Chicago Finishes Big Hone Victory Against Houston!

By Rusty Silber

Chicago, IL-It’s been a number of matches since the Chicago Fire has been able to collect three points. Maybe scoring three goals in the opening half has something to do with it this time around. The club had been on a six-game winless streak.

The Fire found the back of the net in its favor for three goals in the first 45 minutes and added a second half tally en route for a 4-1 victory over visiting Houston Dynamo at Soldier Field on Wednesday night.

“It was really, really, a good performance,” Chicago Fire head coach Rafael Wicky said. “It was a mature performance. I knew that going into the second half, we can’t expect to see the same half as the first half. I mean, the first half was almost perfect. I think Houston didn’t really have much going forward. We were really aggressive, well organized, we were really good with the ball, we had chances to score even more than three goals. So that was basically the perfect half, not giving up chances, not giving up, still looking for the third goal, having a little bit less possession, that’s not what we wanted, but then, having a clean sheet and being very matured and well organized. So yeah, that was a really good performance.”

Chicago with its win moves them up the table a bit to (3-7-3, 12 points) in the Eastern conference, while Houston drops to (3-4-6, 15 points) trying to stay in sight of the playoff line in the Western conference.

Chicago found its playmaking off the transition and some mistakes on Houston’s defense in the opening half.

“I was very, very happy about the way we played and obviously the result following it,” Wicky said. “Results always give confidence to the players, at the end of today, you get confidence from the last result, which didn’t go our way. So that was very positive.”

Robert Beric opened the scoring as he found his fifth goal of the season out in front. It came off a Jonathan Bornstein cross from the left side, that was originally deflected off a Dynamo defender in the 15th minute of play.

Ignacio Aliseda in the middle sent a through ball for Fabian Herbers, which he was able to place a ball past Houston goalkeeper Marco Maric in the 23rd minute for a 2-0 advantage for his third goal this year.

“I mean it’s a great stadium (Soldier Field), great field, great team effort,” Herbers said. “Overall, I think it’s credit to the team that after those tough results in the past, we come back strong like this and then we actually show what we’re capable of, you know when we play well. When we finish our chances offensively and when we stay compact, and don’t give up easy chances defensively.”

The Fire made it 3-0 in the 40th minute with the hustle of Alvaro Medran beating a few Dynamo defenders and found the back of the net. The run started from just beyond midfield and he deserved the Man of the Match that could’ve been given to a few others on this evening.

Chicago had a couple other scoring opportunities waived off. One by a video review that could’ve been a Houston handball in the penalty area for a penalty kick in the 27th minute. Then, another scoring chance that was considered to be offsides in the 42nd minute that was also looked at on a video review.

The Fire added a fourth goal in the 89th minute off the leg of CJ Sapong on a penalty kick four the fourth tally. Sapong was taken down in the right side of the penalty area by the Dynamo’s Aljaz Struna. However, Sapong was saved by Houston’s goalkeeper Marko Maric on his first attempt. Maric had taken steps off the goal line before Sapong’s PK. On the second one, Sapong placed the kick in the low left side of the goal for his first goal this season in the 89th minute.

Chicago Fire will next host the Atlanta United back at Soldier Field Sunday evening starting at 6:30 p.m. CT, while Houston travels to play Nashville FC Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.

CHI-Robert Beric (Jonathan Bornstein) 15

CHI-Fabian Herbers (Ignacio Aliseda) 23

CHI-Alvaro Medran (unassisted) 40

CHI-CJ Sapong (PK) 89