VANCOUVER, British Columbia (March 22, 2025) – Chicago Fire FC (3-1-1, 10 points) earned its third road victory in a row with a 3-1 result over Vancouver Whitecaps FC (4-1-0, 12 points) Saturday night at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada. Hugo Cuypers added his fifth goal of the season to open the scoring, while both Philip Zinckernagel and Rominigue Kouamé tallied their first goals of the season.
The visitors shocked Vancouver only seconds after the opening whistle. In his first start for Chicago, Leonardo Barroso sent a through ball forward to Philip Zinckernagel, who waited for the ball to bounce into the box before sending a cross to the far post. Anticipating the pass, Cuypers ran there and finished with his left foot just 52 seconds into the match to give the Fire the lead.
Finding themselves trailing a match for the first time all season, Vancouver struck back in the 14th minute. Liam MacKenzie recovered the ball in the final third before passing to Jayden Nelson, who played a quick ball to Daniel Ríos on the left of the box. The Mexican forward blasted a quick one-timer high off the near post and into the goal for the equalizer.
Each side traded chances through the break, but it took until the hour mark for either team to break the stalemate. In the 61st minute, Cuypers dropped into the midfield to earn a turnover, immediately finding Jonathan Bamba wide open on the left wing. The winger looked for Cuypers in the box on his ensuing cross, but the ball instead ended up in Zinckernagel’s path when it was blocked. The Danish winger collected the rebound in traffic and snuck the ball through the defense to retake the lead.
The ‘Caps pushed forward looking for an equalizer for half an hour, giving the Fire an opportunity in stoppage time. Having checked into the match in the 87th minute, Kouamé got on the end of a counterattack five minutes into stoppage time. The defensive midfielder sprinted into the Vancouver box, nearly losing the ball as the defense closed in, before collecting it again and blasting it home for the Fire’s third. The goal effectively ended the match, as the Fire collected three points for the third time in a row.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to the lakefront to face its third consecutive Canadian side, CF Montréal, on Saturday, March 29 at Soldier Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT and the match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, and transmitted locally on wlsam.com (English) and Que Buena 105.1 via the Uforia app (Spanish).
Notes:
- Making his first appearance in MLS in the 87th minute, midfielder Rominigue Kouamé became the second player in 2025 to score in his Fire debut, after Leonardo Barroso did just six minutes into his debut against FC Dallas two weeks prior.
- Defender Leonardo Barroso continued to impress, adding his second assist of the season just seconds into his first start in Major League Soccer. The defender had his hands full on the wing, but held on through 90 minutes to help the Fire win its third in a row.
- With three goals scored in the match, Chicago set a record for most goals scored through the opening five games of a season in Club history. In 1999, the then-defending champion Chicago Fire scored 11 goals through its opening five games of the season. In 2025, the Fire have scored 12 through five games, also earning their best start to a season since the playoff-bound Men in Red opened the 2008 campaign with a record of 3-1-1.
- Hugo Cuypers tallied his fifth goal in four games, good for second most in the league behind Philadelphia’s Tai Baribo. His five goals are the most he has scored in four games with the Fire, and his four consecutive games with a goal are one short of a five-match scoring streak he set from May 25 through June 22 last year.
- The victory marked the first time since 2009 that the Fire won three matches in a row on the road. In that stretch, the Fire defeated Toronto FC, New York Red Bulls and Chivas USA from May 16-28. Chicago now has an opportunity to tie the mark for most consecutive road victories in Club history in two weeks against the New York Red Bulls.
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Box Score:Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1:3 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
CHI - Cuypers (5) (Zinckernagel 2, Barroso 2) (WATCH) 1’
VAN - Rios (1) (Nelson 4, Mackenzie 1) (WATCH) 14’
CHI - Zinckernagel (1) (Bamba 4) (WATCH) 62’
CHI - Kouamé (1) (Haile-Selassie 1) (WATCH) 90+5’
Discipline:
CHI - Gutman (Yellow Card) 43’
CHI - Elliott (Yellow Card) 69’
CHI - Badwal (Yellow Card) 71’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Barroso, D Rogers, D Elliott (capt.), D Gutman (Reynolds, 46’), M Oregel, Jr., M Pineda, M Williams (Kouamé, 87’), F Zinckernagel (M Haile-Selassie, 70’), F Cuypers (Barlow, 79’), F Bamba (Terán, 87’)
Subs not used: GK Gal, D González, D Konincks, M Borso
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: GK Takaoka, D Ocampo (Fleuriau Chateau, 86’), D Utvik (Halbrouni, 86’), D Veselinović (capt.), D Laborda, M Priso (Johnson, 79’), M Ngando, M Berhalter, F MacKenzie (Badwal, 65’), F Ríos, F Nelson (Sabbi, 62’)
Subs not used: GK Boehmer, D Bovalina, D O’Neill, M Kreilach
Stats Summary: VAN / CHIShots: 13 / 9
Shots on Goal: 2 / 5
Saves: 2 / 1
Passing Accuracy: 88.4% / 86.1%
Corners: 4 / 6
Fouls: 10 / 9
Offsides: 1 / 2
Possession: 58.1% / 41.9%
Attendance: 18,717
Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Lyes Arfa, Kali Smith
Fourth Official: Renzo Villanueva
VAR: Michael Radchuk
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson
