Shaqiri, Gutierrez Lift Fire in Victory over Dynamo

Photo: Amanda Cortese

Chicago Fire FC 2-1 Houston Dynamo

CHICAGO, IL—Last time at Soldier Field, the Fire got help from the wind to come away with a victory. This time, the Fire got help from its two most talked about midfielders as they defeated Houston Dynamo, 2-1, at Soldier Field. The loss for Houston ends a three-match winning streak while the Fire get a much-needed win of their own once again at Soldier Field.

It was a physical match at times and one wonders if Franco Escobar was watching WrestleMania before kickoff. Escobar bear-hugged and tackled Rafael Czichos during a Fire corner kick in the area and referee Malik Badawi pointed to the spot. Xherdan Shaqiri converted the spot kick to put the Fire ahead in the 11th minute.

Also during the match, back passes were a bit more dodgy than usual. This bit the Fire in the 66th minute when a Fabian Herbers back pass was intercepted by Ibrahim Allyu who would then find the Upper 90 to pull Houston level.

Brian Gutierrez entered the match as a substitute three minutes later. Xherdan Shaqiri, who had his best match of this young season, would send a dime of a pass to Gutierrez who beat an oncoming Steve Clark to the ball and chip it into the net in the 78th minute. That would stick as the Fire came away with a much-needed three points.

Arnaud Souquet and Chris Mueller got starts for the first time this season and both did well in the match. Mueller started in place of Gutierrez in the attacking midfield. Souquet and Mueller were two of four changes to the lineup that fell to Atlanta on Easter Sunday (one of which was enforced with the red card to Carlos Teran). The lineup showed a bit more endeavor than it did against Atlanta.

Photo: Amanda Cortese

“I think that was really good energy from the team and really aggressive from the start,” said Klopas. “You’re playing a good team [in Houston], they try to change a little bit the way they were building up play. But the one thing that we talked about going into this game is that we took away – as we looked at and reflected on the last game in Atlanta – that we broke their midfield line 72 times in that game; a lot more than Atlanta did, they were 61. But then in the final third, we penetrated only nine times, so we were not as aggressive.

“I saw that in that game, that I felt that the team did not look fresh. Tonight, we were fresh, we were dynamic. But of course, when you get in moments in the final third, I want the players to be aggressive. I don’t care if they lose the ball, unless obviously, if there’s someone wide open and you do that, of course, you always have to make the best decision. But we need to be aggressive.”

Aggressive the Fire was in this match, and also a bit more creative in midfield as well as Shaqiri had one of his better matches this season. Though the Swiss international said that this is still a work in progress seven matches into the season.

“We are still in the beginning of the season, you cannot be perfect in everything,” said Shaqiri. “This is pretty much normal in football and as the season goes along we’ll get better. We have a couple of new players who do have to settle in too, they also need games but our goal is to make the playoffs this season, this is the most important thing and there’s a long way to go. We know we are not perfect now but we keep working hard and this is the most important thing, to stay humble. We have to work hard every day and try to build on these three points and try to win as many games as possible.”

The Fire travel to New Jersey to take on New York Red Bulls next Saturday. Kickoff is at 6:30pm CT on Apple TV as part of the MLS Season Pass.

For more of Amanda Cortese’s photos from this match, please click on the link for her gallery.

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Xherdan Shaqiri (penalty kick) 11
HOU-Ibrahim Allyu (Carrasquilla) 66
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (Shaqiri) 78

BOOKING SUMMARY:
HOU-Erik Sviachenko (caution, tactical foul) 44
CHI-Rafael Czichos (caution, tactical foul) 68

CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #34-Chris Brady; #27-Allan Arigoni, #5-Rafael Czichos, #14-Tobias Salquist, #2-Arnaud Souquet (#24-Jonathan Dean 69); #23-Kelyn Acosta (#22-Mauricio Pineda 88), #21-Fabian Herbers, #8-Chris Mueller (#17-Brian Gutierrez 69), #10-Xherdan Shaqiri (#31-Federico Navarro 83), #7-Maren Haile-Selassie; #9-Hugo Cupyers (#19-Georgios Koutsias 83)

Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #16-Wyatt Omsberg, #30-Gaston Gimenez, #12-Tom Barlow

HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1): #12-Steve Clark; #2-Franco Escobar, #28-Erik Sviachenko (#22-Tate Schmitt 84), #4-Ethan Barlow, #25-Griffin Dorsey; #21-Jan Gregus (#3-Brad Smith 61), #6-Artur (#17-Gabe Segal 90); #20-Carlos Carrasquilla, #27-Sebastian Kowalczyk (#15-Latif Blessing 84), #18-Ibrahim Allyu; #8-Amine Bassi

Subs not used: #13-Andrew Tarbell, #5-Daniel Steres, #23-Kieran Sargeant, #26-Ousmane Sylla, #35-Brooklyn Raines

EXPECTED GOALS: CHI 1.36-1.01 HOU
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 8-14 HOU
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 6-4 HOU
FOULS: CHI 14-12 HOU
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-1 HOU
CORNER KICKS: CHI 5-7 HOU
SAVES: CHI 3-4 HOU

Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, Gianni Facchini
4th Official: Allen Chapman
VAR: Sorin Stoica
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
Attendance: 18,844
Weather: Sunny and 46º