Moon and Son: Chicago Fire 2, Los Angeles 2

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — A crowd of 19,8831 converged in Bridgeview to see the Chicago Fire play Los Angeles FC, with the crowd buoyed by the last-minute news that Korean superstar Son Heung-min would be available for the visitors. In the end, the Korean star featured, and the fans were given an entertaining 2-2 draw but both teams, looking to climb the standings in the final third of the regular season, will wish they ended the night with all three points.

The match was the first competitive meeting for the two teams since 2019, although the two teams did meet in a closely-contested match in the preseason featuring many of the same starters.

With 10 matches left in the season, Gregg Berhalter ran with what had rapidly become the team’s preferred starting XI, with many of the players that had featured throughout the season alongside Leonardo Barroso at right-back and Djé D’Avilla in the midfield.

Although the visitors had more pressure on the ball early on, it was the Fire who struck first. Carlos Terán, in his second game back from injury, connected with Philip Zinckernagel’s service off a corner and headed it past LAFC’s Hugo Lloris. The play came shortly after the Fire had their first good look on net in open play, when Barroso laid the ball off to Sergio Oregel, but the Fire midfielder wasn’t able to get the cross he wanted off.

Moments later, it looked like the Fire were about to get a chance to double their lead: Hugo Cuypers went down a handful of yards from LAFC’s goal with contact, but after VAR review, no penalty was given.

It wouldn’t be the last time of the half that a close call would go against the Fire in the half: In the 19th minute, LAFC had the mirror image of the Fire’s goal: Ryan Hollingshead, also working off a corner, connected with the ball at close range.

Just as at the other end of the net, a Hugo almost prevented the goal: Rather than World Cup-winning goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, however, it was Fire striker Hugo Cuypers who headed the ball clear. The play was ruled a goal on the field, however, and with no conclusive angle to overturn that call, the goal stood and the game was tied at 1-1.

Asked about his perspective on the goal after the match, goalkeeper Chris Brady discussed the odd nature of the call. "So I thought it was a bit strange that the linesman raised his flag so fast and going into half, I asked him if he thought it was, you know, if it was that obvious that it was over the line," the Fire goalkeeper stated, "and he responded with no, it wasn’t clear at all. And he said, in fact, the camera behind the goal, and the camera that usually handles those angles was down, I don’t know if that’s true or not but that is unfortunate for us, because me, personally, I think everybody else felt like the ball wasn’t fully over, if it was over at all, and I don’t, obviously, agree with the decision but sometimes, like I said, that’s the way life goes."

Controversial call or no, the goal stood, and although the game had plenty of end-to-end action, that was the only scoring of the half.

On the restart, Los Angeles made a substitution – but not the one that had gathered thousands of fans to Bridgeview at the last minute, with Denis Bouanga coming on for Mathieu Choinière.

The second half continued much the way that the first had ended, with both teams getting pressure on the ball, but Los Angeles had the first real chance on met when Timothy Tillman had a clear look at Brady’s net from dead center. The Fire netminder was equal to the opportunity, however, and a clearance by Carlos Terán saw the ball to safety.

Just a few minutes later, the fans wearing Tottenham shirts and carrying South Korean flags got what they came for as Son Heung-min was subbed on for David Martinez. A minute later, Andrew Gutman made way for Jonathan Dean for the Fire. Son had a shot moments later, but it was a week attempt from distance giving no trouble to Brady.

Despite the presence of the Korean superstar on the pitch, however, the next goal was the Fire’s: Jonathan Bamba got off a shot from a tight angle that beat Lloris, restoring the Fire’s lead in the 70th minute. The goal was his first since June. Asked about his tally after the match, Bamba emphasized the team nature of the goal, saying "It was a great play starting with [Brian Gutiérrez] in the middle of the field. He was able to connect with Philip [Zinckernagel] on the right side. Philip found me and I was able to score. It was a really nice goal, especially because it was well deserved based on how the team was playing and I was really happy to score."

The goal energized the Fire, and they had a good look for a third moments later: Cuypers was in on Lloris but the two Hugos tangled and the goalkeeper kept the ball out of the net. He couldn’t hold on to it, however, and Brian Gutiérrez had an attempt on goal go off the post.

On the recovery, Los Angeles made quick work down the pitch and the ball was played to Son. Carlos Terán cleared Son off the ball and although play continued with Son still on the ground, arms open to plead for a call, it was soon sent to review. VAR, making its influence felt at the Fire’s expense again, determined that Terán had fouled the former Hotspur in the box and awarded the visitors a penalty kick. The Fire were fortunate, however, in that the Colombian center-back was only given a yellow off the review.

Denis Bouanga converted from the spot, levelling the score with nine minutes to go just as the blood moon rose above SeatGeek stadium.

From a neutral perspective, the game was entertaining but fans of both sides will think – with some reason – that their team could have walked away with more than a single point.

For Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter, the game gave him "mixed feelings," noting the team's preseason game against Los Angeles FC. "In Coachella, this was our first game that we played, the first real competitive game. And what we wanted to do is, you know, see where we're at." While the team since then has proven capable of getting results against lower- and mid-table opponents – something previous Fire squads have failed to do consistently – including a notable 7-1 win over D.C. United, the team has often struggled against top-tier opponents in the league, conceding seven goals to Nashville in one game and falling in closely-contested matches to San Diego, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, the four teams with the most points in MLS so far this season.

"We want to be able to see how much progress we made. And I think the team is making a ton of progress. You see the level of that game today was a good standing, good level game," Berhalter continued, "So with that side, happy that we made progress, but really disappointing not to get those three points. Any time you lead twice at home, you’d love to come away with three points."

Still, the result was enough to keep the Fire in ninth place and the league's final postseason spot, but that could prove temporary: A win by the New York Red Bulls by three or more goals on Sunday would push the team ahead of the Fire in the standings, but give the Chicago a game in hand.

The Fire return to Bridgeview next week to take on St. Louis City, a team in the basement of the Western Conference but who just managed a 3-1 result at home against the Nashville squad that proved so vexing to the Fire earlier in the year.

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