Chicago Fire 1, Nashville SC 0 | Player Ratings

Playing at home for the first time in three games, a slightly rotated Fire side hosted red-hot Nashville, ultimately beating the Boys in Gold 1-0 thanks to Fabian Herber’s fourth goal of the season. Fabi scored in the 34th minute after linking up with Maren Haile-Selassie thanks to some poor passing in the back from Nashville, and that lone goal sealed all three points for the Fire. 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 (8) – Although his shot-stopping was not called upon much in this game, Brady’s two saves were extremely important, with the more memorable of the two is to deny a well-hit Hany Muhktar free-kick. Brady was also solid with his feet, posting a 91.3% pass accuracy and commanding off of his line in terms of dealing with aerial duels. Another great showing from Chris Brady.

Miguel Ángel Navarro (8) - Reclaiming his starting spot from Alonso Aceves, Navarro looked extremely in form, constantly winning fouls and denying Nashville from running freely on the left side. Navarro won 83.3% of his nine engaged duels, won four free-kicks for the Fire, and was a stalwart in a backline that was made of cement for a large portion of the 90 minutes.

Rafael Czichos (7.5) – The Fire’s captain was calm and composed against Nashville as he rarely made any mistakes, and when Czichos did come up with any errors, he quickly made for it with last-ditch tackles and blocks. Czichos also held a passing accuracy of 96.4%, which was the highest across both teams for players with comparable minutes played.

Mauricio Pineda (8) - Moving back to center-back and subsequently benching Carlos Terán to begin, Pineda had an inspiring performance, laying in tackle after tackle to keep Nashville from scoring. Mauri’s best moment came in the 84th minute when he ripped a first-time volley from outside of the box, unfortunately just rising enough to clip the crossbar. Mauri also had an 83.7% passing accuracy, and won 80% of his six duels. Although the decision to start Pineda at center back over Terán was met with some skepticism, Mauri backed Klopas’ choice with a wonderful performance.

Jonathan Dean (7) -  With Arnaud Souquet being forced to sit this one out after seeing red last game against Orlando, Dean got the start at right-back. Dean was pretty impressive when defending (which is great considering the offensive weapons Nashville have at their disposal), but in possession, Dean could have been more resourceful. Overall, it was a good performance for Dean, but he was later substituted for Kendall Burks in the 77th minute.

Fabian Herbers (8) - WIth Federico Navarro facing a spell on the sidelines with an injury, Herbers' job as the ultimate stop-gap now places him as Gastón Giménez’s midfield partner and, once again, as a goalscorer. Fabi opened the scoring after intercepting a poor pass out of the back from Lukas MacNaughton and laying it off to Maren Haile-Selassie, who then squared it back to the German in the six-yard box to finish. Besides his goal, Fabi was heavily involved in the attack and defense, engaging in eight duels total and posting a 95.3% pass accuracy.

Gastón Giménez (6.5) – The Paraguayan had a solid outing here against Nashville, being involved both in the attack and the defense, but Tonga’s biggest issue was transitioning well between those zones. Giménez was frequently either too slow to join the attack when the Fire found themselves on the counter, thus limiting the team’s total attacking options, or when Chicago had finally strung together a solid amount of possession, Gastón opened a gap in the midfield for Nashville to take over. Not a bad performance, but it could have been better, with the midfielder being substituted for Terán in the 64th minute.

Brian Gutiérrez (6.5) – Guti had a game of a few lows mixed with highs that, unfortunately, never fully amounted to anything. The youngster needs to be more selfish in front of goal, as he had a few opportunities that could have been sure-fire goals with less hesitation. It looked like his fortune had changed the Gutiérrez linked up with Xherdan Shaqiri for what could have been an absolutely sensational goal, as quick passing and dribbling between the two saw Guti tap one in past Joe Willis, but it was not meant to be as it was called back due to the homegrown having originally brought the ball down with the help of his shoulder. The night simply was not meant to be for Gutiérrez.

Xherdan Shaqiri (7) - Shaq has been extremely involved in the Fire’s attack in the last few matches, whether that be when dropping out wide or positioning himself centrally, and kept Nashville on their back foot all game by displaying his incredible passing range. Although his age is showing a bit when he picks up the ball in one-on-ones on the counter, Shaq makes up for it by frequently getting out of the opposition press with flair. Shaqiri was substituted in the 91st minute for Alonso Aceves.

Maren Haile-Selassie (7.5) - After a string of positive substitute appearances, Haile-Selassie deservedly returns to the starting XI on the right wing and gets involved straight from the get-go. Maren provided ample creativity out wide and assisted Fabian Herbers to get the Fire up 1-0 in the 34th minute. Besides that, Haile-Selassie ran at the Nashville back line often, but as the game grew into the second half the Swiss winger had less and less of an impact on the match. Haile-Selassie was substituted in the 77th minute for Jairo Torres.

Georgios Koutsias (6) - Surprisingly, Koutsias started as the Fire’s lone striker on the night over record-chasing Kei Kamara and the seemingly wantaway Kacper Pryzbyłko. Koutsias’s effort is never in doubt, and he had some decent moments of holdup play, but taking players on one-versus-one is not an area of strength for the youngster, and this match was no exception. Koutsias was substituted for Kamara in the 64th minute.

Substitutes

Kei Kamara (6) - Taking out Koutsias in the 64th minute, Kamara tried to get involved in the match, and did have some great defensive efforts, however, the forward never found any flow in attack. Kei did keep the pressure on Nashville’s backline when the Fire found themselves running on the counter out of their low block, but most of his attacking work ended up in backpasses or balls held in the corner.

Carlos Terán (6) - Terán came on as a substitute for Giménez in the 64th minute with the intent to try and provide further support for a Fire defense that was under great pressure. Terán did what he was evidently substituted on for, but really did not do anything else, only managing a 33.3% pass accuracy.

Jairo Torres (6.5) - Jairo replaced Haile-Selassie in the 77th minute in an attempt to provide some fresh legs and grab a second goal to lock in a win for the Fire. Although that second goal never came, Torres successfully wasted time and tracked back to defend.

Kendall Burks (6) - Replacing Dean in the 77th minute, Burks mainly served as a body to patrol the Fire’s 18-yard box, and that was pretty much all of the action the defender could find as Chicago’s play was limited to sitting deep and shooting balls forward.

Alonso Aceves (N/A) - Aceves appeared as a substitute for Shaqiri in the 91st minute as Frank Klopas looked to park the bus, but he cannot be properly rated due to his limited minutes.

Manager

Frank Klopas (7) – With Klopas having made several changes to his starting lineup, it would certainly be interesting to see how this game would pan out. Luckily, most of Klopa’s major changes played well, and with most wins the Fire have seen this season it was an absolute grind for 90 minutes. Although the Fire’s games aren't always attractive, the team certainly has developed the ability to dig deep and grind out results, and a win against the second-best team in the league is nothing to scratch down to luck (although it was on the Fire’s side in this match).