Chicago Fire FC 2-2 DC United
Chicago, IL-What could’ve been another home victory for the Chicago Fire went by the way side in the final minutes as DC United scored a couple of late goals in its favor. It left the Fire and DC United in a 2-2 draw at Soldier Field on Wednesday night.
The Fire (3-8-3. 12 points) as of late, has been able to have success at home in its last four matches, including this one and have gone (2-0-2), but the Fire did rebound from a disappointing road loss at Nashville (5-1) last Saturday night.
“Yeah, look, there are games where you come out of moments like that and you feel, you know, you feel positive when you come back if you’re down 2-0, not when you’re up,” Chicago Fire assistant coach Frank Klopas, who was filling in for head coach Raphael Wicky out dealing with a family emergency. “At home, everything was going well, and then, you know, it’s the next play, always, in a 2-0 lead.
“And I think 2-0, 3-0, really doesn’t matter, it’s the next play. We had some opportunities to make the next play. I felt I made some subs late in the game and I think that we had an initial push and then we dropped a little bit too deep and we invited too much pressure on ourselves. Then we gave up the two goals. So definitely disappointed, you know, because again, I feel like we dropped some points at home and the way the game ended.”
The Fire opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, when Gaston Gimenez scored on header in the box off an assist from Boris Sekulic.
“I’m very happy to score my first goal in MLS,” Gimenez said. “Yes, I was looking for that spot. When I saw Boki, or (Boris) Sekulić, get the ball and aim and get ready to pass it, I was trying to anticipate the defender, and so I was trying to shoot it there, trying to send the ball there. I’m happy on a personal level for having scored the goal but I’m sad because of the result.”
A well designed combination of passes lead to the second Chicago goal in the 61st minute. Przemyslaw Frankowski fed a pass to Miguel Angel Navarro, which he kicked a shot off the leg of DC United’s Andy Najar and found the back of the net for an own goal.
DC United (5-7-2, 17 points) found the first of two comeback goals, Kevin Parades sent a shot off the post into the goal off an assist from Yordy Reyna in the 83rd minute.
Then, the Fire’s Jonathan Bornstein had a hard tackle of Najar in the penalty area. Which Ola Kamara tied the game with a penalty kick in the 88th minute.
Chicago returns back for another home match against Toronto FC on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. CT, while DC United will host the New York Red Bulls on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Gaston Gimenez (Boris Sekulic) 32
CHI-Own goal (Andy Najar) 61
DC-Kevin Paredes (Yordy Reyna) 83
DC-Ola Kamara (pk) 88
BOOKING SUMMARY:
DC-Andy Najar (yellow, unsporting behavior) 55
CHI-Gaston Gimenez (yellow, unsporting behavior) 63
CHI-Alvaro Medran (yellow, unsporting behavior) 65
DC-Drew Skunderich (yellow, unsporting behavior) 84
CHICAGO FIRE: #1-Bobby Shuttleworth, #2-Boris Sekulic, #3-Jonathan Bornstein, #36-Miguel Angel Navarro, #22-Mauricio Pineda, #7-Ignacio Aliseda, #10-Alvaro Medran, #27-Robert Beric (#9-Mnamdi Chihonso Offer 74), , #30-Gaston Gimenez (#21-Favian Herbers 74), , #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski (#99-Stansilav Ivanov 74), #7-Ignacio Aliseda (#40-Brian Gutierrez 85)
Subs not used: #8-Luka Stojanovic, #14-Jhon Espinoza, #32-Gabriel Slonia, #28-Elliot Collier.
DC UNITED: #24-Bill Hamid, #28-Joseph Mora (#30-Kevin Paredes 46), #13-Frederic Brillant, #93-Tony Alfaro, #11-Yamil Asad (#29-Yordy Reyna 46) #27-Moses Nyeman (#12-Drew Skundrich 71), #5-Junior Moreno, #14-Andy Najar, #19-Nigel Robertha, #31-Julian Gressel (#22-Griffin Yow 71), #9-Ola Kamara (#8-Felipe 90).
Subs not used: #3-ChrisOdoi-Alsem, #20-Jovanny Bolver, #21-Jon Kempin.
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 9-12 DC
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 2-6 DC
FOULS: CHI 12-16 DC
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-0 DC
CORNER KICKS: CHI 1-3 DC
SAVES: CHI 4-1 DC
FOULS: CHI 12-16 DC
OFFSIDES: CHI 0-0 DC
CORNER KICKS: CHI 1-3 DC
SAVES: CHI 4-1 DC
Referee: Marcos de Oliveira
Assistant Referees: Jose Da Silva, Andrew Bigelow
Assistant Referees: Jose Da Silva, Andrew Bigelow
Fourth Official: John Griggs
VAR: Sorin Stoica and Jeff Muschik
Attendance: 8,306
Weather: Partly sunny and 68
Man of the Match: Gaston Gimenez (CHI)
