Photo: Amanda Cortese
(Editor’s Note: For more of Amanda Cortese’s photos, click here)
CHICAGO, IL—It is the seventh draw in nine home league matches dating back to last season’s finale in Bridgeview against New England, but this one will feel like a win to the Chicago Fire after what they to deal with on Saturday night against Atlanta United. The Fire went down a man, down a goal, equalized, went a goal up, were pegged back, down a goal again, and equalized in the 89th minute to rescue a point in a 3-3 draw.
The Fire went down a man in the 26th minute as referee Rosendo Mendoza felt Federico Navarro’s foul of Miguel Berry was worthy of a second yellow card. On the ensuing free kick, Chris Brady made the initial save on Thiago Almada’s free kick, but Andrew Gutman arrived unmarked to put in the rebound.
To their immense credit, the Fire kept on the attack and hunted for an equalizer. They got one off a Xherdan Shaqiri corner kick that went off keeper Quenten Westberg, defender Juan Jose Purata and into the goal in the 43rd minute.
Four minutes into the second half, the Fire went up a goal after Shaqiri’s long ball found Kacper Przybylko who would set up Maren Haile-Selassie to make it 2-1 Fire.
“Yeah, it was a great ball by [Shaqiri] once again, and Kacper (Przybylko) did a pretty pretty nice layoff to me. And then I just saw the gap between the defenders and hit it first-time,” said Haile-Selassie. “Good hit, by myself, and then I scored.”
That lead lasted all of six minutes, though, as substitute Giorgios Giakoumakis entered the picture and Ronald Hernandez’s cross was set up by Gutman for Giakoumakis to score from point blank range to make it 2-2.
Giakoumakis scored again ten minutes later after picking up a through ball from Almada, rounding Chris Brady, and putting it into an open net. The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but VAR determined that Giakoumakis was indeed onside and the goal was given.
Six minutes after getting a one-goal advantage, Atlanta would lose their one-man advantage after Luis Araujo picked up a second yellow in a span of two minutes.
The Fire would get a goal in the 89th minute from one of their substitutes as Haile-Selassie would feed Georgios Koutsias for his first goal in MLS and a deserved point give the circumstances of the match.
Whereas, the questions were whether the Fire were dealing with mental blocks after losing a lead and then the match to Charlotte on Wednesday night, the topic was mental strength after this draw.
“Yeah, I mean earlier, there’s been, always, talks like, we just seemed to crumble late in games and give away leads and give away points,” said Fire head coach Frank Klopas. “And, you know, that might have happened, but it wasn’t– but I kind of felt, you saw this team today, the way, the commitment that they had; the effort, but also the quality. It’s not that, there was a huge belief. The way the guys were going down with a man, we had good moments in transition, even with a man down.
“We equalized, we took the lead, they came back. Obviously, we were playing shorthanded, we put a lot of effort to get back into the game. And then I just felt like we made the right moves with players to come in – guys that, you know, we wanted to push the game. We wanted to win the game, we believed we could and then the team showed that. And the guys that came in had a lot of quality and I felt in the end, this is for me, it feels like a win. Because instead of crumbling like you’ve seen in the past, where we just fall, that never happened, from the starting whistle to the end. Even when there were setbacks with the second yellow and then we were the ones equalized in the end and had the chances, even to win the game.
“So, the effort, the mentality, what the guys put into this game and the quality, the quality of soccer, football, that we played was incredible. And you saw every player, that commitment, they left everything on the field. I’m extremely proud of– the whole organization is extremely, extremely proud and our fans, of what the team showed today, the character that they showed.”
The Fire return to US Open Cup play on Wednesday night away to Austin FC in the Round of 16. Kickoff is at 7pm the match will be streamed on Bleacher Report’s YouTube Channel.
SCORING SUMMARY:
ATL-Andrew Gutman (unassisted) 29
CHI-Juan Jose Purata (own goal) 43
CHI-Maren Haile-Selassie (Przybylko, Shaqiri) 49
ATL-Giorgios Giakoumakis (Gutman, Hernandez) 55
ATL-Giorgios Giakoumakis (Almada) 65
CHI-Georgios Koutsias (Haile-Selassie) 89
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Federico Navarro (caution, reckless tackle) 3
CHI-Federico Navarro (sent off, second bookable offense) 26
ATL-Franco Ibarra (caution, reckless foul) 41
CHI-Fabian Herbers (caution, reckless tackle) 45+2
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (caution, tactical foul) 58
ATL-Luis Araujo (caution, reckless foul) 69
ATL-Luis Araujo (sent off, second bookable offense) 71
CHI-Rafael Czichos (caution, tactical foul) 87
ATL-Clement Diop (caution, dissent) 90
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #34-Chris Brady; #2-Arnaud Souquet (#19-Georgios Koutsias 79), #22-Mauricio Pineda, #5-Rafael Czichos, #6-Miguel Navarro; #31-Federico Navarro, #21-Fabian Herbers (#8-Chris Mueller 73); #7-Maren Haile-Selassie, #10-Xherdan Shaqiri, #17-Brian Gutierrez (#20-Jairo Torres 79); #11-Kacper Przybylko
Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #27-Kendall Burks, #3-Alonso Aceves, #37-Javier Casas Jr., #16-Wyatt Omsberg, #19-Georgios Koutsias, #32-Missael Rodriguez, #20-Jairo Torres
ATLANTA UNITED FC (4-2-3-1): #31-Quentin Westberg; #2-Ronald Hernandez, #4-Luis Abram, #22-Juan Jose Purata (#12-Miles Robinson 62), #15-Andrew Gutman; #20-Matheus Rossetto, #14-Franco Ibarra; #10-Luiz Araujo, #23-Thiago Almada, #18-Derrick Etienne (#30-Machop Chol 62); #19-Miguel Berry (#7-Giorgios Giakoumakis 46)
Subs not used: #25-Clement Diop, #11-Brooks Lennon, #28-Tyler Wolff, #24-Noah Cobb, #35-Ajani Fortune
EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 1.25-2.14 ATL
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 10-15 ATL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 5-6 ATL
FOULS: CHI 14-12 ATL
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-0 ATL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 2-5 ATL
SAVES: CHI 3-2 ATL
Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Kieso, Walt Heatherly
Fourth Official: Corey Rockwell
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
AVAR: Claudiu Badea
Weather: Sunny and 63º
Attendance: 18,343
Man of the Match: Giorgios Giakoumakis (ATL)
