Fire Defenseless in Open Cup Loss to Houston

Chicago Fire 1-4 Houston Dynamo

BRIDGEVIEW, IL—The Chicago Fire suffered its first home loss in all competitions in somewhat controversial and somewhat dismal fashion as they fell to Houston Dynamo, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup at SeatGeek Stadium. 

The Fire went with the same lineup that won at Austin FC back on May 24th. However, the three centerback formation was continuously burned on this night. Though were VAR part of the equation, would that have impacted the result?

In the 12th minute, Arnaud Souquet was adjudged to have felled Nelson Quinones inside the box, though replays showed that initial contact was outside the box. Amine Bassi converted the spot kick to put Houston ahead. Twenty minutes later, Adalberto Carrasquilla sent a dime of a long ball to Aliyu Ibrahim who got in behind the Fire defense and beat Spencer Richey near post to make it 2-0. 

The Fire were given hope in the 40th minute when Souquet headed in a Xherdan Shaqiri corner. However, things turned south for the Fire a few minutes into the second half. They had two penalty shouts turned away. One for suspicion of handball blocking a Gaston Gimenez shot and a second when Brian Gutierrez was clipped by Andrew Tarbell. After the second non-penalty decision by referee Miguel De Oliveria, fans threw plastic bottles onto the pitch causing a minor delay. 

Minutes later, the defense fell apart after Spencer Richey made the initial save on Quinones, but Ibrahim had a tap-in for the rebound to make it 3-1. Quinones would complete the scoring in the 74th minute following a counter attack just after the Fire had made a substitution. 

Fire head coach Frank Klopas felt that despite the missed calls, his team were not a sharp as Houston.

So, if you’re asking me about the referee, I can tell you I felt the first PK he gave against us was not in the box; the contact was outside, so that’s one, OK? But the PK, because I saw it, it’s 100 percent. I mean, Guti [Brian Gutiérrez] touches the ball before he gets taken down,” said Klopas.

“Anyway, it is a big moment in the match, because at 2-1 or 2-2, you know, momentum definitely changes. But we didn’t. For me, take that out of the equation – the referees, the two calls – it’s the way we started the game, our mentality in a big game like this. So, I felt that we were very sluggish, we were not sharp, so we got no one to blame but ourselves.

“But look, it’s a tough one, because this was a big goal for us and we put everything into it and we wanted it, the guys really wanted it. But it was not the right approach that we went into the game: before you wake up, you’re down 2-0, so you’re already in a bad spot. We get the next goal, but then it’s about the next play. We don’t get the PK, they score the third goal and then it’s almost, for some of the guys, it’s finished. And the mentality I want is for the guys to fight all the way to the end. You know, you see character in difficult moments, not when things are going well. And that’s why I was a little disappointed, besides the loss, obviously.”

The Fire will return to league play on Saturday at Soldier Field to take on Columbus Crew. Kickoff is at 7:30pm on Apple TV+.

SCORING SUMMARY:
HOU-Amine Bassi (penalty kick) 12
HOU-Aliyu Ibrahim (Carrasquilla) 32
CHI-Arnaud Souquet (Shaqiri) 40
HOU-Aliyu Ibrahim (unassisted) 59
HOU-Nelson Quinones (Herrera) 74

BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (caution, reckless tackle) 21
CHI-Federico Navarro (caution, reckless foul) 62
CHI-Gaston Gimenez (caution, reckless foul) 63
HOU-Chase Gaspar (caution, tactical foul) 89
CHI-Kendall Burks (caution, reckless tackle) 90

CHICAGO FIRE (3-4-2-1):  #18-Spencer Richey; #2-Arnaud Souquet (#27-Kendall Burks 46), #22-Mauricio Pineda, #5-Rafael Czichos; #7-Maren Haile-Selassie, #31-Federico Navarro (#20-Jairo Torres 67), #30-Gaston Gimenez (#19-Gerogios Koutsias 74), #6-Miguel Navarro; #10-Xherdan Shaqiri, #17-Brian Gutierrez; #23-Kei Kamara

Subs not used:  #25-Jeffrey Gal, #21-Fabian Herbers, #3-Alonso Aceves, #11-Kacper Przybylko

HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-2-3-1):  #13-Andrew Tarbell; #2-Franco Escobar, #31-Micael, #28-Erik Sviatchenko (#4-Ethan Bartlow 60), #30-Chase Gasper; #16-Hector Herrera (#7-Ivan Franco 83), #27-Luis Caicedo; #8-Amine Bassi (#6-Artur 72), #20-Adalberto Carrasquilla (#11-Corey Baird 60), #21-Nelson Quinones; #18-Aliyu Ibrahim (#34-Thorleifur Ulfarsson 72)

Subs not used:  #12-Steve Clark, #5-Daniel Steres

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 13-11 HOU
SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 5-6 HOU
FOULS:  CHI 15-11 HOU
OFFSIDES:  CHI 2-6 HOU
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 8-2 HOU
SAVES:  CHI 2-4 HOU

Referee:  Marcos DeOliveria
Assistant Referees:  Matthew Seem, Artyom Arustamyan
4th Official:  Alexander Beehler
Attendance:  7,512
Weather:  Cloudy and 71º
Man of the Match:  Aliyu Ibrahim (HOU)