Chicago Fire 1-1 Indy Eleven (Fire advance 4-3 on penalties)
by Dan Gaichas
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–The Chicago Fire usually either make it to at least the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup or crash out to lower division opposition in their first match of the proper tournament. They nearly did the latter tonight, but prevailed on penalties over Indy Eleven following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.
It is the first time in club history that the Fire have won via a penalty shootout (not an MLS shootout) at home in any competition. But first, they had to endure against the NASL Spring Champions for 120 minutes. Both teams had plenty of chances, but none were going in until Justin Braun beat Matt Lampson far post in the 105th minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Kennedy Igboananike missed a clear chance wide of target four minutes later after former Fire keeper Jon Busch initially saved on Nick LaBrocca’s effort.
Fire fans were finally allowed to exhale a bit after David Accam got around two defenders and got a fortunate deflection of his shot past Busch for the equalizer in the 111th minute.
It was on to spot kicks and the omens were not looking good after the first round when Nick Patterson made his spot kick and Igboananike skied his over the bar. However, after both Eamon Zayed and Khaly Thiam made good on their spot kicks, Matt Lampson came up with saves on both Nemanja Vukovic and Daniel Keller while Brandon Vincent and Nick LaBrocca scored theirs. Sinisa Ubiparipovic kept things alive for Indy Eleven in the fifth round, but David Accam was able to put his spot kick in the upper 90 to send the Fire to the Round of 16.
“I always stop and look at the keeper before putting it in,” said Accam of his moves before his winning spot kick. “It’s not a new move. That’s what I do every time. I just take my time. Take it easy and watch where the keeper is going first.”
Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic had his team practice penalties once it was announced that Indy Eleven would be the opponent. He also praised his team’s mentality on a challenging night.
“Very important (to get a victory tonight),” said Paunovic. “It was a hard start for us, but we were playing against the Spring Champion of the NASL. The team that we said was going to be very hard to beat. I also want to congratulate them because they played a great game.
“I believe that having this tough test was actually a test of our mentality where we knew from the very first touch it was the most important skill to have today was mental toughness. We did well, especially when we were 1-0 down, but we reacted very well. A great goal by David, but we also created a lot of chances because we wanted to win. The reaction was positive. On the penalties, we also were very tough. Mentality was very good with the pressure, so I’m very happy about it.”
The Fire return to league action in Colorado against the Rapids. Kickoff is at 8pm on CSN Chicago Plus.
SCORING SUMMARY:
IND-Justin Braun (Ubiparipovic) 105
CHI-David Accam (unassisted) 111
BOOKING SUMMARY:
IND-Justin Braun (caution, reckless tackle) 27
IND-Nick Patterson (caution, tactical foul) 71
CHI-Nick LaBrocca (caution, reckless foul) 87
IND-Souleymane Youla (caution, reckless foul) 92+
IND-Nemanja Vukovic (caution, tactical foul) 117
PENALTY SUMMARY:
IND-Nick Patterson (goal) 1-0
CHI-Kennedy Igboananike (miss) 1-0
IND-Eamon Zayed (goal) 2-0
CHI-Khaly Thiam (goal) 2-1
IND-Nemanja Vukovic (saved) 2-1
CHI-Brandon Vincent (goal) 2-2
IND-Daniel Keller (saved) 2-2
CHI-Nick LaBrocca (goal) 2-3
IND-Sinisa Ubiparipovic (goal) 3-3
CHI-David Accam (goal) 4-3
CHICAGO FIRE (4-3-3): #28-Matt Lampson; #13-Rodrigo Ramos (#4-Johan Kappelhof 74), #6-Eric Gehrig, #16-Jonathan Campbell, #3-Brandon Vincent; #30-Razvan Cocis (C), #2-Matt Polster (#21-Nick LaBrocca 46), #19-Khaly Thiam; #77-Kennedy Igboananike, #12-Arturo Alvarez (#15-Joey Calistri 61), #11-David Accam
Subs not used: #23-Patrick McLain, #5-Michael Harrington, #26-Michael Stephens, #29-Alex Morrell
INDY ELEVEN (4-4-2): #18-Jon Busch; #23-Marco Franco, #32-Colin Falvey (C), #12-Greg Janicki, #82-Nemanja Vukovic; #6-Dylan Mares (#99-Souleymane Youla 69), #4-Brad Ring (#15-Daniel Keller 81), #8-Nick Paterson, #14-Duke LaCroix (#10-Sinisa Ubiparipoivc 97); #20-Justin Braun, #9-Eamon Zayed
Subs not used: #1-Keith Cardona, #16-Cory Miller, #5-Lovel Palmer, #2-Neil Shaffer, #10-Sinisa Ubiparipovic
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 27-16 IND
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 8-4 IND
FOULS: CHI 17-14 IND
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-0 IND
CORNER KICKS: CHI 8-6 IND
SAVES: CHI 3-7 IND
Chicago Fire
US Open Cup
