CHICAGO (Oct. 1, 2022) – Chicago Fire FC (10-15-8, 38 points) defeated FC Cincinnati (11-9-13, 47 points) 3-2 at TQL Stadium Saturday night in the Fire’s final road match of the season. The match featured a brace by 18-year-old Colombian international Jhon Durán, plus a goal and two assists from 19-year-old Homegrown Brian Gutiérrez.
Fire goalkeeper Spencer Richey made the first MLS start of his Fire career in tonight’s match, as he faced off against his former team where he spent the 2019 and 2020 MLS seasons. Richey’s biggest save of the night came at the half hour mark, as Cincinnati midfielder Luciano Acosta slotted the ball in for forward Brandon Vázquez who ripped a shot on frame which was denied by Richey diving to deny the attempt and keep the match scoreless.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Fire turned up the attack, putting away two goals just three minutes apart. Starting in the 56th minute, forward Jhon Durán was the first to strike, receiving a slotted pass from midfielder Brian Gutiérrez before firing off a left-footed shot past the diving attempt of Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano.
Three minutes later, Gutiérrez doubled the Fire’s lead with a finish from the top of the 18-yard-box in the 59th minute. The scoring play began with Fire captain Rafael Czichos winning a defensive battle and sending a long ball onto the run of Chris Mueller on the left flank. Mueller whipped an outside-of-the-foot pass on to the path of Gutiérrez who opened his hips and placed his finish into the lower right hand corner of the net.
The connection between the teenage duo of Durán and Gutiérrez continued to flourish throughout the second half as Gutiérrez set up Durán for his second goal of the evening. In the 75th minute, Gutiérrez volleyed a pass onto the run of the 18-year-old Colombian who lobbed a one-time shot from deep outside the 18-yard box, over the top of Celentano and into the back of the net.
With tonight’s brace, Durán leads the Fire in scoring with eight goals so far this season and is now the 12th player in MLS history to record at least 10 combined goals and assists in a single season at the age of 18 or younger.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the match, the home side added a goal of their own with a shot from Acosta, assisted by Cincinnati defender Ronald Matarrita. Cincinnati then added a second with a goal from Vazquez in the 89th minute. However their efforts would fall short as the Fire maintained the lead and came away with the 3-2 road victory.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago will host the New England Revolution in the Club’s final match of the 2022 MLS regular season on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 1:30 p.m. CT at SeatGeek Stadium. Tickets to the game are availablehereand the contest will also be televised live on WGN-TV and CF97 Live, and transmitted locally in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.
The match against New England will close out the Club’s 25th Anniversary weekend, which will feature appearances from members of the 1998 MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup Championship teams, a postgame concert with Lunay, and a commemorative jersey auction for fans. The Club’s official 25th anniversary date on Oct. 8 also marks the 151st anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. More information can be found here.
Notes:
- Jhon Durán logged his eighth goal of the season and leads the Fire in scoring. The 18-year-old Colombian is now the 12th player in MLS history to record at least 10 combined goals and assists in a single season at the age of 18 or younger.
- Durán has now scored the opening goal in four MLS matches this season.
- With a brace in tonight’s game, Duran has scored three goals in the team’s last four games. The striker has tallied three braces in the 2022 season.
- Brian Gutiérrez scored his second career goal and second of the season. His two assists on Durán’s goals were his sixth and seventh assists of the season, good for second-most on the team behind Xherdan Shaqiri who has 11.
- Midfielder Chis Mueller logged his fifth assist of the season on Gutiérrez’s goal in the 59th minute.
- Spencer Richey made the first MLS start of his Fire career in tonight’s match against his former team where he spent the 2019 and 2020 MLS seasons.
- The Fire have stopped the opposition from scoring a first-half goal in 22 of their 33 games, only Philadelphia Union (26) have done this more often in the MLS this season.
- The Fire have scored in each of their last four MLS games, scoring 10 goals in that run.
- The Fire have lost only two of their last seven road games and have 16 away points on the season (W4 D4 L9). Chicago has collected 16 points on the road just once in the previous eight seasons dating back to 2014 (16 in 2017).
Box Score:
FC Cincinnati 2:3 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
CHI - Durán (7) (Gutiérrez 6) 56’
CHI - Gutiérrez (2) (Mueller 5, Czichos 1) 59’
CHI - Durán (8) (Gutiérrez 7) 75’
CIN - Acosta (9) (Matarrita 3, Vázquez 6) 78’
CIN - Vázquez (17) (Nwobodo 2) 89’
Discipline:
CIN - Hagglund (Yellow Card) 27’
CHI - Pineda (Yellow Card) 68’
CIN - Kubo (Yellow Card) 81’
CHI - Czichos (Yellow Card) 90+5’
CIN - Santos (Ejection) 90+5’
CHI - M. Navarro (Yellow Card) 90+9’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Richey, D Terán, D Czichos ©, D Bornstein (Burks, 90+8’), D Sekulic, M Pineda, M F. Navarro, M Mueller, M Ivanov (M. Navarro, 77’), M Gutiérrez (Casas Jr., 90’), F Durán
Subs not used: GK Brady, D Espinoza, M Rodríguez, F Bezerra, M Oregel, M Monis
FC Cincinnati: GK Celentano, D Miazga, D Cameron (Badji, 89’), D Hagglund (Murphy 60’), D Barreal, D Powell (Matarrita, 72’), M Moreno (Kubo, 60’), M Acosta ©, M Nwobodo, F Brenner (Santos, 73’), F Vázquez
Subs not used: GK Kann, D Nelson, M Cruz, D Gaddis
Stats Summary: CIN / CHI
Shots: 18 / 12
Shots on Goal: 4 / 6
Saves: 3 / 2
Passing Accuracy: 75.1% / 73.8%
Corners: 7 / 5
Fouls: 11 / 13
Offsides: 3 / 0
Possession: 52.6% / 47.4%
Attendance: 25,316
Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Assistant Referees: Jason White, Walt Heatherly
Fourth Official: Adam Kilpatrick
VAR: Geoff Gamble, Robert Schaap
