Hell and back: FC Dallas 1, Chicago Fire 3

A heavily depleted Chicago Fire traveled to Texas to face FC Dallas and went down by a goal in weather thoroughly unconducive to the kind of possession-based, ball-dominant soccer that Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter has espoused.  They then walked away with a 3-1 victory, giving Berhalter his first win since taking control of the team as well as his first hardware with the Fire, winning (retaining) the Brimstone Cup with the victory over the former Dallas Burn.

The win comes despite a heavily depleted Fire roster, with eight players once again unavailable for the Fire. Frustratingly, the injury ward for Chicago has grown a revolving door, with Philip Zinckernagel, who missed time late in preseason but who was able to start for both of the Fire’s first two matches, ruled out. The injury did give 21-year-old Omari Glasgow – already Guyana’s leading international scorer despite his youth – his first MLS start, and also presented starting opportunities for Sergio Oregel Jr. (his third) and Sam Rogers (his second).

The first half, played in cool, rainy weather at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Tex., was inconclusive. The home side had more shots and the better chances – including one in the opening 15 minutes from Dallas’s Petar Musa that landed in the back of Fire GK Chris Brady’s net but which was ultimately ruled offside.

The Fire, however, still went down in the half, as Kellyn Acosta left the game in the 31st minute with a non-contact injury that felt uncomfortably familiar to Fire fans after seeing Andrew Gutman leave the match moments into his Chicago debut last season. With few options on his bench, Berhalter turned to Maurico Pineda – far short from full fitness himself – to replace the stricken captain.

Although Dallas had an advantage in chances, neither team felt particularly dangerous for most of the half, although Dallas’s Urghoghide did have a dangerous header in stoppage time that ultimately sailed wide.

On the reset, FC Dallas came out looking like a team determined to win in their home opener, with pressure on the ball and taking the play into the Fire’s half. Dallas’s Logan Farrington ultimately broke through in the 57th minute, taking an Anderson Julio played a switch pass and charging down the pitch. Neither Andrew Gutman nor Jack Elliott was able to close down the Racine, Wis. native and he was able to get a shot over Chris Brady who was well off his line to intercept the Dallas forward.

With heavier rain bearing down and an increasingly makeshift Fire lineup seemingly unable to create quality chances, it began to feel like another long night to close out the match for the Fire – one of too many for the team over the past several seasons as Berhalter stuck with his lineup as the half wore on instead of turning to the short bench.

Down a goal, the Fire had a scare in the 71st minute when Brian Gutiérrez’s tackle in front of the Dallas net resulted in a yellow, just one match removed from a one-game suspension earned in the team’s season opener. On close review, he didn’t appear to make contact with the Dallas player but the card will stand – a blemish on the otherwise stirling play from the Fire homegrown at the start of the 2025 season.

Just three minutes later, it felt like the Fire’s night could get late early when Sam Rogers conceded a corner, but Sebastian Lleget wasn’t able to head Julio’s cross on target. Moments later, Lucho Acosta knocked at the Fire’s door but the 2023 MLS MVP’s attempt was blocked.

With the Fire having shown precious little in the final third as Dallas had increasingly grown into the match, Berhalter finally went to his bench in the 78th minute, bringing on Tom Barlow for Glasgow and Leonardo Barroso, in his MLS debut, for Jonathan Dean as he switched to a two-striker system. Moments later, Hugo Cuypers played a perfectly-weighted ball across the Dallas net that Andrew Gutman sent past Maarten Paes, leveling the game at one each in the 82nd minute.

While previous editions of the Fire might have been content with getting a result on a rainy away night, the goal seemed to energize this edition of the team, and on the restart, the Fire looked hungry. Jonathan Bamba played an innocent-looking pass to Cuypers who took a shot at Paes from just outside the box. The Dallas goalkeeper stopped it, but left an energetic rebound out of the box for Barroso, who pounced on it, giving the Fire a 2-1.

Moments later, The Fire doubled their advantage when Hugo Cuypers worked his way into the box and was awarded a penalty following contact in the box by Sebastian Ibeagha. Cuypers buried his chance from the spot as the game ticked over into stoppage time, effectively putting the game out of reach for the home side.

While this might have been the end to the night, the game not yet over. Tom Barlow received a yellow card for a handball in the box in the sixth minute of stoppage time. The play meant the Fire conceded their second penalty kick in as many matches. Last week, Chris Brady, who had yet to save a penalty in his professional career, intimidated Christian Benteke before going to the spot and his shot sailed wide. This week, he cleanly made the save with a rebound that sailed past Toyota Park’s stage, sealing the 3-1 victory for the Fire alongside the PK save.

The win secured Berhalter his first victory with the squad and the Brimstone Cup for the Fire, but it wasn’t without cost. Asked after the game about his concerns about squad depth following Kellyn Acosta’s apparent injury, Berhalter said he was “very concerned,” and, “on a scale from one to 10, I’m like a 9-and-a-half.”

The win, however, was gutsy, with the FIre receiving key contributions from players who didn’t project as starters at the start of the season, including Oregel who has shown remarkable game-on-game progression in his first three MLS starts. The victory was special, not just for the way in which it came, but because of the Brimstone Cup victory for the team. Speaking after the match, Gutman said that the team met about the cup “and what it meant, and we’re not lost on the fact that we do this for the fans.”

Cup in hand, the Fire return to Chicago this week to try to mend wounds before traveling to Toronto next week, in the first MLS game of the season between an American and Canadian team hosted on Canadian soil.

Player Ratings and Lineup (4-3-3):

Chris Brady (9.5), Andrew Gutman, (7.5), Jack Elliot (6.5), Sam Rogers (5.5), Jonathan Dean (5.5), Sergio Oregel (7.5), Kellyn Acosta (7), Brian Gutiérrez (8), Jonathan Bamba (8), Hugo Cuypers (8.5), Omari Glasgow (6)

Substitutions: Mauricio Pineda (7.5), Leonardo Barroso (8.5), Tom Barlow (5), Sam Williams (6.5)