Chicago Fire FC Falls 1-0 to Reigning Champion New York City FC at Citi Field

NEW YORK (May 22, 2022) – Chicago Fire FC (2-6-5, 11 points) fell 1-0 to New York City FC (7-3-2, 23 points) at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon.

Just one minute after Gastón Giménez saved a shot off the line to keep the score level, New York City was awarded a penalty kick when Heber and Miguel Navarro both went up to contest a ball in the box. Heber’s header hit Navarro’s arm on the way down and the referee consulted with VAR before pointing to the spot. Heber sent the ball into the right side of the net for the only goal of the match.

Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina made three saves in the game, including two on point-blank chances from New York. In the 39th minute, the ball bounced through several players in the six-yard box before Pereira directed it toward goal, but Slonina had been monitoring the action and reacted quickly to make the save. Two minutes later, a combination of passes from New York ended with the ball at Hebers feet directly in front of goal, but Slonina was there to block the shot. The rebound fell to Hebers again, who hit the crossbar with his second attempt. The second half saw the teams even with seven shots each, but neither team was able to find the back of the net.

NEXT MATCH: Chicago will cross the border to face Toronto FC on Sunday, May 28 at BMO Field. Beginning at 6:00 p.m. CT, the match will be broadcast live on WGN-TV and CF97 Live and will be transmitted locally in Spanish on Univision Radio.

Notes:

• Forward Jhon Durán, who last time out became the youngest player in Fire history to record goal contributions in consecutive matches, started his third match of the season.
• New signing Chris Mueller started his third straight game and made his fourth appearance overall since joining the Club from Scottish Premiership side Hibernian F.C. two weeks ago.
• Wyatt Omsberg and Gabriel Slonina are the only two Fire players to have started all 13 of the Club’s matches this season.

Box Score:
New York City FC 1:0 Chicago Fire FC

Goals:
NYC - Heber (2) (penalty) (WATCH) 23’

Discipline:
NYC - Acevedo (Yellow Card) 46’
CHI - Sekulić (Yellow Card) 63’
NYC - Martins (Yellow Card) 90’
NYC - Parks (Yellow Card) 90+4’

Chicago Fire FC: GK Slonina, D Sekulić (Espinoza, 84’), D M. Navarro, D Omsberg, D Pineda (Terán, 46’), M Mueller (Herbers, 72’), M Shaqiri ©, M Giménez, M F. Navarro, M Gutiérrez (Torres, 46’), F Durán (Przybyłko, 55’)

Subs not used: GK Brady, D Bornstein, M Ivanov, F Offor

New York City FC: GK Johnson ©, D Martins, D Callens, D Amundsen (Gloster, 67’), M Morales, M Moralez (Parks, 66’), M Rodriguez, M Acevedo (Gray, 67’), F Thiago (Jasson, 87’), F Heber, F Pereira (Magno, 44’)

Subs not used: GK Mizell, D Latinovich, M Zelalem, M Haak

Stats Summary: NYC / CHI
Shots: 15 / 10
Shots on Goal: 5 / 1
Passing Accuracy: 81.3% / 70.3%
Saves: 3 / 1
Corners: 5 / 5
Fouls: 13 / 12
Offsides: 4 / 4
Possession: 61.8% / 38.2%

Attendance: 18,823

Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referees: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Lyes Arfa
Fourth Official: Greg Dopka
VAR: Drew Fischer, Jeff Muschik