ST. PAUL, Minn. (July 8, 2025) – Chicago Fire FC fell 3-1 in added extra time against Minnesota United FC Tuesday night at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn. Homegrown midfielder Brian Gutiérrez opened the scoring with his first goal of the 2025 edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. With the result, Chicago has been eliminated from the Open Cup.
Chicago went down a man early, losing defender Omar González to a red card in the 27th minute. But seconds after the card, Philip Zinckernagel drew a foul in the box to give the Fire a penalty kick. Gutiérrez stepped up to the spot and finished to his left to put the Fire in the lead in the 29th.
Minnesota returned from the break determined to cash in on the man advantage, doing so just three minutes into the half. Anthony Markanich found an open pocket of space on the left wing, playing a ball across the face of goal for midfielder Robin Lod to tap in for the equalizer.
With the aid of goalkeeper Chris Brady’s seven saves in 90 minutes, the short-handed Fire took the match into added extra time. Temporarily down one more man five minutes in, the Men in Red finally relented as Kelvin Yeboah got on the end of Carlos Harvey’s pass to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead.
With time winding down in extra time, the Fire committed further numbers upfield looking for an equalizer. Yeboah drew a foul in the Fire box and finished the ensuing penalty kick cleanly, giving his side a pass into the semifinals of the Open Cup for the second time in its history.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago will return to Soldier Field for an inaugural matchup against San Diego FC. The interconference match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and transmitted locally on wlsam.com (English) and Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).
Notes:
- Chicago Fire FC and Minnesota United FC met for the first time in the history of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The match was also Chicago’s first Open Cup match against any team from the state of Minnesota and only the second match against Minnesota outside of regular season play, following the Fire’s 2023 Leagues Cup victory at Allianz Field on July 23, 2023.
- Chicago reached added extra time in an Open Cup match for the first time since 2022, when the Fire went to penalty kicks against Union Omaha on April 19, 2022 at Soldier Field. The match also marked the 16th time Chicago had reached the quarterfinals of the competition and second straight time following the first team’s last participation in 2023.
- With his penalty kick goal, Brian Gutiérrez tallied his second goal contribution of the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Homegrown midfielder previously assisted midfielder Maren Haile-Selassie in the Fire’s Round of 32 victory over Detroit City FC on May 7.
- Midfielder Maren Haile-Selassie played in his seventh straight Open Cup match on Tuesday night. The Swiss midfielder came into the match with one goal and two assists in the 2025 edition of the competition, but was sacrificed early for defender Sam Rogers following Omar González’s red card.
- Midfielder Dje D’Avilla started his second Open Cup match with Chicago this season, playing 95 minutes in the central midfield.
- Goalkeeper Chris Brady returned from international duty with the U.S. Men’s National Team to play his third Open Cup match of 2025 for Chicago. The Homegrown played all 120 minutes in the contest, recording seven saves in the process.
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Box Score:
Minnesota United FC 3:1 Chicago Fire FC (A.E.T)
Goals:
CHI - Gutiérrez (1) (Penalty) 28’
MIN - Lod (1) (Markanich 1) 48’
MIN - Yeboah (2) (Harvey 1) 95’
MIN - Yeboah (3) (Penalty) 120’
Discipline:
CHI - González (Red Card Ejection) 25’
MIN - Trapp (Yellow Card) 27’
MIN - Harvey (Yellow Card) 35’
CHI - Elliott (Yellow Card) 37’
MIN - Rosales (Yellow Card) 51’
MIN - Hlongwane (Yellow Card) 107’
CHI - Cuypers (Yellow Card) 115’
CHI - Barroso (Yellow Card) 118’
CHI - Brady (Yellow Card) 120’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Dean, D González, D Elliott (capt.), D Gutman, M D’Avilla (Bamba, 96’), M Williams (Pineda, 72’), M Gutiérrez (Oregel Jr., 66’), F Haile-Selassie (Rogers, 30’), F Barlow (Cuypers, 46’), F Zinckernagel (Barroso, 72’)
Subs not used: GK Gal
Minnesota United FC: GK St. Clair, D Gressel (Markanich, 46’), D DÃaz, D Harvey, D Duggan (Romero, 91’), D Rosales, M Hlongwane, M Géne (Yeboah, 63’), M Trapp (capt.) (Lod, 46’), M Jeong (Pereyra, 46’), F Oluwaseyi (Boxall, 75’)
Subs not used: GK Rizvanovic
Stats Summary: MIN / CHI
Shots: 26 / 11
Shots on Goal: 10 / 4
Saves: 3 / 7
Passing Accuracy: 89.0% / 82.2%
Corners: 10 / 5
Fouls: 15 / 15
Offsides: 3 / 0
Possession: 59% / 41%
Attendance: 9,814
Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva
Assistant Referees: Mike Nickerson, Meghan Mullen
Fourth Official: Calin Radosav
