Alvaro Medran scored the second goal. Photo: Amanda Cortese
Chicago Fire 3-0 FC Cincinnati
Chicago, IL-Chicago Fire made its first appearance back at Soldier Field in almost 15 years and 5,422 days was one to remember for its home opener in 2020.
The Fire scored early with a couple of goals in the first 10 minutes and raced past FC Cincinnati 3-0 on Thursday night.
Chicago (2-4-1, 7 points) has been lacking in goal production in its last few matches that included a road loss to Columbus last week.
“The play and goal from (Fabian ) Herbers were both beautiful,” Chicago Fire head coach Rafael Wicky said. “They were focused on pressuring FC Cincinnati’s attempts to play out of the back. It’s a huge boost when your first big chance results into a goal.”
Herbers was on the receiving end of a service from Gaston Gimenez in front of the goal in the second minute. All Herbers had to do was run onto the ball with a volleykick and chip it over Cincy goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton.
The Fire and Herbers weren’t sure of the goal because the flag was raised by the assistant referee for offsides. But the referee noted to take a look on the video replay and reversed the call for the 1-0 advantage.
“I thought, I was a step or two offside, thanks VAR for the help and I was glad we could get out in front early,” Herbers said. “Our recent struggles and lack of finishing cost us results. I’m proud of the teams’ effort and hope we can keep it up.”
Chicago added a second goal in the tenth minute of play, when Alvaro Medran connected on a 30-yard strike into the low left corner of the goal for his first goal and raised the score to 2-0. That after an intial shot had gone off a couple of defenders.
“I was just positioned just in case the ball popped out like it did (to me),” Medran said. “I was just lucky that it went in.
The Fire was well in control of the possession for the first half and out shot FC Cincinnati 8-1. Chciago just needed another goal to take the match before its opponent found its legs and an opportunity to get back into the match.
In the 67th minute, with a build up and and a connection of passes. Chicago’s Ignacio Aliseda found the back of the net off passes from Boris Sekulic and Elliot Collier for a 3-0 lead.
“We just have to keep things even keel,” Wicky said. “I’m very excited about this result. I’m happy with the energy, the way we played, the clean sheet and the result.”
Chicago hits the road to take on New York City FC on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT, while FC Cincinnati hosts the Columbus Crew SC.
FC Cincinnati (2-4-1, 7 points) got caught giving up two quick goals and that hasn’t been what the club is used to seeing this year.
“You don’t see that at the beginning of games, we had talked about that at halftime,” FC Cincinnati coach Jaap Stam said. “Like the majority of games that we played. One of our strongest points was our defense and not giving away a lot of opportunities. At the start of the game, we didn’t do that and conceded two easy goals. When you give away goals like that, then you have to chase the rest of the game. It’s difficult to get back into it against a good team.”
SCORING SUMMARY
CHI-Fabian Herbers (Gaston Gimenez) 2
CHI-Alvaro Medran (unassisted) 10
CHI-Ignacio Aliseda (Boris Sekulic and Elliot Collier) 67
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CIN-Tom Pettersson (yellow, unsporting behavior) 36
CHi-Alvaro Medran (yellow, unsporting behavior) 61
CIN-Frankie Amaya (yellow, unsporting behavior) 63
CHICAGO FIRE: #1-Bobby Shuttleworth, #2-Boris Sekulic, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #5-Francisco Calvo (C), #7-Ignacio Aliseda (#14-Djordge Milhailovic 73), #10-Alvaro Medran (#13-Brandt Bronico 73), #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski (#3-Jonathan Bornstein 89), #21-Fabian Herbers (#28-Elliot Collier 59), #27-Robert Beric (#40-Brian Guttierez 88), #30-Gaston Gimenez, #6-MIguel Angel Navarro,
Subs not used: #24-Connor Sparrow, #36-Andre Reynolds, #20-Wyatt Omsberg, #16-Micheal Azira.
FC CINCINNATI: #22-Przemyslaw Tyton, #17-Mathieu Deplagne, #2-Kendall Watson, #3-Tom Pettersson (#23-Makail van der Werff 74) , #96-Andrew Gutman (#4-Greg Garza 74), #8-Allan Cruz (#11-Siem de Jong 36), #33-Caleb Stanko (#9-Adrien Regattin 59), #24-Frankie Amaya, #36-Joseph-Claude Gyau, #7-Yuyo Kubo, #10-Jurgen Locadia (#19-Brandon Vazquez 74).
Subs not used: #33-Robert Edwards, #14-Nico Hagglund, #16-Zico Bailey, #26-Thomas McCabe.
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 14-8 CIN
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 7-1 CIN
FOULS: CHI 24-19 CIN
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-2 CIN
CORNER KICKS: CHI 3-1 CIN
SAVES: CHI 1-4 CIN
Referee: Elton Garcia
Assistant Referees: Peter Manikowski and Peter Baliciunas
Fourth Official: Alex Chilowicz
Video Assistant: Allen Kelly
Assistant Video Assistant: Jeffrey Swarzel
Weather: Mostly Clear and 80º
Man of the Match: Gaston Gimenez (CHI)
