Match Report courtesy of Rusty Sliber of Windy City Soccer.
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–Dealing with the elements of Chicago area weather in the early parts of April caused havoc with the Saturday afternoon match at Toyota Park. Before the contest, snow had covered the field for a brief period of time. Then, it was continuous off and on during the match. The sun managed to come out at times, but the teams played in some very tough, brutal, windy conditions.
In the long run, the Chicago Fire prevailed 1-0 over the visiting Philadelphia Union netting its first win of the season and the first one for head coach Veijko Paunovic.
“It means a lot for me and for this locker room who works very hard,” said Paunovic, which the club is now (1-1-2, 5 points). “Winning this game gave us more confidence now and we believe that we are on a good path.”
The Fire have improved in each of their four matches so far. The defense has showed its ability in keeping its shape and now the build up and finding its scoring potential even though Chicago played its second straight game without David Accam.
“It’s always very, very important to have proof, and that proof is results, winning games,” Paunovic said. “I’m very happy about the possession. Defensively, I think we have to be more consistent. This win helps us to grow, to go to the next level. I love when the team plays as a team.”
Kennedy Igboananike scored the only goal that the Fire needed in the 51st minute of play, but it was because of an occurrence that happened moments earlier.
The Union’s Warren Creavalle was given a red card for a serious foul on the Fire’s Razvan Cocis in the 47th minute and left the team down a man the rest of the match. Chicago took advantage and found the back of the net four minutes later. Michael Harrington connected with Igboananike, who controlled the ball and placed it past Philadelphia keeper Andre Blake.
“This means a lot for me and for the team,” Igboananike said. “It’s the first win for the year. First half, we had to go against the wind. But in the second half we knew that we had the wind with us and could get one.”
But in retrospect, Igboananike has seen a turn with the team into a different direction which is leading to the positive results.
“This year is very different for us because we have a new coach, new leaders, everything is new,” Igboananike said. “I just don’t want to talk about last year because it’s in the past. We have to focus on this year. Whatever happened last year we’re just going to correct it this year. Last year wasn’t good for us so we’re just moving ahead.”
Fire keeper Matt Lampson earned his first victory with the team and his second straight clean sheet by making three stops against the Union. However, it wasn’t easy with the conditions at all. The Fire dealt against the wind for the first half and down wind for the other 45 minutes.
But the Union (2-2, 6 points) had their share of shots, which any one of them could’ve changed the game. CJ Sapong had a header off the crossbar, another off the post, and had a third off the mark of the iron low left in the final quarter hour of the opening half.
Philadelphia had some other opportunities in the second half that saw a Ilsinho lined-shot off the crossbar in the opening minutes. The Fire defense did a great job containing the Union-ized attack the rest of the way while they played with 10 men pushing for the tying goal.
“They did have chances,” MIchael Stephens said. “They were just lumping some balls into our box and the wind made it difficult to clear some of those balls. It definitely crossed my mind, let’s not have that happen again. But we were good. We bent throughout the game but we never broke and gave up that goal. Another clean sheet and our first 3 points, which is awesome.”
The Fire hit the road with a rematch against New York City at Yankee Stadium next Sunday at 6pm and then return home hosting the Montreal Impact on Saturday, April 16th at 4pm.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Kennedy Iboananike (Michael Harrington) 51′
BOOKING SUMMARY:
PHI-Warren Creavalle (caution, reckless foul) 13′
CHI-Rodrigo Ramos (caution, unsporting behavior) 37′
PHI-Warren Creavalle (red card, serious foul) 47′
CHI-Matt Polster (caution, unsporting behavior) 72′
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #28-Matt Lampson; #13-Rodrigo Ramos, #5-Michael Harrington, #16-Jonathan Campbell, #4-Johan Kappelhof, #2-Matt Polster, #26-Michael Stephens, #12-Auturo Alvarez (# 7-John Goosens 62); #30-Razvan Cocis (C) (#21-Nick LaBrocca 88), #77-Kennedy Igboananike, #9-Gilberto
Subs not used: #23-Patrick McClain, #29-Alex Morrell, #15-Joey Calistri, #3-Brandon Vincent, #66-Joao Meira.
Philadelphia Union (4-2-3-1): #1-Andre Blake, #12-Keegan Rosenberry, #33-Fabinho (#11-Fabian Herbers 78), #4-Ken Tribett, #16-Richard Marquez, #2-Warren Creavalle, #7-Brian Carroll, #6-Rolland Allberg (#10-Tranquillo Barnetta 66), #25-Ilsinho, #13-Chris Pontius (#9-Sebastian Le Toux 66), #17-CJ Sapong.
Subs not used: #23-Anderson Conceicao, #28-Raymon Gaddis, #24-Matthew Jones, #5-Vincent Nogueira.
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 10-17 PHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-3 PHI
FOULS: CHI 16-7 PHI
OFFSIDES: CHI 3-0 PHI
CORNER KICKS: CHI 2-5 PHI
SAVES: CHI 3-1 PHI
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: Philippe Briere, Gianni Facchini
4th Official: Kevin Terry Jr.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, very windy, snow showers 37º
Attendance: 12,073
Man of the Match: Kennedy Igboananike (CHI)
Chicago Fire
Philadelphia Union
March, 2024
