Chicago Fire 0, Club América 1 | Player Ratings
To a casual fan, it may have looked like Club América was actually the home side, but unfortunately, they were not as their fanbase invaded SeatGeek Stadium for their own use before their beloved team got a 1-0 win over our Chicago Fire due to a Gastón Giménez own-goal in the 64th minute. I can confirm their presence was surely felt after having beer thrown on me from across the Harlem End or when I watched their fans invade the pitch twice. I can’t wait for some of those “fans” to go back to wearing their Fire gear in the next home match against Orlando. Here is a short recap of the Fire’s individual performers.
*Players are listed in the order they lined up, followed by substitutes in the order they appeared
Starting XI
Chris Brady (6.5) – Starting the match between the posts, Brady made some important saves in the first half of the match to keep things level going into halftime. His distribution was relatively poor though, but that is likely down to the deafening "Águilas" chants pouring into his ears for the entirety of the time he spent on the pitch. In the 70th minute, Brady went down due to what could be a potential back injury and was then substituted for Spencer Richey.
Miguel Ángel Navarro (7) - One of a select few players up for the challenge, Miggy started the game out a bit slow in terms of his distribution and defending, however, he picked it up later in the game when a majority of the team burnt out. Navarro posted eight duels (he won 83.3% of them) and recorded two tackles, which is impressive considering the Fire were vastly out-possessed and constantly attacked out wide.
Carlos Terán (8) – Terán looked hungry to get involved in this match both technically and physically straight from the get-go, being one of the most frequent ball carriers for the Fire in the first half while also not shying away from getting in the faces of the América players after some clear attempts at antagonization. Terán won all of his ground duels and 75% of his aerial duels, however near the end of the match his previously immaculate passing dove off a cliff, with a notable giveaway to Julián Quiñones late in the game to give his fellow Colombian a clear opportunity on goal. Fortunately, the forward bashed it into the side netting, but still for a center back who could earn a move to Europe in the future, instances like that will simply not fly.
Mauricio Pineda (6.5) – Unfortunately with Pineda’s streak of great form from the last few matches, it was going to end at some point. Although the defender was nowhere near being the worst Fire player on the pitch, he could have been much more involved in the game from a defensive and offensive standpoint. Mauri tallied eight duels, which is a solid tally, however, he only won 43% of them. Two completed tackles followed as well, but his composure when on the ball suffered in comparison to usual. It is funny I say that as he still posted an 89% pass accuracy, but there's been plenty of occasions this season where Pineda has sat at higher than 90%. Specifically against América, las Águilas pressed the Fire high up the pitch, so those instances of possession lost resulted in the ball usually turning over in the final third, which was dangerous all game.
Jonathan Dean (6) - Starting over Arnaud Souquet at right-back, Dean did not leave the pitch with a great on-field impression after eventually being substituted for the aforementioned Frenchman in the 74th minute. Dean only completed 71% of his passes and did not create any attacking chances. In defense, he was not much better, winning 50% of his six duels with no tackles completed.
Gastón Giménez (5.5) – DP Gáston came back and took the place of the Gastón we have seen so far this season, and that meant lost possession, little support to the attacking players, and a mediocre defensive effort. Tonga posted an 81% pass completion rate, which similar to Pineda was uncharacteristically lower than usual. Most of the Paraguyan’s passing was simply amongst the backline and he did not break lines as often as he should have. Giménez did tie for joint first in tackles across both clubs, but he won zero of his duels. Of course, his heavy deflection resulted in the game's only goal, and he was substituted for Federico Navarro in the 75th minute.
Ousmane Doumbia (8) – Some Fire fans have failed to see the value in the simplicity of Doumbia’s game, but the way he plays to someone who reads between the lines is just short of wonderful. I will stop googling now but, all-in-all Doumbia had another great game in the center of the park. The Ivorian anchor also tied first in total tackles, but also won 75% of his nine duels, recovered the ball 12 times, and had the highest accurate pass percentage for Fire players. His sauciness in comparison to other Fire midfielders of the past and present may not be noticeable, but he is an absolute machine when it comes to doing the basics right, and for a team playing in a pivot, he functions extremely well regardless of who he is paired with.
