Chicago Fire 5-0 New England Revolution
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–The focus was clearly on things off the pitch and where the Chicago Fire might play next season and possibly under a new name. That may have been a factor as to why the crowd was the lowest ever for a Fire league match at SeatGeek Stadium (6,074) (also Wednesday night and a forecast of storms which never came during the match).
Those that did come saw the Fire turn it on offensively against the second-worst team in MLS in New England, 5-0. It is the first time the Fire have scored five in a match since 2014.
After a couple of missed chances by Nemanja Nikolic early on, he would not miss on a pair of set pieces. The first was a free kick in the 28th minute from Nico Gaitan which Nikolic headed in. The second was a corner from Gaitan with a flick-on header from Bastian Schweinsteiger for Nikolic to head in unmarked in the 41st minute.
Brandt Bronico celebrated a new contract that keeps him with the Fire at least through next season with a goal of his own in the 78th minute as he curled a shot past Matt Turner far post. Gaitan and Prezmyslaw Frankowski would both score their first goals in Fire kits in the last five minutes to complete New England’s humiliation.
Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic had a reaction to all the talk about the Fire possible moving to Soldier Field next season.
“My reaction to all of that is go step on the field and win the game, and that’s what we did today,” said Paunovic. “What we have to do is keep going and a game like this that we needed to play and perform on this day when actually everyone was focused on something else.
“We were capable of re-focusing our guys to what is most important now is to win games and win the next game in this case it was a great performance. Obviously, the result is very important, but we also know who we are and where we are and this is just the beginning of what this team is capable of. I’ve been saying in the past in [the media room]and in the locker room to the players that we are much better than we are [in the standings]right now.”
The Fire’s next game is Saturday at home against Minnesota United at 7pm (ESPN+) while New England return home to face San Jose at 6pm CT.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (Gaitan) 28
CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (Schweinsteiger, Gaitan) 41
CHI-Brandt Bronico (Katai) 78
CHI-Nico Gaitan (Katai) 85
CHI-Przemyslaw Frankowski (unassisted) 90
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Johan Kappelhof (caution, tactical foul) 55
NE-Luis Caicedo (caution, reckless tackle) 58
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-David Ousted; #5-Francisco Calvo, #4-Johan Kappelhof, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #25-Jorge Corrales; #6-Dax McCarty (#18-Cristian Martinez 82, #14-Djordje Mihailovic (#19-Mo Adams 61); #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski, #20-Nico Gaitan, #10-Aleksandar Katai; #23-Nemanja Nikolic (#13-Brandt Bronico 71)
Subs not used: #45-Richard Sanchez, #15-Grant Lillard, #18-Cristian Martinez, #21-Fabian Herbers, #17-Diego Campos
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (5-4-1): #30-Matt Turner; #27-Luis Caicedo, #3-Jalil Anibaba, #2-Andrew Farrell, #19-Antonio Milnar Delamea, #8-Edgar Castillo; #11-Tajon Buchanan (#24-DeJuan Jones 75), #22-Carles Gil, #23-Wilfried Zahibo (#17-Juan Agudelo 46), #14-Diego Fagundez; #9-Juan Fernando Caicedo (#10-Teal Bunbury 46)
Subs not used: #1-Cody Cropper, #6-Scott Caldwell, #7-Brian Wright, #15-Brandon Bye
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 16-4 NE
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 7-2 NE
FOULS: CHI 13-9 NE
OFFSIDES: CHI 4-1 NE
CORNER KICKS: CHI 3-4 NE
SAVES: CHI 2-3 NE
Referee: Timothy Ford
Assistant Referees: Adam Garner, Cory Richardson
4th Official: Ted Unkel
Video Assistant Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 72º
Attendance: 6,074
Man of the Match: Nico Gaitan (CHI)
Chicago Fire
MLS
