Photo: Amanda Cortese
Bridgeview, Illinois –Goals from each side after the 88th minute sent Chicago Fire & New England Revolution home with a point after they played to a 1-1 draw at SeatGeek Stadium, extending the Revolution’s unbeaten streak over Chicago to eight matches.
New England nearly scored less than a minute after kickoff. After a Chicago turnover in their own half, Nacho Gil made a run for the visitors toward the end line. Gil’s cross found Giacomo Vrioni whose diving effort missed a wide-open Chicago net.
Vrioni nearly scored once again, this time finding the net in the fourth minute. The ball was played around the penalty area until Vrioni had it on the left side of the six-yard box. Vrioni’s effort caught Chris Brady off his line, but the Naperville, Illinois-native had no problem making the save, the first of his MLS career.
Post-match, Brady was sure that he made the right play for a keeper on that save. “My thought process was when he touched it away from me, typically a goalkeeper wants to drop back,” said Brady. “But because he was still facing the goal and looking to take a shot, I wanted to stay as close as possible to him to make it harder, close off angles, give myself the best chance of making a save.”
Nacho Gil then tried to connect with his brother, Carles in the 11th minute. Nacho played the ball over the top of the Chicago defense but Carles’ first touch was too strong, going out for a goal kick.
Chicago’s first chance came from seemingly nowhere in the 14th minute. Xherdan Shaqiri collected the ball at the right edge of the penalty before taking a few dribbles to his left and unleashing a shot that just went over the far post for a goal kick.
Chicago again had a chance go wasted in the 21st minute. Jhon Durán won Chicago their first corner kick and the subsequent action saw the ball bounce around the center of the penalty before eventually going out for a goal kick.
Moments later, Chicago had another chance. Durán beat Henry Kessler down the right flank and took a right-footed shot that was deflected away by a diving Dorde Petrovic.
New England nearly had another chance on goal in the 31st minute. Wilfrid Kaptoum chipped the ball over the Chicago defense into the hosts penalty area looking for Brandon Bye. Bye’s touch didn’t have enough on it and was handled easily by Chicago’s Brady.
Chicago nearly broke the deadlock in the 35th minute after Chris Mueller won a free kick after being tackled 25 yards from goal. Shaqiri’s subsequent free kick found the head of Kendall Burks in the penalty area but Burks’ effort missed the net completely.
Despite the chances for both sides in the first half, the match was goalless at halftime with each side recording a single shot on goal.
Chicago began the second half by nearly finding the goal in the 48th minute. Shaqiri made a pass between two defenders that found Durán in the penalty area near the endline. Durán’s touch was a cross in front of goal that was collected easily by Petrovic.
New England’s Vrioni then continued to be a nuisance for Chicago. After completing a give-and-go action with teammate Bye, Vrioni took a shot that was saved by Brady before bouncing off Vrioni and out of bounds.
Less than two minutes later Brady was called into action again.
After Thomas McNamara won possession for New England in the midfield, the Revolution went on the break. The ball made its way to Gustavo Bou at the edge of the penalty area, who then ripped a shot that forced Brady to make a diving save to his right to keep the match at 0-0.
Brady was again forced into action, this time with his feet. Gustavo Bou took a strong shot in the 60th minute from six yards that forced Brady into a kick-save that stopped the New England chance.
Chicago had two chances in the 66th minute that required Petrovic. First, after a New England turnover in the midfield, Durán took a shot from distance that was parried away by the Serbian keeper. Seconds later, Brian Gutiérrez beat his defender and found Shaqiri in the middle of the penalty area but Shaqiri’s effort was deflected away by Petrovic, thwarting the Chicago attack.
Durán created another Chicago chance in the 70th minute after another New England turnover. Durán had the ball at the right edge of the penalty area with two attackers make runs around him. Despite the options, Durán took the shot on himself and missed the net completely.
Chicago nearly capitalized on the subsequent sequence when Boris Sekulic’s shot deflected off the back of Kessler. The deflection fell to Chris Mueller, whose volley was saved by a sprawling Petrovic.
Finally, New England was able to break through the deadlock in the 88th minute.
After the ball had made its way to the right edge of the penalty area, Bou found substitute Dylan Borrero with a pass. Borrero took one dribble and took a shot that ended up in the back of the net to give the Revolution a 1-0 lead after 88 minutes of play.
That wasn’t enough to secure the win for New England, however.
After Petrovic made a mess of a cross into the penalty area, the ball fell to an unmarked Alex Monis. Monis was able to tap in the shot for his first MLS goal, which was enough for Chicago to leave that match with a share of the points.
Chicago Fire manager Ezra Hendrickson took an existential view of the 2022 season post-match.
“This year was a learning process for everyone,” said Hendrickson. “What I do like about this team is that we’ve shown progress. We had a few injuries, a few key injuries that we never complained about during the season, but it was evident that it hurt our play at times, not having that depth available.
“As a team that I think is growing, they’ve learned a lot from each other a lot. A lot of these guys are playing for the first time this year, it was almost a scrap, made-up going into the year.”
Chicago Fire ends the 2022 season with a 10-9-15 record, giving them 39 points and placing them 12th in the Eastern Conference.
New England Revolution finished 10th in the east with 42 points after collecting a 10-12-12 record in 2022.
(Editor’s Note: We thank Amanda Cortese for taking the photos this season for the Chicago Fire. You can view more photos from this match by clicking on the link.)
