Chicago Fire FC 3-1 Orlando City SC
CHICAGO, IL—It had been 640 days since Chicago Fire FC last won a match from a trailing position. That dry spell ended on Wednesday night as despite conceding the first goal, the Fire came from behind to defeat Orlando City SC, 3-1, at Soldier Field.
It is also the first win under Raphael Wicky in which the Fire allowed the first goal and the first time the Fire won back-to-back matches since September of last year.
Orlando, resting some of its regular starters such as Nani and Chris Mueller while Darryl Dike is on Gold Cup duty—went ahead first in the 34th minute as Andres Perea pounced on a deflected cross that went right to his feet and roofed it into the net to make it 1-0.
Just before halftime, Alvaro Medran sent a cross that was headed in by Boris Sekulic for his second of the season to put the Fire on terms. Medran got his second assist in the 72nd minute sending a thru-ball to Robert Beric who got his first goal since the opening match of the season.
Nani and Orlando assist-leader Mauricio Pereya came on four minutes later to help find an equalizer. Instead, Chinoso Offor got the ball from his own third and initiated a give-and-go with Przemyslaw Frankowski which ended with Offor securing the three points six minutes into second half stoppage time.
The Fire conclude the four-match homestand with a respectable 2-1-1 and have scored nine goals in the last three matches after scoring just four in the first eight.
“Yeah, I’m obviously very, very happy about the performance of the team over the last three games, creating and scoring a lot of goals, but also, yeah, having a good structure defensively,” said Fire head coach Raphael Wicky. “Even today, we had a great goalie who saved us in difficult moments, but I think that’s needed in games. You see that the EUROS at the highest level, that’s sometimes needed.
“But overall, I’m very happy with the performance and the performances of us over the last three games. And I think, of course, like we always said, winning gives you the most confidence. I think we have to build from that. We have to keep working and believing in what we do, and we know that we can beat a lot of teams in this league. We know that.”
The Fire now have ten days to rest before traveling on the road to take on Nashville SC. Kickoff is at 7:30pm on WGN-TV.
SCORING SUMMARY:
ORL-Andres Perea (unassisted) 34
CHI-Boris Sekulic (Medran) 45+1
CHI-Robert Beric (Medran) 72
CHI-Chinoso Offor (Frankowski) 90+6
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Jonathan Bornstein (caution, tactical foul) 12
CHI-Alvaro Medran (caution, reckless tackle) 22
ORL-Robin Jansson (caution, dissent) 79
CHI-Fabian Hebers (caution, reckless foul) 84
CHICAGO FIRE (3-5-2): #1-Bobby Shuttleworth; #4-Johan Kappelhof, #22-Mauricio Pineda (#20-Wyatt Omsberg 60), #3-Jonathan Bornstein; #2-Boris Sekulic, #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski, #10-Alvaro Medran, #21-Fabian Herbers (#28-Elliot Collier 90+1), #6-Miguel Navarro; #7-Ignacio Aliseda (#30-Gaston Gimenez 66), #27-Robert Beric (#9-Chinoso Offor 90+1)
Subs not used: #32-Gabriel Slonina, #37-Javier Casas, #14-Jhon Espinoza, #40-Brian Gutierrez, #8-Luka Stojanovic
ORLANDO CITY SC (4-2-3-1): #23-Brandon Austin; #26-Michael Halliday (#9-Chris Mueller 80), #15-Rodrigo Schlegel, #6-Robin Jansson, #24-Kyle Smith; #11-Junior Urso (#22-Alexander Alvarado 88), #21-Andres Perea (#8-Jhegson Mendez 76); #14-Silvester van der Water (#17-Nani 76), #20-Oriol Rosell (#10-Mauricio Pereya 76), #19-Benji Michel; #13-Tesho Akindele
Subs not used: #31-Mason Stajduhar, #34-Joey DeZart, #30-David Lorea
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 13-19 ORL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 4-9 ORL
FOULS: CHI 13-9 ORL
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-1 ORL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 9-8 ORL
SAVES: CHI 8-1 ORL
Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.
Assistant Referees: Charles Morgante, Meghan Mullen
4th Official: Elton Garcia
VAR: Matthew Franz
Weather: Cloudy and 77º
Attendance: 8,002
Man of the Match: Alvaro Medran (CHI)
Chicago Fire
Orlando City SC
