Puebla 1-1 Chicago Fire (Puebla win 10-9 on penalties)
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—Welcome to Wackyland (aka The 2023 Leagues Cup). If you thought last Thursday’s match between the Fire and Minnesota United was crazy, Monday night featured another wacky one as Puebla and the Fire went to 11 rounds of penalties before the Liga MX side came out on top 10-9 in the shootout after a 1-1 draw in regulation.
The Fire still go through to the Round of 32 as winners of the Central 2 group with the one point for the shootout loss. Minnesota finish second and Puebla are out despite the two points for the shootout win.
The Fire made seven changes to their lineup as they only needed to avoid a defeat of three goals or more to advance to the next round. That was the simple part of the evening. Things started to get crazy from the 66th minute on. Brain Gutierrez thought he had scored for the Fire a minute after coming on as a substitute, but the goal was chalked off for offside on Xherdan Shaqiri in the buildup.
Eight minutes later, Puebla would get a goal out of nowhere as their left back, Brayan Angulo scored from 25 yards out to put Puebla in front. Three minutes later, Puebla would be down a man after Carlos Baltazar clipped Shaqiri from behind. On the ensuing free kick, Shaqiri would see it deflect off a defender in the wall and bounce into the net for the equalizer.
Both teams pressed for a winner, but Chris Brady managed to parry one from Angulo over the bar in the 81st minute. The Fire had several chances deep into stoppage time, but Puebla would clear it off the line and hold on for a penalty shootout.
The shootout started oddly enough. Brady initially stopped the first kick from Federico Mancuello, but VAR adjudged Brady to have moved off his line prior to the kick and it was retaken. Mancuello would score on the retake. Both Rafael Czichos and Daniel Alvarez had their spot kicks saved, and then the shootout kept going. Both keepers ended up scoring in the tenth round of spot kicks. Back to the original shooter for the 11th round and Mancuello would score again and Czichos would miss again to give Puebla the extra point.
“Look, I think that was a really good game,” said Fire head coach Frank Klopas. “I think both sides, they came out with really good energy. I think both teams played, I think you could just see by the reaction of the fans, and I think you can appreciate that both teams put a lot into the game, created a lot of opportunities. The game was exciting on both ends. So that was fun. And then obviously it was great for us, you know, finishing first in a group. It’s always great being at home, that was one, very important for us, not to be able to travel.”
Despite the result, the Fire still finished top of Central 2 and will face Club America (second in Central 1) on Friday night at SeatGeek Stadiu. Kickoff at 7pm CT on Apple TV.
(Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly mentioned that Chelsea’s friendly against Borussia Dortmund at Soldier Field was August 4th. It is actually August 2nd.)
SCORING SUMMARY:
PUE-Brayan Angulo (unassisted) 74
CHI-Xherdan Shaqiri (unassited)) 79
BOOKING SUMMARY:
PUE-Diego De Guen (caution, tactical foul) 52
CHI-Carlos Teran (caution, tactical foul) 71
PUE-Carlos Baltazar (sent off, serious foul play) 77
CHI-Chris Brady (caution, encroachment) 90+6
PENALTY SUMMARY:
PUE-Federico Mancuello (goal)
CHI-Rafael Czichos (save)
PUE-Daniel Alvarez (save)
CHI-Xherdan Shaqiri (goal)
PUE-Martin Barragan (goal)
CHI- Brian Gutierrez (goal)
PUE-Gustavo Ferrareis (goal)
CHI- Kacper Przybylko (goal)
PUE-Brayan Angulo (goal)
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (goal)
PUE-Gaston Silva (goal)
CHI-Alonso Aceves (goal)
PUE-Kevin Velasco (goal)
CHI-Jairo Torres (goal)
PUE-Sebastian Olmedo (goal)
CHI-Ousmane Doumbia (goal)
PUE-Pablo Gonzalez (goal)
CHI-Carlos Teran (goal)
PUE-Jesus Rodriguez (goal)
CHI-Chris Brady (goal)
PUE-Federico Mancuello (goal)
CHI-Rafael Czichos (miss)
PUEBLA (4-1-3-2): #30-Jesus Rodriguez; #26-Brayan Angulo, #21-Gaston Silva, #5-Diego De Buen (#6-Pablo Gonzalez 61), #3-Sebatian Olmedo; #8-Fernando Arce (#22-Carlos Baltazar 61); #18-Luis Garcia (#2-Gustavo Ferrareis 61), #10-Federico Mancuello, #7-Daniel Alvarez; #19-Angel Robles (#20-Kevin Velasco 72), #15-Guillermo Martinez (#28-Martin Barragan 89)
Subs not used: #31-Juan Gomez, #25-Miguel Angel Fraga, #29-Emiliano Garcia, #23-Daniel Aguillar, #16-Alberto Herrera, #4-Efrain Orona, #24-Diego Zago Gravito
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #34-Chris Brady; #3-Alonso Aceves, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #4-Carlos Teran, #2-Arnaud Souquet (#24-Jonathna Dean 66); #30-Gaston Gimenez (#5-Rafael Czichos 88), #26-Ousmane Doumbia; #7-Maren Haile-Selassie (#17-Brian Gutierrez 66), #10-Xherdan Shaqiri, #21-Fabian Herbers (#20-Jairo Torres 46); #19-Georgios Koutsias (#11-Kacper Przybylko 66)
Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #24-Jeffrey Gal, #27-Kendall Burks, #38-Alex Monis, #31-Federico Navarro, #6-Miguel Navarro, #32-Missael Rodriguez
EXPECTED GOALS: PUE 0.39-2.49
TOTAL SHOTS: PUE 14-21 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: PUE 5-9 CHI
FOULS: PUE 10-12 CHI
OFFSIDES: PUE 2-1 CHI
CORNER KICKS: PUE 7-14 CHI
SAVES: PUE 8-4 CHI
Referee: Jesus Rafael Lopez Valle
Assistant Referees: Michel Alejandro Morales, Oscar Yahir Barriga Castro
Fourth Official: Randy Encarnacion Solano
VAR: Benjamin Pineda
AVAR: Jorge Abraham Camacho Peregrina
Weather: Clear and 79º
Attendance: 12,619
Man of the Match: Brayan Angulo (PUE)
