Cincinnati, Ohio (July 17, 2024) – Chicago Fire FC (6-11-7, 25 points) defeated FC Cincinnati (15-6-3, 48 points) 1-0 on Wednesday night at TQL Stadium. The Fire broke through in the 70th minute when Homegrown midfielder Brian Gutiérrez scored his fifth goal of the season, finishing off an assist from forward Hugo Cuypers.
The result marked the second consecutive match in which the Fire has held their opponent scoreless, and the fourth overall shutout of the season for the Club. Additionally, Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady recorded his 12th career clean sheet for the Fire. Brady, who made nine saves in the match, including a finger-tip denial in the 90+1' to prevent forward Aaron Boupendza from finding the equalizer, tied his career-high for saves in a single match.
After coming close to scoring on numerous occasions to start the second half, Chicago eventually found the back of the net with 20 minutes remaining when Cuypers was the first to react to a missed header from the Cincinnati defense near the halfway line. The Belgian striker carried the ball forward into Cincinnati’s 18-yard box, before cutting it back for an unmarked Gutiérrez, who placed his strike just underneath goalkeeper Roman Celentano.
Gutiérrez has recorded eight goal contributions this season (five goals, three assists), and is now three away from tying his career-high 11 goal contributions (2023). Additionally, with an assist on the game-winning goal, Cuypers has notched eight goal contributions in the team’s last 10 matches (six goals, two assists).
NEXT MATCH: Chicago will play its second straight game on the road when it takes on Inter Miami CF for the first time this season on Saturday, July 20. Kickoff at Chase Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass and transmitted locally via 890 WLS-AM (English) and WRTO 1200 AM (Spanish).
Notes:
- Chicago’s victory marks their third road win against Cincinnati. With the win, the Fire now hold an all-time record of 3-1-2 on the road against FC Cincinnati.
- Additionally, the Fire have recorded three victories in their last four road matches against Cincinnati.
- The Fire are now 4-1-2 in regular season play when scoring the first goal of the contest.
- The win marked the Fire’s second road victory of the season, with the team’s away record now standing at 2-6-4 in 2024.
- As of this writing, the Fire are now in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, sitting just one point below the playoff line.
- With his goal, midfielder Brian Gutiérrez recorded his second career goal against Cincinnati and his fifth goal contribution against the Ohio-based side. The Homegrown now has the most goal contributions for Chicago in matchup history.
- With his start, midfielder Fabian Herbers became the first German-born player to record 100 starts with Chicago Fire FC. Currently the Fire’s longest-tenured player, Herbers is just the 19th player to record 100 starts with Chicago, and the eighth internationally-born player to reach the mark.
- With nine saves tonight, goalkeeper Chris Brady tied a single-season career high. Brady matched his nine-save output from the March 9 contest against the Columbus Crew.
- On top of that, Brady recorded the second-most saves by a Fire goalkeeper in a single game against FC Cincinnati with his nine stops, two shy of Bobby Shuttleworth’s record.
- Additionally, goalkeeper Chris Brady has recorded clean sheets in back-to-back matches. This is the first time since July 12-15, 2023 that Brady has registered consecutive shutouts for the Fire.
- Homegrown Brian Gutiérrez recorded his fifth goal of the 2024 regular season, and the ninth of his career.
- Defender Tobias Salquist returned to the lineup as a substitute in the 92nd minute, making his first appearance since April 27 against Atlanta United FC.
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Box Score:
FC Cincinnati 0:1 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
CHI – Gutiérrez (5) (Cuypers, 2) (WATCH) 70’
Discipline:
CHI – Herbers (Yellow Card) 35’
CIN – Noonan (Yellow Card) 72’
CIN – Arena (Yellow Card) 85’
CIN – Powell (Ejection) 88’
CIN – Yedlin (Yellow Card) 89’
CHI – Koutsias (Yellow Card) 90+3’
CIN – Noonan (Second Yellow, Ejection) 90+5’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Souquet, D Czichos, D Omsberg, D Dean (Gutiérrez, 59’), D Arigoni, M Haile-Selassie (Salquist, 90+2’) , M Mueller (Barlow, 59’), M Herbers (Acosta, 46’), M Giménez (capt.), F Cuypers (Koutsias, 80’)
Subs not used: GK Richey, D Pineda, M Casas Jr., M Poreba
FC Cincinnati: GK Celentano, D Keller (Kelsy, 80’), D Orellano, D Asad (Halsey, 61’), D Murphy, D Yedlin (capt.), M Nwobodo (Boupendza, 87’), M Kubo, M Bucha, F Baird (Santos, 46’), F Valenzuela (Powell, 61’)
Subs not used: GK Walters, GK, Louro, D Foster, D Aghedo
Stats Summary: CIN / CHI
Shots: 18 / 16
Shots on Goal: 9 / 7
Saves: 6 / 9
Passing Accuracy: 86.2% / 76.1%
Corners: 8 / 3
Fouls: 8 / 17
Offsides: 1 / 1
Possession: 62.8% / 37.2%
Attendance: 25,513
Referee: Flilip Dujic
Assistant Referees: Logan Brown, Ricardo Ocampo
Fourth Official: Jon Freeman
VAR: Daniel Radford, TJ Zablocki
