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May is here but you wouldn’t know by the weather in Chicago, in comes Orlando City SC from the sunshine state. The Fire are riding a month long winless streak. Lots to prove for the Fire against a hot Orlando team.
Fire off to a hot start, attacking on goal and getting quality looks. On the contrary, Hugo Cuypers had two point blank chances and missed them both in front of the goal. Not good, especially for the quality of player that Cuypers is. Gotta put in at least one of those in the back of the net, no matter what.
It’s not only Cuypers, Sergio Orajel Jr. lays out a perfect deep ball right in front of Jonathan Bamba in the opponent’s box and Bamba squanders the golden chance. Can’t keep missing on big opportunities like that, it usually comes back to bite you later. Orlando City SC seem to be in a daze in this first half. Very little offense on their end.
A game changing play for both teams as Brady going for a ball collides mid-air with an Orlando City player resulting in an immediate red card. Wow. There was contact from Chris Brady’s knee into the chest, but a red card is a major call. The ref goes to review the play and concludes the play was just outside the box, so direct free kick, but the bad news is the red card on Brady stays.
This is a call that affects the remainder of this game and next, as Brady leaves this game and will miss the next one. That’s a cruel call. Refs need to be more mindful of the impact of them. Didn’t look deliberate and it wasn’t even ruled inside the box. Fire down to ten men, Jeff Gal gets his first in-game MLS action, while Bamba subs out.
The Fire held it down and managed to get to halftime and keep the game scoreless. This is gonna be tough treading for the second half, down a man and your young star goalie. Orlando hasn’t capitalized so far on the advantages.
The Fire fought and defended with heart and passion down a man, yet, still managing to create scoring opportunities. Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was fantastic on the night, keeping out several near-goals out of the net.
Orlando made a little noise in the final minutes but the Fire was able to hold on and earn a gritty 0-0 draw. Their second clean sheet and 0-0 draw of the season (Miami was first one). They pick up only 1 point, but on a night when they were down a man most of the match and without their star keeper.
The fans have yet to see a home win at Soldier Field, but getting a point out of this was is a good result. The defense was night and day better than after the torching in Nashville last weekend. Credit to youngster Christopher Cupps on his first start of his career, becoming the youngest Fire player to ever do so at 16 years old. Cupps was really solid all night on the back end. Impressive debut.
NEXT MATCH:
Chicago returns to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a midweek match against Detroit City FC in the Round of 32. Kickoff in the historic competition is slated for 7 p.m. CT on Wednesday, May 3, at SeatGeek Stadium. The match will be transmitted on Paramount+.
Notes:
- One week after making his Major League Soccer debut, Homegrown defender Christopher Cupps became the youngest player to start a match for Chicago Fire FC in Club history at 16 years, 342 days. The Chicago native played the 90 minutes, completing over 90 percent of his passes in the process.
- Goalkeeper Jeff Gal earned his Major League Soccer debut, entering the match in the 40th minute after Chris Brady’s red card in the 36th minute. The goalkeeper only had to make one save, but otherwise played a clean match that earned the Fire their second clean sheet of the season.
- Six Chicago Fire Academy graduates started the match for the Fire tonight, breaking a record set earlier this season in Chicago’s 2-1 victory at Toronto FC on March 15. Cupps joined Brady, Andrew Gutman, Sergio Oregel, Jr., Mauricio Pineda and Brian Gutierrez on the starting XI, also tying a record for most Homegrown players sharing the field from the start with five.
- Per Elias Sports Bureau, the match marked the first time six Chicagoland area players started for the Fire since July 15, 2015, when Patrick Doody, Eric Gehrig, Mike Magee, Chris Ritter, Michael Stephens and Harry Shipp all featured in the starting XI against Columbus Crew SC. With the addition of Bartlett native Jeff Gal, the match saw seven Chicagoland natives in the match – a number never seen in Fire history.
- The match saw a combined 40 shots between Chicago and Orlando. Per Elias Sports Bureau, this is the highest number of combined shots taken in a Fire match that resulted in a 0-0 draw. The Major League Soccer record is 48, set between Portland Timbers and Minnesota United on September 22, 2019.
- Unavailable for selection were defenders Leonardo Barroso (Lower Body), Carlos Terán (Lower Body) and Chase Gasper (Lower Body); and midfielders Kellyn Acosta (Upper Body), David Poreba (Lower Body) and Chris Mueller (Not Due to Injury).
