Fire just get by Detroit in Open Cup

Detroit City FC 1-2 Chicago Fire

HAMTRAMCK, MI–Chicago Fire FC scored twice in a span of two minutes and withstood a barrage by Detroit City FC to advance to the Round of 16 of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, 2-1, at Keyworth Stadium. The Fire will host the winner of the match between St. Louis City SC and FC Tulsa of the USL Championship (7pm CT Wednesday, Paramount+) in the Round of 16.

Detroit attacked early and nearly got the lead in the 26th minute when Darren Smith shot just wide. The Fire would finally get their chance in the 33rd minute off a Phillip Zinckernagel free kick. Jason Shokalook–one of eight changes to the lineup from Saturday’s win against Atlanta–knocked in Zinckerngael’s free kick to put the Fire ahead. Two minutes later, Shokalook scored again after receiving a pass from David Poreba that stretched the defense and putting the ball past Carlos Herrera.

Poreba was in his first match for the first team after missing nearly a year to an ACL injury.

“I feel amazing, just super grateful to make my debut with the first team, most important,” said Poreba. “And then tohave an assist and contribute in the game was awesome and important. Amazing to win this game
because it’s not an easy game to win, you know, a cup game on the road. The fans were great. It was a
good game.”

Detroit wouldn’t back down, though, and worked to pull themselves back into the match. They would pull one back in the 79th minute when Haruki Yamazaki sent a pass into the box that was met by Smith in front of goal to make it 2-1.

Detroit then got a man advantage after Puso Dithejane was sent off for a rash challenge. However, they were unable to crack through the Fire defense a second time and the Fire saw the match through to advance.

“What I would say is that we knew it was going to be difficult – the surface, the lighting, the crowd – but
we showed up as well with our crowd, right, and we got the win, which is the most important thing,” said Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter.

It is the fourth straight win in all competitions for the Fire who are second in the East after Saturday’s win over Atlanta. The ceiling for this team may be higher than most anticipated–especially with an improved defense.

“I think the sky is the limit,” said Poreba. “I think our goal should be to win the Open Cup and definitely to contend in MLS, too. Everything is winnable.”

It’s back in the league for the Fire on Saturday as they travel to face FC Cincinnati. Kickoff is at 6:30pm CT on Apple TV.

OTHER US OPEN CUP SCORES:
Louisville City FC (USLC) 2-1 Austin FC
New England Revolution 1-1 Rhose Island FC (New England advance 3-1 on penalties)
Westchester SC 2-5 New York City FC
Colorado Springs Switchbacks 3-0 Sporting Kansas City
Colorado Rapids 1-0 Union Omaha
Sacramento Republic 0-0 Minnesota United (Minnesota advance 9-8 on penalties)