Chicago Fire FC 3-3 FC Cincinnati
CHICAGO, IL—Fire fans have seen this film before. Yet again, the Fire squandered a two-goal lead late to drop two points as the match FC Cincinnati ended in a 3-3 draw. At 24º at kickoff, it was the coldest home game in Fire history and only 7,815 fans were announced in attendance.
FC Cincinnati opened the scoring eight minutes in as Brandon Vazquez found Junior Moreno unmarked and his shot deflected off Miguel Navarro and into the net for the opening score.
Between minutes 15 and 75, the Fire were clearly the better team, and it showed. Kacper Przybylko one-timed a cross from Brian Gutierrez in the 32nd minute to equalize. Then, Chris Mueller drew a penalty just before halftime being taken down by Yerson Mosquera and Rafael Czichos converted the spot kick to make it 2-1 to the hosts.
Eighteen seconds into the second half, Chris Mueller would strike after collecting a cross from Arnaud Soquet to make it 3-1. However, FC Cincinnati would get back in the game and nearly pulled one back in the 50th minute through Moreno, but was disallowed by VAR as Brenner was in an offside position screening Fire keeper Chris Brady.
However, the goal did come in the 84th minute as two subs connected for FC Cincinnati. Luciano Acosta sent a long ball that Sergio Santos got on the end of and scored from point blank range. Three minutes later, Moreno would get his second goal of the match as the Fire could not clear the corner.
Fire coach Ezra Hendrickson was visibly upset that his team squandered yet another two-goal lead at home and suggested that his team may need to get out of their comfort zone.
“Well, again, it’s 75 minutes of pretty decent football,” said Hendrickson. “And we have them on the ropes like that and we don’t finish out the job. And it’s all about, you’re at home, you’re up two, they have a corner kick. ‘I’m not getting beat by my man, alright? The ball is getting cleared. I’m fighting through everything. I’m not getting pushed around. They’re not gonna score.’
“It’s simple. When we get in these positions, we have to fight. The mentality has to be better. And it’s all about competing. It’s all about fighting for the badge. You know, it’s 10 minutes to go in the game. ‘We’re home, we’re up, we’re not going to lose this game. My man is not going to beat me. If they’re on a counter and I don’t have a yellow, I’m going to foul the guy, reset. And if they get a free kick, a corner kick or whatever have you, I’m not gonna get beat by my man.’ And that didn’t happen tonight. We almost lost that game. We almost lost that game. So yes, we’re not happy about this tonight. We felt like we lost two points tonight, not gained one.”
More than the team not ‘competing’, discipline continues to be a problem not just in the number of cards, but maintaining their nerve in pressure situations.
“I think a lot of discipline and game management from every single player on that field [that is missing],” said Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady. “3-1 in the 46th minute is a game that any team should win, especially against a team like that and the way they performed. So I just think a little bit of a lack of discipline, and for sure we need to manage the game a little better.”
The Fire will hope to compete, maintain their discipline, and maybe win against Inter Miami in Fort Lauderdale next Saturday at 6:30pm CT. It was a cold night in Chicago, and Fire fans found some warmth temporarily, but all often have had cold water thrown on it. Fire fans deserve better.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CIN-Junior Moreno (Vazquez) 8
CHI-Kacper Pyzbylko (Gutierrez) 32
CHI-Rafael Czichos (penalty kick) 45
CHI-Chris Mueller (Soquet) 46
CIN-Sergio Santos (Acosta) 84
CIN-Junior Moreno (unassisted) 87
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Carlos Teran (caution, tactical foul) 12
CHI-Gaston Gimenez (caution, tactical foul) 57
CIN-Brandon Vazquez (caution, reckless foul) 59
CHI-Miguel Navarro (caution, tactical foul) 65
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (caution, tactical foul) 90
CHI-Kacper Przybylko (caution, unsporting behavior) 90+2
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #34-Chris Brady; #2-Arnaud Soquet (#27-Kendall Burks 88), #4-Carlos Teran, #5-Rafael Czichos, #6-Miguel Navarro (#24-Jonathan Dean 68); #22-Mauricio Pineda, #30-Gaston Gimenez; #17-Brian Gutierrez, #7-Maren Haile-Selassie (#38-Alex Monis 79), #8-Chris Mueller; #11-Kacper Przybylko
Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #33-Victor Bezerra, #16-Wyatt Omsberg, #32-Missael Rodriguez, #37-Javier Casas Jr.
FC CINCINNATI (5-3-2): #18-Roman Celentano; #28-Raymon Gaddis (#13-Santiago Arias 60), #15-Yerson Mosquera, #21-Matt Miazga, #32-Ian Murphy (#17-Sergio Santos 60), #31-Alvaro Barreal; #5-Obinna Nwobodo, #8-Marco Angulo (#10-Luciano Acosta 79), #93-Junior Moreno; #19-Brandon Vazquez (#29-Arquimides Ordonez 79), #9-Brenner
Subs not used: #1-Alec Kann, #3-Joey Akpunonu, #14-Dominique Badji, #26-Malik Pinto, #2-Alvas Powell
EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 1.77-1.93 CIN
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 14-14 CIN
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 4-8 CIN
FOULS: CHI 18-11 CIN
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-2 CIN
CORNER KICKS: CHI 8-6 CIN
SAVES: CHI 5-1 CIN
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referees: Chris Wattam, Adam Wienckowski
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
Weather: Mostly Clear and 24º
Attendance: 7,815
Man of the Match: Junior Moreno (CIN)
