Orlando City 3, Chicago Fire 1 | Player Ratings
Off the back of two away wins, the Fire headed out to Orlando for the last match of their three-game road trip. Despite positive glimpses here and there, the Fire were by no means the better team in this match. However, several instances of, um, interesting officiating left a bit of a stain on this match. Facundo Torres scored a brace within 55 minutes before Xherdan Shaqiri converted from the spot in the 66th minute. Ramiro Enrique killed off any hopes the Fire had of equalizing, though, scoring a goal of his own in the 75th minute. 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 (9) – The Fire’s number-one goalkeeper somehow performed even better than in his outing against SKC, which saw him win the man-of-the-match poll. If I highlighted his saves from this match in writing, I could probably cover an entire page. Brady made save-after-save despite conceding three and ultimately was outstanding on the night as he made six saves against Orlando’s 2.27 expected goals.
Alonso Aceves (6) – Retaining his starting spot despite the inclusion of Miguel Ángel Navarro in the travel squad, Aceves started the match well, showing a positive mix of attacking and defending within the first half. As Orlando continued to create quality chances, however, he was not able to keep up with the flurry of opportunities falling on the Fire’s left channel. A few instances of miscommunication here and there helped see Aceves' performance end on much more of a sour note than it had begun on, and was thus substituted in the 61st minute for Navarro.
Rafael Czichos (7) – Unfortunately, the classic back-post headed goal was called offsides in the 27th minute, which could have set a very positive tone for the Fire’s backline early on. Outside of that instance, Czichos had a game mixed with highs and lows. The German’s passing was great, with his accuracy sitting at 90.7%, but his communication and man-marking left more to be desired. Considering he played with five different defenders throughout the match, this issue appears to be team-wide rather than solely individual.
Carlos Terán (5.5) – Back in the starting XI for the first time since May 13th, Terán looked mentally out of the game from the get-go, often losing possession in dangerous positions in the back line. He was unlucky not to be granted a penalty despite being taken down in the box, but ultimately was not nearly as inspiring as he was earlier in the season. Carlos Terán was substituted for Maren Haile-Selassie in the 61st minute.
Arnaud Souquet (5.5) – Souquet’s performance in this match was a bit of a mixed bag. The Frenchman was decent when getting the ball out wide and provided a few good looks at trying to move the ball around to catch Orlando off-guard. His eagerness to get forward, however, often cost him, as when he or any of his nearby teammates lost the ball, it opened absolute acres of space to tun into, specifically being a focal point of the buildup play for Orlando’s final goal. Souquet’s performance was ended when the Frenchman got a second yellow card for blatantly tripping an Orlando player after he was shoved in the back.
Mauricio Pineda (6) - Although he was bumped from his spot as a starting center-back, the absence of Federico Navarro allowed Mauri to simply move up into the midfield to play as Gastón Giménez’s partner to begin the match. This pairing did not work well, as neither involved partner ever really found any flow with one another. Pineda was eventually returned to center back as Terán was substituted, but this change did not work to alter the Fire’s fortunes. It simply was a night to forget for Pineda. Mauri was substituted in the 80th minute for Wyatt Omsberg.
Gastón Giménez (6.5) – The Paraguayan began the match without his typical another half, and that lack of chemistry was evident from kickoff. Gastón himself had a fairly average performance and definitely could have worked harder on defense, but in the other aspects of his game he wasn’t too bad. His passing was solid, and there were definitely sprinkles of flair in there, but in the end, it was not enough to help the Fire gain footing in this tumultuous midfield battle.
Brian Gutiérrez (7.5) – One of Fire’s only constants against Orlando, Gutiérrez was an offensive threat on the left flank. A majority of the Fire’s quality attacking opportunities came through some combination of Gutiérrez and another teammate, and in the 66th minute, a quick give-and-go with Shaqiri saw Guti get taken down from behind in the Orlando box for a penalty, which Shaq then converted. Gutiérrez also had a 92.6% passing accuracy and engaged in 15 total duels, which was a match-wide high.
Xherdan Shaqiri (7) - The Fire’s Swiss DP returned to his spot as the go-to attacking midfielder and looked creative in the first half despite the Fire getting limited time on the ball, almost scoring a free kick in the 27th minute at the corner of the 18-yard-box before it was determined that Czichos' headed flick into the net was offsides. Shaq got the opportunity of a lifetime in the 64th minute in Orlando’s penalty box but sent it into the parking lot. Despite this miss, Gutiérrez was fouled just a minute later in the same exact location, with Shaqiri stepping up to convert the penalty. Although not a performance demanding praise, we certainly have seen Shaqiri have less of an impact. He was substituted for Jairo Torres in the 77th minute.
Fabian Herbers (6.5) – Keeping Maren Haile-Selassie on the bench, the last match’s lone goalscorer retained his starting spot on the right wing but ultimately was disappointing in comparison to his previous away form. Herbers gave away a pretty light (in my opinion) penalty in the 53rd minute, which Facundo Torres converted to put Orlando up 2-0. Shortly after this, the German moved into the midfield as Pineda was shifted to center back in place of Carlos Terán. Fabi was not spectacular going forward but did have a high rate of pass completion and won 77.8% of his duels.
Kei Kamara (6) – Only one goal shy of Landon Donovan’s tally of 145 for the spot as the league’s second-highest goalscorer of all time. Unfortunately, it did not come in this match. Kei had a few chances he’d probably like back in order to break the aforementioned record, didn’t do much in terms of linkup play, and lacked the energetic press we’ve seen from Kei as of late. Kamara was substituted for Kacper Przybyłko in the 80th minute.
Substitutes
Miguel Ángel Navarro (6) - Swapping with Aceves in the 61st minute, Miggy got his first minutes for the Fire since before entering the international break for Venezuela. Navarro had extremely positive passing and possession numbers, but on the eye test, he had trouble getting into forward areas and was not involved much defensively.
Maren Haile-Selassie (7) – Coming on for Terán in the 61st minute, Haile-Selassie was a revelation on the right side of the field for the Fire, immediately taking on defenders and dashing into Orlando’s 18-yard box. Visually Haile-Selassie looked extremely confident on the ball, and performances like these add to the long list of reasons why Joe Mansueto should sign the winger from…, well, himself.
Jairo Torres (6) - Appearing as a substitute for Shaqiri in the 77th minute, Torres had limited involvement on the pitch. Jairo barely scraped enough time on the ball to be graded, but within his 20-minute stint he didn’t do much other than string a few passes together. JT did string in a solid cross into the box late into the game, but it was to no avail.
Kacper Przybyłko (6) - Kacper came on as a substitute for Kamara in the 80th minute, and despite playing enough minutes to be rated, the forward only had three touches on the ball total, and failed to make an impact.
Wyatt Omsberg (6.5) - Taking off Pineda in the 80th minute, Omsberg also only scraped just enough time to get a rating, but in his limited moments looked great, looking comfortable and composed despite there often being a numbers advantage in favor of the Orlando attack.
Manager
Frank Klopas (6.5) – Given the players he had at his disposal, this lineup was just about what fans could expect to start this game. The substitutions were mostly understandable, besides a lack of Georgios Koutsias on the pitch in favor of the consistently-dull Kacper Przybyłko, and although many are disappointed in the result, Klopas did just win two on-the-bounce away games. The combination of center referee Nima Saghafi making himself the match’s star mixed with the overbearing Florida mugginess were also clear obstacles that should be taken into consideration, but as Rafael Czichos said in the post-game conference, “at the end of the day, we could have played better, we didn’t, and we lost the game”.
