Force with the Fire over CF Montreal
Chicago Fire 3-0 CF Montreal
CHICAGO, IL—On “Star Wars Night”, the force was with the Fire as they went on to a 3-0 victory over CF Montreal. The win is the Fire’s fourth in the last five and puts them in the ninth and final playoff position in the East, three points ahead of four teams.
The match was delayed 65 minutes due to severe weather in the area. When the weather cleared, the Fire were the brighter of the two sides—particularly Georgios Koutsias. In the ninth minute, Koutsias held up the ball in on the left side and found Brian Gutierrez for an easy finish to put the Fire ahead. It was Gutierrez’s first goal at home for the Fire.
“Oh amazing, it’s a big relief,” said Gutierrez. “Something that I dreamed of, honestly. Thankfully it was today. I just gotta keep going. And thankfully we won and we got the three points and we keep climbing up the table.”
Two minutes later, the Fire doubled their lead as again Koutsias came down the left flank and found Maren Haile-Selassie amongst a crowd of people for a point-blank finish.
In the 34th minute, it was time for some of the older Jedi to do their tricks. Xherdan Shaqiri and Haile-Selassie worked a give-and-go off a free kick which was finished by Shaqiri from outside the area for his second of the season.
Two minutes later, Montreal were given an opportunity to get back into the match after Rafael Czichos handled a ball in the box. However, Ariel Lassiter channeled the accuracy of a storm trooper and struck the spot kick off the post.
Chris Brady made four saves on the night to preserve his fifth clean sheet of the year.
Despite the delay, Fire head coach Frank Klopas praised his team’s focus and effort after the rain delay.
“I think as a whole, again, I talked to the team and how important it was from a collective standpoint for us to have a good performance again,” said Klopas. “I think I’ve told you guys that it’s not about one or two guys. I think as a team, I think we had another good performance. We started off and it wasn’t easy out, the preparation going into the game. I think that the rain delay, I think that you never know how teams, both teams come out. And it’s one of those difficult matches midweek that, maybe the atmosphere, because of the rain, a lot of fans stayed away and the energy level was missing, so it was important that we stay focused. And then you know, we had the situation with Carlos Terán that we had to make a change right before that. So, it just throws everything, the plans that you have, and we had to adjust quick, but the guys came and again started the game really well.”
While the Fire are now above the playoff line, the focus remains to maintain the good performances starting Saturday against Toronto (7:30pm CT, Apple TV+)
“It feels good,” said Klopas. “For us, I think obviously, every team wants to be above that playoff line. But I think a key thing for us is going to be to not acknowledge that at all. I know that sounds weird. But if you remember back to the last time this season, we went above that playoff line, I think, not that we let it get through our heads, but there was a little bit too much hype around the fact that we were above the playoff line. So a big thing for us is going to be staying humble, working hard, taking it game by game and you know, just continue to progress up the table. Not really looking into the specifics of where you are in the table or where you might not be. I think that’s going to be a big thing for us that’s often hard for players, especially on this team because it’s really exciting when you’re above the playoff line. But yeah, it’s going to be key for us to stay humble and acknowledge it, above the playoff live, then move on to the next game.”
The Fire finish off the home stand on Saturday against Toronto FC. Kickoff is at 7:30pm CT on Apple TV+.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (Koutsias) 9
CHI-Maren Haile-Selassie (Koutsias, Shaqiri) 11
CHI-Xherdan Shaqiri (Haile-Selassie) 34
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Rafael Czichos (caution, deliberate handball) 35
CHI-Arnaud Souquet (caution, tactical foul) 56
MTL-Chinonso Offor (caution, reckless tackle) 70
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (caution, tactical foul) 78
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #34-Chris Brady; #2-Arnaud Souquet (#24-Jonathan Dean 66), #22-Mauricio Pineda, #5-Rafael Czichos, #6-Miguel Navarro; #21-Fabian Herbers, #30-Gaston Gimenez (#20-Jairo Torres 46); #7-Maren Haile-Selassie (#3-Alonso Aceves 66), #10-Xherdan Shaqiri, #17-Brian Gutierrez (#23-Kei Kamara 56); #19-Georgios Koutsias (#32-Missael Rodriguez 76)
Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #27-Kendall Burks, #36-Justin Reynolds
CF MONTREAL (3-4-1-2): #40-Jonathan Sirois; #16-Joel Waterman, #24-George Campbell, #25-Gabriele Corbo (#9-Chinonso Offor 46); #15-Zachary Brault-Guillard, #19-Nathan Saliba, #2-Victor Wanyama (#6-Samuel Piette 46), #11-Ariel Lassiter; #10-Bryce Duke (#22-Aaron Herrera 46); #13-Mason Toye (#28-Jules-Antonio Vilsaint 79), #90-Kwadou Opoku (#7-Ahmed Hamdi 58)
Subs not used: #41-James Pantemis, #29-Mathieu Choiniere, #14-Sunusi Ibrahim, #26-Robert Thorkelsson
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 5-17 MTL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 5-4 MTL
FOULS: CHI 10-19 MTL
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-1 MTL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 0-7 MTL
SAVES: CHI 4-2 MTL
Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Peter Balciunas
4th Official: Ted Unkel
VAR: Rosendo Mendoza
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert
Attendance: 12,496
Weather: Cloudy and 75º
Man of the Match: Georgios Koutsias (CHI)
