Chicago Fire FC Ties New England Revolution 3-3 at Gillette Stadium

CHICAGO (May 27, 2023) – Chicago Fire FC (3-4-7, 16 points) battled the New England Revolution (7-3-4, 25 points) to a 3-3 draw at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Playing their seventh match in the last three weeks, the Fire raced ahead to an early two-goal lead in the first half, but conceded a pair of goals to enter the halftime break level, 2-2. The two sides would exchange goals late in the second half to earn a point each.

Ten minutes into the match, Chicago won a ball in their half and midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri scanned the field for a target. Shaqiri sent a perfectly-weighted ball behind the Revolution defense for forward Georgios Koutsias. The young forward ran onto the pass, taking a couple of controlling passes toward the goal before placing his shot past the goalkeeper and into the lower left corner. With his goal, Koutsias became the third player under the age of 20 to score in back-to-back matches for the Fire, along with Jhon Durán and Justin Mapp.

Koutsias was a key part of the second goal in the 22nd minute, when he played a pass up the left flank for Miguel Navarro. The quick Venezuelan cut a pass across the goalmouth that bounced off Andrew Farrell and redirected into the net.

New England pulled even just before halftime with goals in the 38th and 40th minutes. Revolution midfielder Noel Buck put one past Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady with a big shot from outside the box in the 38th minute. Two minutes later, Bobby Wood, who assisted on Buck’s goal, sent the ball sailing to the back of the net off a header from the center of the box.

Brady kept the score level in the 55th minute when Giacomo Vrioni found himself one-on-one with the young ’keeper. Vrioni squared up and Brady made himself big, saving the shot with his foot.

In the 79th minute, second-half substitute Brian Gutiérrez controlled the ball on the left side, sending a pass across the box for Kei Kamara. The forward kept it going right, sending a low pass to Haile-Selassie making a run on the right. The midfielder placed it low for his third goal of the season.

New England also scored a third via Jozy Altidore in the 83rd minute. The result marks the Fire’s second consecutive 3-3 draw in League play, as the team extended its unbeaten run to three matches across all competitions.

NEXT MATCH: Chicago heads up North to face Toronto FC at 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, May 31 at BMO Field. The match will be broadcast on Apple TV+, streamed in English on wlsam.com, and transmitted locally in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.

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Notes:

• Greek forward Georgios Koutsas scored his second goal in a Fire shirt in his first-ever MLS start. Koutsias, who scored his first MLS and Chicago Fire goal in the 89th minute of the 3-3 tie with Atlanta United, scored in consecutive MLS matches for the first time in his career.
• Winger Maren Haile-Selassie scored his third goal of the season and his fourth across all competitions. Three of Haile-Selassie’s goals have come in the Club’s last five matches.
• Swiss international midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri tallied an assist for a third straight match. The Fire’s No. 10 has provided four assists in the team’s last five matches.
• Forward Kei Kamara notched his first career assist for the Fire.
• Unbeaten in their last three matches across all competitions, the Fire have scored eight goals during that stretch.
• Midfielder Jairo Torres returned to the starting XI for the first time since leaving the field with a first-half injury in the Fire’s first game of the season against NYCFC on March 4.
• Goalkeeper Chris Brady backstopped the group, manning the net in his 12th start of the season.
• Defenders Jonathan Dean (left upper leg), Carlos Terán (right knee) and Justin Reynolds (left upper leg), midfielders Fabian Herbers (yellow card accumulation), Chris Mueller (hip), Federico Navarro (red card suspension) and Sergio Oregel Jr. (right lower leg) and forward Victor Bezerra (left upper leg) were unavailable for selection tonight.

Box Score:
New England Revolution 3:3 Chicago Fire FC

Goals:
CHI - Koutsias (2) (Shaqiri, 3) (WATCH) 10’
CHI - Andrew Farrell (Own Goal) (WATCH) 22’
NE - Noel Buck (2) (Wood, 3) (WATCH) 38’
NE - Wood (4) (Makoun, 1) (WATCH) 40’
CHI - Haile-Selassie (3) (Kamara, 1) (WATCH) 79’
NE - Altidore (1) (Romney, 1) (WATCH) 83’ 

Discipline:
CHI - Torres (Yellow Card) 47’
NE - Blessing (Yellow Card) 50’
NE - Jones (Yellow Card) 90’
CHI - Brady (Yellow Card) 90+2’ 

Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Omsberg, D Pineda (Czichos, 61’), D Burks (Souquet, 73’), D M. Navarro, M Torres (Gutiérrez, 67’), M Giménez, M Haile-Selassie, M Shaqiri (capt). F Koutsias (Aceves, 73’), F Przybyłko (Kamara, 62’)

Subs not used: GK Richey, M Casas Jr., F Monis, F Rodríguez

New England Revolution: GK Petrovic, D Romney, D Makoun, D Jones, D Farrell (capt.), M Polster, M Boateng (Rennicks, 81’), M Blessing (Gil, 62’), M Buck, F Vrioni, F Wood (Altidore, 81’)

Subs not used: GK Edwards Jr., D Gonzalez, D Sweat, M Bolma, M Panayotou, F Bajraktarevic

Stats Summary: NE / CHI
Shots: 16 / 9
Shots on Goal: 6 / 3
Saves: 1 / 3
Passing Accuracy: 84.6% / 82.8%
Corners: 9 / 4
Fouls: 14  / 4
Offsides: 1 / 0
Possession: 52.6% / 47.4%

Attendance: 27,293

Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Kevin Lock
Fourth Official: Armando Villarreal
VAR: Ramy Touchan
Asst. VAR: Joshua Patlak