1, 2, 3, (4): Chicago Fire 1, Inter Miami 4
CHICAGO, Ill. — Some nights play out like a fairy tale. Some do not.
Last year, the Chicago Fire cruised to an astonishingly dominant 4-1 victory over a Lionel Messi-less Inter Miami. This time around, it was precisely the opposite: a crushing 4-1 loss before 55,385 fans.
The news of Messi’s absence came more than 24 hours prior to kickoff when the MLS player availability report confirmed that his injury would continue to make him unavailable for selection. That didn’t stop many fans – whether knowingly or unknowingly – arriving at Soldier Field decked out in Inter Miami, Barcelona, and Argentina gear.
On the Fire’s end, head coach Frank Klopas used the big crowd and last week’s second-half success in New York City as reasons to make dramatic changes to the starting eleven and formation. A radical shift to a 4-4-2 diamond was the call, with Kellyn Acosta and Allan Arigoni among those who went to the bench. Brian Gutiérrez started at the 10, with Hugo Cuypers and Maren Haile-Selassie paired up front.
The Fire came out of the gates reasonably well and seemed to match the energy from the crowd that preceded the opening whistle. Cuypers and Gutiérrez seemed particularly up for it and displayed confidence on the ball, making life difficult for Miami libero Sergio Busquets.
However, that positive momentum came to a screeching halt in the 25th minute. Goalkeeper Chris Brady denied Luis Suárez from close range, but the rebound cannoned off center back Tobias Salquist and into the net. The own goal sucked the life out of the first half, and Suárez nearly doubled the scoring with a header that came off the crossbar a few minutes later.
In last year’s encounter between these two teams, the halftime break provided a big boost to the Fire, who exploded from the opening whistle. This time around, it was quite the opposite; less than a minute into the half, Suárez got in behind the back line and doubled the cushion.
A triple substitution from Klopas to introduce Kellyn Acosta, Georgios Koutsias, and Carlos Terán did not have its intended effect and could not curb Miami’s second half dominance. Five minutes later, Suárez got on the end of a simple Jordi Alba cross, and made the score 3-0.
From that point on, the crowd’s energy waned, and the Fire seemed very out of things. A consolation goal from Koutsias in the 82nd minute briefly restored a tiny glimmer of hope, but in the third minute of stoppage time, Robert Taylor completed the rout with a dagger.
With the Miami game in the rearview mirror, the Fire’s schedule eases up for the rest of the year. Home matches with D.C. and New York are now must-wins, with a road test in mid-September against Montréal also representing a great chance to pick up valuable points. But now, sitting a full five points out of a playoff spot, things are certainly looking bleak.
