44
MTL-Ivan Jaime (caution, dissent) 53
CHI-Jonathan Dean (sent off, denial of goal scoring opportunity) 56
MTL-Thomas Gillier (caution, tactical foul) 90+2

CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #1-Chris Brady; #24-Jonathan Dean, #4-Mbekezeli Mbokazi, #3-Jack Elliott, #2-Leonardo Barroso; #11-Phillip Zinckernagel, #22-Mauricio Pineda (#42-Dje D’avilla 89), #6-Anton Saletros, #19-Jonathan Bamba (#16-Joel Waterman 57), #9-Hugo Cuypers, #7-Maren Haile-Selassie

Subs not used: #44-Josh Cohen, #35-Sergio Oregel, #8-Chris Mueller, #17-Robin Lod, #29-David Poreba, #38-Christopher Cupps, #12-Puso Dithejane

CF MONTREAL (4-2-3-1): #31-Thomas Giller; #4-Brayan Vera (#23-Noah Streit 64), #2-Jalen Neal (#5-Brandan Craig 46), #24-Efrain Morales, #39-Aleksandr Guboglo (#27-David Bugaj 64); #22-Victor Loturi, #8-Matty Longstaff (#16-Wiki Carmona 78); #17-Dagur Thorhallsson, #10-Ivan Jaime (#14-Daniel Rios 73), #18-Hennadii Synchuk; #9-Prince Owusu

Subs not used: #1-Sebastian Breza, #6-Samuel Piette, #13-Luca Petrasso, #29-Olger Escobar

EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 4.0-0.1 MTL
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 18-4 MTL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 11-2 MTL
FOULS: CHI 8-7 MTL
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-2 MTL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 9-3 MTL
SAVES: CHI 2-7 MTL

Referee: Elijio Arrecuin
Assistant Referees: Andrew Bigelow, Nick Balcer
4th Official: Pierre Luc-Lauziere
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert
Attendance: 20,872
Weather: Cloudy and 34º
Man of the Match: Leonardo Barroso (CHI)