Jairo Torres (5) - How he got into the starting XI, we may never know, but what we do know is that Jairo’s original transfer from Atlas has been nothing short of a disaster. His performance in this match symbolizes his entire tenure in Chicago, which can be described as “anonymous”. Noted by the Fire fans sitting behind me who did not realize he was even playing, it was almost as if Jairo was not even on the pitch given how little he actually contributes to the attack, or well, really anything. Torres was substituted in the 61st minute for Maren Haile-Selassie.
Xherdan Shaqiri (7) – It is weird how a player can look so static yet so fluid at the same time, but Shaqiri somehow manages to do both. It felt like there was a major lack of off-ball movement from the Swiss, however, when he actually got on the ball he was dicing América defenders like it was nothing. Just look on Twitter (or X), it's everywhere. Shaq had a team-high dribble success rate with 89% of his nine total being completed, alongside 83 total touches on the ball. His end product could have been better, but in a slow game for a majority of the team it is what it is.
Brian Gutiérrez (7.5) - The Fire’s most creative player on the night, Guti had a solid showing despite his limited opportunities with the ball at his feet. For the first half, any attacking threat the Fire generated almost came exclusively through some combination of Gutiérrez and another player regardless of if that was out wide on the left or not, signified by nine passes into the final third. I’m not sure many noticed either, but Guti also hit Miggy with a little rabona pass that had me out of my seat giggling like a small child early on in the game. Also worth mentioning, he also led the team in total duels with 16.
Georgios Koutsias (6) – Getting the start again despite a fairly “meh” performance last match, Koutsias played pretty much the same as last game. The decision for the young forward to start really is not questionable given that Kei Kamara is unavailable and Kacper Przybyłko plays the way he does, but given his stature as a full Greek youth international and that he came from PAOK, which is one of the biggest clubs in Greece, it is not unrealistic to expect more. His positioning is solid and he drops out wide well, but he looks fairly uncoordinated in his touches and dribbling which in a way reminds me of Erling Haaland, but nowhere near as clinical. Koutsi was substituted for Przybyłko in the 61st minute starts crying.
Substitutes
Kacper Przybyłko (5) - Appearing as a sub for Koutsias in the 61st minute, Przybyłko at least looked like he was trying to contribute to the Fire’s attacking play when he got up for aerial duels or layoffs to players running forward, but if I am going to be realistic, a striker who cannot score is fundamentally going against the responsibility naturally given to him when he plays that position. In the 62nd minute, Kacper was given an opportunity to finish a tap-in from not even six yards out (I checked the video as I was writing this), and he put it wide. The Fire conceded two minutes later, drinks were thrown, the game was stopped, and the world inside SeatGeek became apocalyptic.
Maren Haile-Selassie (6.5) - Maren came on as a substitute in the 61st minute in place of Torres at right-wing. The Swiss attacker was not as potent as he usually is, likely down to how little possession the Fire actually saw, but he was definitely more noticeable of a presence than the player he had replaced. There were a few glimpses of quality attacking movement with Maren and either Shaqiri or the overlapping right-back which saw the Fire create their best two chances of the game, but ultimately nothing came out of it.
Spencer Richey (6) - After Brady suffered an apparent back injury, Richey came on in the 70th minute to play out the remainder of the match. Richey did not face any shots on target and really only was involved in some buildup out of the back, and that simplicity honestly could be preferable to the action Brady saw in the first half of play.
Arnaud Souquet (6) -
Federico Navarro (6.5) -
Manager
Frank Klopas (6) – Starting Jairo Torres and Jonathan Dean on the right side was certainly a choice, and not exactly a good one as the two players combined played pretty poorly. The rest of the starters were as you’d expect, but Georgios Koutsias could have stayed on longer despite the form he provided. I don’t exactly think of Kacper when I hear the phrase “offensive threat”. Klopas did not play into the antics of the América supporters which is great considering how easy it is to do that, and he kept the squad in check for the majority of the game. Although it was a shame to go out this early, it could have been worse and the Fire deserve a break so that they can give it all they’ve got for the playoffs in their final stretch of matches.
