Player Ratings: Columbus Crew 2, Chicago Fire 1
Despite an amazing start to the match which could have seen the team up 1-0 within the first five minutes of play, the Fire head back to Chicago to regroup after a devastating 2-1 loss in Columbus. The team had plenty of chances to get ahead, but failed to take them, eventually being punished by a well-hit strike from Jacen Russell-Rowe to go down in the 68th minute. Fabian Herbers came up big just four minutes later, scoring a squared tap-in courtesy of Maren Haiule-Selassie to equalize. It was simply not meant to be though, as Mo Farsi put a rebound into the back of the net 10 minutes into extra time for all three points. Here is a 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) – Unfortunately for the youngster, the team is continuously putting him in difficult situations that are frequently turning into goals, but by no means has it taken away from his individual quality. Brady made nine saves on the night, and stopped some absolute screamers in the process. He maintained possession fairly well too, but when you are put up against an expected goals rate of 2.84, there is only so much you can do.
Chase Gasper (7) – In his first start for the club, Gasper played surprisingly well, especially given that it was against 2023’s MLS Cup champions in their home stadium. The left-back was extremely involved in possession, yielding an 82.5% pass accuracy from 74 touches. On the downside, Gasper completed zero of his three crosses, and technically speaking, he should have been the one to close Mo Farsi down for the final goal, however the reason that did not happen is because of the marking disaster-class by his teammates on the right side.
Rafael Czichos (6) – Another below-par performance from the former captain has led to continuous questions on his spot as a starting option at center back. While Rafa was significantly better in possession than against Cincinnati, defensively, the German appears to be losing his touch. Against Columbus, Czichos was dribbed past twice and lost four of his seven duels. Duels statistically can be a bit tricky to read into, but being dribbled past twice as the last line of defense is concerning. With his 34th birthday coming in May, only time will tell if Rafa can improve defensively or if he will have to fight to get back in his spot in the starting XI.
Tobias Salquist (6.5) – The Dane made his official debut for the club despite Frank Klopas noting midweek that he was taking his time with integrating the center back into the starting lineup. Salquist was physically solid for the most part, but displayed a bit of awkwardness in his communication with his teammates. The center-back should have been the one to step to Jacen Russell-Rowe to stop Columbus’ first goal, but given that the yellow team bypassed the midfield line in a single pass and that it was well struck shot, it was a bit of a collective issue.
Allan Arigoni (6.5) – Frank Klopas lined the team up with a back-four, which meant that Arigoni was moved into his more traditional spot at right-back. The Swiss had a game of both highs and lows, generally doing well in defense, but also lacking any attacking guile, with positive and negative exceptions to both parts of his game. While he has not been bad per-say, the best is yet to come from the fullback.
Fabian Herbers (8.5) – Back in the double-pivot, Herbers has arguably been the best performer for the Fire so far this season. In the 72nd minute, Xherdan Shaqiri threaded a ball behind the backline for Maren Haile-Selassie, who was able to square it across goal for der Fußballgott to make it 1-1. Besides his goal, Fabi had a pass accuracy of 91.7%, completed three dribbles, and won nine of his 11 duels. The German has been great in every position he has played so far in 2024, but seemingly would work best playing higher up the field. Regardless, he is making a case to don the armband if the opportunity presents itself.
Kellyn Acosta (7) – The other half of the midfield pivot, Acosta quietly performed well once again but has suggested that he would best be paired with a true defensive midfielder. The Texan yielded a pass accuracy of 84.8%, and was extremely involved with transition play, but defensively could have been better. While individually, he only won half of his duels, Columbus often got through the midfield with ease due to Fabian Herbers being higher upfield than likely necessary, allowing them to run into the space alongside Acosta or around him while he moved to cover that excess. Why that was happening is another issue, and a 5’5” one at that. Kellyn was substituted in the 89th minute for Federico Navarro.
Maren Haile-Selassie (6.5) – Maren had a poor showing against Cincinnati, and unfortunately only showed minor improvement in this outing against Columbus. The winger looked ready to go at the start, and should have put the team ahead two minutes in after getting on the end of a ball behind the Columbus backline, but as the game grew on, he became rather tame. His most important moment of the match came when he got on the end of a Shaqiri through-ball to cross to to Fabian Herbers for a fairly straightforward goal in the 72nd minute, but besides that, the Swiss had a few moments where he looked fairly dysfunctional. This can be signified by his pass accuracy of 68%, which came from a total of just 19 pass attempts. Maren was replaced by Jonathan Dean in the 89th minute.
