Sunday night's clash of two Eastern Conference contenders hardly went as expected, with red cards shown to Orlando City SC on either side of halftime dramatically altering the landscape of the Chicago Fire's visit to Orlando City Stadium. Recap the most pertinent match notes from the scoreless draw below before turning the page to Chicago's upcoming home contest against Atlanta United FC:
- The Men In Red saw their impressive four-match winning streak come to an end, but extended their unbeaten run to six games (4-0-2), including a 1-0-2 road mark in that stretch. Chicago's last loss came on April 29 at the New York Red Bulls.
- Chicago was denied a goal for just the second time in 14 games this season, with the only other occurrence coming in a 4-0 loss at Atlanta on March 18.
- On the flip side, Chicago's clean sheet was its third in the last four games, as goalkeeper Matt Lampson remained unbeaten (4-0-2) as the Fire's starting 'keeper this season. Lampson has conceded only four goals in 2017, giving him a season goals against average of 0.67.
- This was Chicago's first 0-0 draw in 2017 and their first since April 10, 2016. The Fire saw just two of their games end in scoreless ties last season.
- The Fire were without central midfielder Dax McCarty, who missed his first Fire minutes of 2017 while in camp with the U.S. Men's National Team, as well as fellow midfielder Juninho, who was with his family for the birth of his second child (son Theo).
- Matt Polster stepped into central midfield alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger in their absence, his first start in the midfield line this season after starting the previous three games at right back. Homegrown Drew Conner made his third start of the year at right back.
- Another Homegrown product, 18-year-old Djordje Mihailovic, enjoyed his longest stint as a pro on Sunday, playing 19 minutes off the bench. Arturo Alvarez also saw extended time as a sub, entering the game in the 59th minute for his longest shift since starting vs. Montreal back on April 1.
- Keeping with the trend, Chicago's third sub, forward David Arshakyan, also recorded his most minutes played in 2017 (14) after playing only two minutes in two prior appearances this season.
- Thanks to the one- and eventually two-man advantage enjoyed by the Fire, Chicago finished with 66.2% of the possession on the night and a 576-302 advantage in total passes (with 89% passing accuracy).
- David Accam saw his club-record goal-scoring streak snapped at five games. Accam had three shots (two SOG) in 76 minutes of action.
- Orlando City SC maintained an unbeaten record (2-0-4) against the Fire in MLS regular season action. Including Sunday, the last three meetings between the two sides have ended in draws, though this marked the first goalless game in the series.
- The two teams meet again for the second and final time this season in less than two weeks, squaring off at Toyota Park on Saturday, June 24.
- Chicago (25 points) remains one point up on both Orlando City and NYCFC in the table, with the Fire trailing Eastern Conference-leading Toronto FC by four points. Chicago has one game in hand on each of the aforementioned squads.
