Dos a Cero: Chicago Fire 2, Columbus Crew 0
The Chicago Fire took two giant leaps closer to an MLS playoff spot tonight, and are now so near they can feel it. A dominant 2-0 home victory over a spiraling Columbus Crew is enough to put the Men in Red within one win of clinching a postseason berth for the first time since 2017, and represents yet another impressive result under Gregg Berhalter in the final stretch of this season.
Entering Saturday, the Fire were looking to build on a shock 3-0 road win over high-flying Minnesota United. It has been a win in which Berhalter had opted for a tactical swap to a 5-2-3 shape, utilizing a back three from the start for the first time as head coach. The trio of center backs – Jack Elliott, Joel Waterman, and Sam Rogers – remained unchanged, with Brian Gutiérrez remaining on the bench. The only change from the Minnesota game came at right wingback as Leonardo Barroso replaced Jonathan Dean.
Despite boasting one of the league’s strongest rosters and arguably best head coach in the form of Wilfried Nancy, Columbus entered the night in a run of poor form. A string of subpar results since the summer has seen the Crew tumble from a Supporters Shield contender to just one position above the Fire in the standings, and they looked like an out-of-sorts team from the opening whistle. Andrew Gutman put the ball into the net just five minutes into the game, and while it was ruled back for a foul in the buildup, it was a sign of things to come.
20 minutes later, Gutman got his reward for his excellent work in the early stages. The 28-year-old Hinsdale native was having a great start, bombing up the left side as an attacking wingback, and saw a whipped cross fly past former Chicago Fire Premier goalkeeper Evan Bush to give the hosts an unorthodox 1-0 advantage.
The Fire’s dominance continued after taking the lead, and Sam Rogers thought he had scored his first MLS goal when he put the ball into the back of the net via an André Franco set piece. However, the goal was correctly ruled out for offside as Rogers had been just ahead of the last defender on the play.
A common theme this season has been the Fire’s inability to translate first half dominance into second half control. That theme was not present against the Crew. The Fire came out for the second half the same way they had finished the first, and Nancy did not make any major changes to alter Columbus’ approach. As a result, the Fire continued to grow into the game, even if they struggled to convert that into goals.
Shortly after the hour mark, they finally did. Franco demonstrated his worth with a remarkable through ball to Gutman that ever so nearly resulted in a second goal. Moments later, another brilliant Franco pass found the feet of Hugo Cuypers, who found his 17th goal of the MLS season to double the advantage.
As the game wound down, Chris Brady did have to make one big save to protect his clean sheet. Hugo Picard nearly scored in the 77th minute, but Brady thwarted what would prove to be the Crew’s lone shot on target all night. In truth, the Fire were unlucky to have now won by several more than two, with Brian Gutiérrez and Hugo Cuypers failing to have clinical nights in front of goal.
With three games to play, the Fire’s first win over Columbus since 2021 put them on the brink of finally getting back to the postseason. The magic number (between combined Fire points and Red Bull dropped points) is now just 2, meaning they can clinch with a win in Miami on Tuesday. They’ll have further opportunities to get the job done against the already eliminated duo of Toronto and New England in the final two matches.
Player Ratings
Starting XI (5-2-3) — Brady (7.5); Gutman (8.5), Elliott (8.5), Waterman (7.5), Rogers (7.5), Barroso (7); D'Avilla (7), Franco (8.5); Zinckernagel (7), Bamba (7.5), Cuypers (7.5)
Substitutes — Dean (7), Gutiérrez (6.5), Pineda (6.5), Haile-Selassie (6.5), Acosta (NR)