Xherdan Shaqiri (5.5) – For the most part, this section could be copy and pasted from previous games and ever-so slightly altered for a goal contribution here and there. Shaqiri largely looked uninterested in the match besides forcing the odd long ball or trying to win a one-on-one. The second-highest paid Designated Player in the league completed zero crosses, a sole accurate longball from four attempts, and a sole dribble from three efforts. While he did register an assist after notching a through-ball to Maren Haile-Selassie for the Fire’s lone goal, the former Champions League winner rarely supported his teammates in transition play, which is a theme that has been recognizably hurting the team’s attacking efforts. The team’s captain was substituted for Gastón Giménez in the 82nd minute after Frank Klopas displayed visible frustration over a lack of performance.
Brian Gutiérrez (6.5) – Guti had a largely frustrating night, as the youngster was both hot and cold throughout his stint on the pitch. The Berwyn-boy was involved in a few portions of good transition play, and looked solid early on, however he only registered a pass accuracy of 75.9% and did not create any notable chances. A few instances of miscommunication with his teammates and a lack of sharpness in his final-zone passing saw the young attacker pulled from play in the 60th minute to make way for Chris Mueller, and although Mueller coming on was by no means a surprise, Gutiérrez being the one to be sacrificed was a bit of a head scratcher despite a quiet performance at the time.
Hugo Cuypers (7) – The Belgian finally had his first multi-shot match for the club, but overall struggled to show signs of his previous potency in front of net. While none of his opportunities were necessarily clear, all three shots came rather awkwardly for the forward, but besides those growing pains, Cuypers was extremely important for getting possession back and transitioning forward. His hold up play was often the reason the Fire were able to get players up field, and especially in the early portions of the game his pressing was causing major headaches for Columbus. There were signs of a great striker in there, but Frank Klopas has some work to do with the players around Cuypers to get the best of him. Cuypers was replaced by Tom Barlow in the 82nd minute.
Substitutes
Chris Mueller (6.5) – In a somewhat surprising swap, Brian Gutiérrez was replaced by Chris Mueller on the left-wing. The Sockers FC product looked dangerous and creative in a few instances, as he completed two of his three cross attempts, but as he got settled into the game, his teammates were only growing more fatigued, resulting in the team’s counter attacks rarely being advantageous in the numbers forward department. Given how the team is performing in attack, more minutes are on the horizon for Mueller.
Gastón Giménez (5) – Gastón appeared as a sub for Xherdan Shaqiri in the 82nd minute, and despite his short cameo, his biggest contribution was letting Diego Rossi run directly past him to have a shot on goal, which then deflected to Mo Farsi to bury in the back of the net for all three points. Besides that, Gastón failed to complete any attempts at dribbles or long balls, and made a sole defensive action within 21 minutes. Not the desired impact from a late-game substitution.
Tom Barlow (6) – Barlow replaced Hugo Cuypers in the 82nd minute to keep the high-press alive, but unfortunately Columbus were able to deal with this well. Besides being instructed to run like a mad-man, Barlow had some decent moments of linkup play when he had to drop out wide to get the ball. Like the performance of the rest of the team, better end product is needed.
Federico Navarro (n/r) – Fede replaced Kellyn Acosta in the midfield in the 89th minute as Frank Klopas opted to bunker down and try and escape with a point. The Argentine racked in 14 minutes of play due to the longer than normal amount of extra time, but was only on the ball four times, thus this did not warrant a rating.
Jonathan Dean (n/r) – Dean came on as a substitute for Maren Haile-Selassie in the 89th minute, and despite there being 14 more minutes to play, Dean only got on the ball a single time, thus he could not be properly rated.
Manager
Frank Klopas (6) – A coach’s performance in a match can analyzed from departments: tactical plans, personnel selection, and substitutions. Klopas made the correct choice in his tactics to move the team back into a 4-2-3-1, as opportunities came fairly often and the team honestly looked as if a result in Columbus was possible. Personnel choices are always going to be difficult, but when your captain is also one of your consistently lowest perfomers, a choice that is even more difficult is going to have to be made. The Xherdan Shaqiri problem needs to be solved in one way or another if the playoffs are going to be reached, because at the moment, this team is rarely threatening going forward. Besides that, benching Mauricio Pineda would have been more well-received if Rafa Czichos was performing well, but frankly, he has not been. In terms of substitutions, pulling Brian Gutiérrez in favor of leaving Shaqiri on the field is a choice not many would make. I could go on and on about the intricacies of the coaching in this match, but in summary, next week’s game against Montréal may dictate how this club will move forward in 2024.
