MLS: Chicago Fire narrowly beats ten-man St. Louis City after Rafael Czichos’s first-half strike
Chicago Fire narrowly beat St. Louis City 1-0 and prevent the MLS newcomers from jumping to the top of the conference after Rafael Czichos’ first-half offense and John Nelson’s red card
- Xherdan Shaqiri found Czichos on a set piece, who scored in the 40th minute
- John Nelson was sent off in the 70th minute, leaving St. Louis with a man
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Chicago Fire recorded a narrow 1-0 victory over ten-man St. Louis City on Saturday to beat the MLS newcomers for the second time this week.
Defenseman Rafael Czichos scored late in the first half and Chris Brady got up to help Chicago clinch the win.
The Fire knocked out St. Louis City in US Open Cup play with a 2-1 victory earlier this week under interim coach Frank Klopas in the first meeting between the teams.
Klopas took the reins after the Fire fired head coach Ezra Hendrickson. Chicago had lost two straight at home and five of its last seven against expansion teams.
Czichos took a pass from Xherdan Shaqiri from a set piece and scored for Chicago in the 40th minute (3-3-5).
Chicago Fire recorded a narrow 1-0 victory over St. Louis City thanks to Rafael Czichos’ goal
Czichos took a pass from Xherdan Shaqiri (second from left) on a dead set moment just before half time
John Nelson (right) was shown a red card in the 70th minute, leaving St. Louis one man down
It was Czichos’ second goal this season. Brady made two saves to earn his second clean sheet of the season.
St. Louis City (6-4-1) had to play with a man down after John Nelson was shown a red card in the 70th minute.
Chicago had a 9–8 lead on shots, but a 6–2 lead on shots on target.
Roman Burki finished with five saves for St. Louis City.
The Fire improved to 9-0-5 in their final 14 regular season home games against Western Conference opponents. Chicago’s last loss to a visitor from the West was a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Sounders in March 2019.
St. Louis City entered the game with 19 points, second most – behind Los Angeles FC’s 20 in 2018 – through 10 games. SLC drops to 1-4-1 in its last six games. The expansion club has scored 20 goals in its six wins and just two in its other five matches.
Chicago travels to play against Charlotte FC on Wednesday. St. Louis City returns home on Saturday to host Sporting KC.