Fire snap nine game winless run, down Orlando

Chicago Fire 4-0 Orlando City SC

BRIDGEVIEW, IL-Nemanja Nilokic scored a pair of goals, Michael de Leeuw tallied his first of the season, and Aleksandar Katai had the other. All of the goals were part of a complete 90-minute effort for the Chicago Fire breaking a nine-match string without a win and the first league victory since June 30th.

“We had an adjustment of attitude,” said Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic after their trip out to Bayern Munich last month. “This past week was the best week of training so far. We might be in a position to create momentum starting with this game and with 6 games left. It means a lot with confidence. Now, we’ve got to be smart and build off of this. We always do our best.”

The Fire (7-15-6, 27 points) with the win have moved up a spot in the Eastern conference standings but still have a way to go with their slim playoff chances. The Montreal Impact are in the final playoff spot with 39 points and they have 5 matches left on its schedule.

Nikolic captured his 13th and 14th goals of the season. He scored quickly early on with a goal in the third minute off an assist from de Leeuw and then added a goal later in the 70th minute courtesy of Raheem Edwards stealing a pass in the midfield and then finding Nikolic on a two-on-one breakaway.

“We had a plan for this game and we had two weeks off,” Nikolic said. “We practiced more things. Of course, it helps a lot if you score in the first minutes. You play with more confidence and enjoy the game. You just create more opportunities. Defensively and offensively, we played a good game.”

Katai added the second goal off a mistake in the back by Orlando City SC, which the keeper Joe Bendik tried to get a ball near the right side of the box. Bendik lost the ball, which Djordje Mihailovic took control and led Katai for a shot into the open net in the 28th minute for a 2-0 advantage.

Then, the Fire added a third goal in the 56th minute of play, when de Leeuw finished a shot at the back post that was cross from Mihailovic.

“It was good to be fully back and make my first goal,” said de Leeuw, who was recovering from an ACL surgery over the last year. “I also got my first assist of the season. So, it’s good to contribute like this and feel pretty good.”

Defensively, the Fire did a good job limiting much of the Orlando City SC (7-18-3, 24 points) offensive attack. Chicago keeper Richard Sanchez made a couple of saves and earned a clean sheet. But, Orlando City SC appeared to be a step behind the Fire for most of the match and might have lost some intensity out there.

“If you look at the energy levels, there was a lack of energy and commitment,” Orlando City SC head coach James O’Conner said. “You look at the goals we gave them. The three to four goals were really poor. In any level you give away goals like that, it’s impossible to expect to be in the game. If you look defensively as a unit, you look at the goals and the decision making. It’s the understanding of sensing danger and the overall character. I think we have some individuals that have good mentality and character. Unfortunately, we have too many that don’t have the right character.”

Orlando will next host Houston on Saturday night at 7:30pm ET while Chicago will be in New England also at 6:30 CT.

SCORING SUMMARY:

CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (Michael de Leeuw) 3

CHI-Aleksandar Katai (Djordie Mihailovic) 28

CHI-Michael de Leeuw (Djordie Mihailovic) 56

CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (Raheem Edwards) 70

BOOKING SUMMARY:

CHI-Aleksander Katai (caution, reckless behavior). 58

CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #45-Richard Sanchez, #22-Nicolas Hasler, #4-Johan Kappelhof, #3-Brandon Vincent, #6-Dax McCarty, #13-Brandt Bronico, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #10-Aleksandar Katai (#20-Daniel Johnson 80), #8-Michael de Leeuw ( #7-Raheem Edwards 64), #14-Djordje Mihailovic (#18-Drew Conner 73), #23-Nemanja Nikolic.

Subs not used: #21-Alan Gordon, #25-Jorge Corrales, #16-Jonathan Campbell, #30-Stefan Cleveland.

ORLANDO CITY SC (4-2-3-1): #1-Joe Bendik, #21-Scott Sutter, #12-Shane O’Neill (#17-Chris Mueller 45), #2-Jonathan Spector, #26-Carlos Ascues, #16-Sacha Kljestan, #19-Yoshimar Yutin, #13-Mohammed El-Munir, #20-Oriol Rosell, #10-Josue Colman (#11-Pierre Da Silva 70), #14-Dominic Dwyer.

Subs not used: #22-Lamine Sane, #4-Will Johnson, #29-Stefano Pinho, #99-Adam Grinwis, #27-RJ Allen.

TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 16-11 ORL

SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 6-2 ORL

FOULS: CHI 12-11 ORL

OFFSIDES: CHI 1-1 ORL

CORNER KICKS: CHI 12-3 ORL

SAVES: CHI 2-2 ORL

Referee: Allen Chapman

Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Peter Manikowski

4th Official: Danial Radford

VAR: Caleb Mendez

Weather: Mostly sunny and 80º