Chicago Fire: The other team with axes on their socks. Photo credit; Kari Heistad.
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—If seeing was believing, then the Chicago Fire had to be thinking that it was their night from the very beginning. First, the weather caused a delay for an hour and 45 minutes pushing back the start of kickoff. Then after the storm, double rainbows showed itself over the stadium.
Following that up, Michael de Leeuw scored the game-winning goal and goalkeeper Sean Johnson preserved the victory with a clean sheet as the Chicago Fire held off visiting Sporting Kansas City 1-0 at Toyota Park on Wednesday night.
“For us that’s what we’re looking for, a guy who can score goals,” said Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic of de Leeuw. “A guy that gives a work rate for the team, a commitment with the style and our identity right now. Which is being the team that wants to play, building and waiting for the opportunities. They play to the advantage and that’s what we’re looking for and Michael fits in that so well. We look forward to see more of this. It’s not only scoring goals, but being committed to the team.”
It’s the first goal for Michael de Leeuw in his home-debut and it came on the first Fire (4-8-5, 17 points) scoring opportunity, Razvan Cocis hit a short ball cross for de Leeuw to tap in for a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute of play.
“I think I managed that to score in my first home game,” de Leeuw said. “It was great on that goal and I couldn’t miss that one. Razvan (Cocis) made (the pass) perfect for the goal on a perfect assist.
“The confidence is high, because you score in your second game. I think I get my chances every game. So, I think I can score always.”
Even though de Leeuw scored the game-winning goal, he didn’t want to take all the credit, since the rest of the team stepped up for the full 90 plus minutes to pull this one out.
The Fire was a bit outmatched with Sporting Kansas City (8-9-4, 28 points) based on the possession in their favor (68-32) and the way the club had to play defense for long periods of time, but Chicago found few ways to take advantage of what was given to them on counterattacks.
“We played the game that we expected to happen,” Paunovic said. “What we could do better, (SKC) gave us moments to keep possession to control the game. But we couldn’t do that. Our alternative and our game plan was, if we can’t keep possession then let us take advantage with the counterattacks. That’s what we tried and that was our plan. Our team was more comfortable defending and counterattack. And even with that we could do better. At the end, the spirit and the defensive mentality that we had in this game decided the game. in this game.”
Sporting Kansas City nearly had the lead in the second minute, when Dominic Dwyer headed a ball into the goal. However, he was called offsides on the free kick opportunity.
SKC also thought they had a shot to tie the game on Jacob Peterson’s shot that found the near post in the second minute of extra time in the first half.
In the second half, SKC kept trying to keep up the attack looking for the tying goal. But on each occasion, the Fire defense stepped up along with Johnson coming up with a couple of keys saves including one against Dwyer in the 88th minute from close range for the bottom corner.
“The ball was coming across and I was able to turn and get set,” Johnson said. “It was a reaction and I was able to make that save. All game we were able to withstand their best at that time. They were pushing forward with numbers and were able to dig in with a complete performance. You respect Kansas City, because they’re a good team.”
SKC was disappointed with the outcome and expected a lot better of a result.
“For the amount of pressure we put on the (Chicago Fire) on the road for 90 minutes,” Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. “It’s said that we couldn’t come away with three points. It’s disappointing when you play so well. We came in and played a good game. It’s not just possession. (Chicago Fire) had two shots on goal and yes, we were playing away from home. From an effort perspective, I’m disappointed for the players.”
The Fire returns back to the pitch hitting the road to play FC Dallas Saturday night at 8 p.m. (CT) trying to break a two-year winless road steak of 33 games.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Michael de Leeuw (Cocis) 19
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Khaly Thiam (caution, reckless foul) 26
SKC-Soni Mustivar (caution, tactical foul) 29
CHI-Arturo Alvarez (caution, tactical foul) 68
SKC-Dom Dwyer (caution, reckless foul) 71
CHI-Joao Meira (caution, reckless foul) 79
SKC-Jimmy Medrana (caution, dangerous play) 85
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #25-Sean Johnson; #3-Brandon Vincent, #66-Joao Meira, #16-Jonathan Campbell, #5-Michael Harrington (#13-Rodrigo Ramos 83); #2-Matt Polster, #19-Khaly Thiam; #11-David Accam, #30-Razvan Cocis (C), #12-Arturo Alvarez (#7-John Goossens 68); #8-Michael de Leeuw (#4-Johan Kappelhof 89)
Subs not used: #28-Matt Lampson, #6-Eric Gehrig, #21-Nick LaBrocca, #77-Kennedy Igboananike
SPORTING KANSAS CITY (4-3-3): #29-Tim Melia; #17-Saad Adbul-Salaam, #5-Matt Besler, #12-Nuno Coelho (#3-Ike Opara 21), #94-Jimmy Medranda; #10-Benny Feilhaber, #93-Soni Mustivar (#21-Justin Mapp 81), #27-Roger Espinoza; #37-Jacob Peterson, #14-Dom Dywer, #22-Connor Hallisey (#11-Brad Davis 58)
Subs not used: #25-Alec Kann, #15-Seth Sinovic, #16-Lawrence Olum, #9-Diego Rubio
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 3-19 SKC
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-2 SKC
FOULS: CHI 16-15 SKC
OFFSIDES: CHI 8-1 SKC
CORNER KICKS: CHI 2-8 SKC
SAVES: CHI 2-1 SKC
Referee: Nima Saghafi
Referee’s Assistants: Kyle Atkins, Gianni Facchini
4th Official: Alan Kelly
Weather: Rain and 80º
Attendance: 13,789
Man of the Match: Razvan Cocis (CHI)
Chicago Fire
Sporting Kansas City
