Photo: Amanda Cortese
Chicago Fire 2-1 St. Louis CITY SC
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—Frank Klopas began his third stint as Chicago Fire coach with a 2-1 win over St. Louis CITY SC in the Fourth Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at SeatGeek Stadium.
The Fire got off to a fast start as Mauricio Pineda sent a long header to Maren Haile-Selassie who got in behind the CITY defense and beat Ben Lundt far post for the opening score three minutes in. St. Louis had the majority of possession after that, but did little with it. The Fire had chances on the counter, but the final pass was lacking.
The latter changed in the 75th minute as Lundt would misplay a backpass allowing Brian Gutierrez a short feed to Fabian Herbers for a tap-in to make it 2-0. St. Louis would pull a goal back three minutes into stoppage time as Miguel Perez headed in a corner, but there was not enough time to snatch an equalizer and force extra time.
Judging by the lineup the Fire put out against Nashville on Saturday, emphasis was placed on Tuesday’s Cup match.
“I have a lot of confidence,” said Klopas. “It’s always great. You put them in a situation like that and we started with a win. We’ve always put, as a club, a big emphasis on the Open Cup. You know, I talked to the team a little tactically but I also had the video team put together a little video, 45 seconds, in a short time to talk about, for the players to understand what this means to us. We’re one of three teams, obviously – it’s us, Kansas City and Seattle that have won four U.S. Open Cups – and a short video to really highlight the ones that we won. And in the end, it says ‘2023.’ And I told the guys, the journey has started already. This is the second game. I said, ‘Hey, let’s make history and lift one together with the Cup.’”
These same two teams will face each other in league play at Soldier Field at 1pm on Saturday on Apple TV as part of the MLS Season Pass.
(Editor’s Note: For more of Amanda Cortese’s photos, click on the link.)
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Maren Haile-Selassie (Pineda) 3
CHI-Fabian Herbers (Gutierrez) 75
STL-Miguel Perez (Löwen) 90+3
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Frank Klopas (caution, dissent) 45+1
STL-Celio Pompeu (caution, reckless foul) 70
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #18-Spencer Richey; #2-Arnaud Souquet, #16-Wyatt Omsberg, #30-Gaston Gimenez, #6-Miguel Navarro; #31-Federico Navarro, #22-Mauricio Pineda; #7-Maren Haile-Selassie (#8-Chris Mueller 46), #17-Brian Gutierrez, #10-Xherdan Shaqiri (#21-Fabian Herbers 62); #23-Kei Kamara (#11-Kacper Przybylko 83)
Subs not used: #25-Jeffrey Gal, #27-Kendall Burks, #3-Alonso Aceves
ST. LOUIS CITY SC (4-4-2): #39-Ben Lundt; #20-Akil Watts (#6-Njabulo Blom 78), #22-Kyle Hiebert, #26-Tim Parker, #17-Selmir Pidro; #25-Aziel Jackson (#11-Niko Gioacchini 59), #28-Miguel Perez, #30-Isak Jensen (#7-Tomas Ostrak 59), #8-Jared Stroud (#19-Indiana Vassilev 78); #12-Celio Pompeu, #10-Eduard Löwen
Subs not used: #1-Roman Bürki, #15-Josh Yaro, #24-Lucas Bartlett
EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 1.93-1.34 STL
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 11-14 STL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 6-4 STL
FOULS: CHI 9-17 STL
OFFSIDES: CHI 3-2 STL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 4-10 STL
SAVES: CHI 3-4 STL
Referee: Brandon Stevis
Assistant Referees: Matthew Rodman, Matthew Seem
Fourth Official: Alexander Beehler
Weather: Clear and 65º
Attendance: 4,371
Man of the Match: Mauricio Pineda (CHI)
