CHICAGO, IL—Saturday’s match at Soldier Field has most everything: a goal from Xherdan Shaqiri, an 87-minute weather delay, two VAR reviews, two red cards, and questionable officiating. One thing it did not have was the Fire winning as New York Red Bulls escaped with the three points by a count of 2-1. The Red Bulls maintain their 100% record away from home and become just the second team in MLS history to win their first five away matches.
Meanwhile, the Fire end a miserable April where they were 0-2-3, crash out of the US Open Cup to Union Omaha, score only three goals from the penalty spot, and end up with four red cards after picking up just three in the previous two seasons. It is already the most red cards the Fire have had in a single season since 2013 when they picked up five.
That third goal from the penalty spot came in the 17th minute from Shaqiri after Boris Sekulic’s rocket was deflected via elbow by Ashley Fletcher. The Red Bulls thought they had an instant reply when Tom Edwards got in behind and scored from close range. However, VAR would determine that Aaron Long was offside as Lewis Morgan took the free kick.
Lightning would delay proceedings just before halftime for 87 minutes. After which, the remainder of the first half was played followed by a three-minute halftime. For the second half, Patryk Klimala would enter the picture and become trouble for the Fire equalizing in the 75th minute off a pass from Luquinhas.
While the storms moved East, the Fire’s fortunes continued South. Jhon Duran was shown his second yellow for pushing away Cristian Casseres Jr. A more stonewall second yellow came Rafael Czichos’s way in the 83rd minute after taking down Luquinhas. It inevitably led to another VAR review that determined Miguel Navarro took down Klimala in the 86th minute.
Klimala duly scored from the spot and the Red Bulls escaped with three points.
It’s now 458 minutes in league play and 578 minutes in all competitions without scoring a non-penalty kick goal. Jairo Torres, who joins the Fire in May, scored in his final match for Atlas in their 1-0 win over Tigres. While Torres can help, Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson doesn’t care where the goals come from, they just need more from anywhere.
“Well, Jairo definitely helps us but from a team standpoint,” said Hendrickson. “I thought tonight we were creating some chances. I thought we were getting out on the break. We were able to play through their press which is a very, you know, strong press. But it’s just about finishing. Once we get in the final third, we just got to finish our chances.
“Jairo will definitely help us create more chances. And I think the more chances we get, the more likelihood we get to score goals from the run of play, but we don’t really care how we score goals. You know, a lot of the goals that we’ve given up have been set pieces, tonight we gave up a (penalty) goal. So for us, it doesn’t matter how we get the goals, we just know that we need to get more goals.”
Asked about the officiating, Hendrickson “commended” referee Jon Freemon for not giving Ashley Fletcher a second yellow card for throwing what appeared to be an elbow to Gaston Gimenez. Freemon would not do the same for Jhon Duran.
The Fire travel to Atlanta United next Saturday for a 5pm CT kickoff on WGN-TV. Jairo Torres’s help is much-needed as it’s not coming much from anywhere for Chicago Fire FC right now.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Xherdan Shaqiri (penalty kick) 17
RBNY-Patryck Klimala (Luquinhas) 75
RBNY-Patryck Klimala (penalty kick) 90
BOOKING SUMMARY:
RBNY-Ashley Fletcher (caution, deliberate handball) 15
RBNY-John Tolkin (caution, dangerous play) 27
CHI-Rafael Czichos (caution, dissent) 37
CHI-Miguel Navarro (caution, reckless tackle) 45+1
RBNY-Patryk Klimala (caution, unsporting behavior) 65
CHI-Jhon Duran (caution, free kick encroachment) 72
CHI-Jhon Duran (sent off, second bookable offense) 79
CHI-Rafael Czichos (sent off, second bookable offense) 83
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-Gaga Slonina; #2-Boris Sekulic, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #5-Rafael Czichos, #6-Miguel Navarro; #30-Gaston Gimenez (#3-Jonathan Bornstein 66), #22-Mauricio Pineda; #9-Chinoso Offor (#14-Jhon Espinoza 78), #10-Xherdan Shaqiri, #40-Brian Gutierrez (#23-Carlos Teran 90+2); #26-Jhon Duran
Subs not used: #34-Chris Brady, #27-Kendall Burks, #32-Missael Rodriguez, #38-Alex Monis, #99-Stanislav Ivanov, #33-Victor Bezerra
NEW YORK RED BULLS (3-4-2-1): #1-Carlos Coronel; #33-Aaron Long, #15-Sean Nealis, #23-Cristian Casseres Jr.; #7-Tom Edwards, #10-Lewis Morgan (#12-Dylan Nealis 62), #8-Frankie Amaya, #47-John Tolkin; #21-Omir Fernandez (#9-Patryk Klimala 46), #82-Luquinhas (#16-Dru Yearwood 90+5); #11-Ashley Fletcher (#74-Tom Barlow 56)
Subs not used: #18-Ryan Meara, #75-Daniel Edelman, #28-Zach Ryan
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 7-14 RBNY
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 3-4 RBNY
FOULS: CHI 23-16 RBNY
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-2 RBNY
CORNER KICKS: CHI 4-6 RBNY
SAVES: CHI 2-2 RBNY
Referee: Jon Freemon
Assistant Referees: Jason White, Meghan Mullen
Fourth Official: Chris Ruska
VAR: Victor Rivas
Weather: Cloudy and 64º
Attendance: 11,108
Man of the Match: Patryck Klimala (RBNY)
