Player Ratings: New York Red Bulls 0, Chicago Fire 0
Despite a red card to NYRB’s Andrés Reyes in the 42nd minute because of a rogue elbow to the face of Tobias Salquist, the Fire were unable to break down their opposition’s low block in defense. Both sides had a few half-chances, and the Red Bulls gave the Fire some late-game scaries to test their resilience, but the game ultimately ended at 0-0. 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) – The youngster played a vital role in ensuring the Fire got anything out of this match, as he made a handful of important close-range saves to keep the Red Bulls from getting ahead and to maintain the team’s first clean sheet of the year. Brady also had some good moments in possession, which has helped showcase improvement with the ball at his feet.
Allan Arigoni (7) – Arigoni performed well at left-back, but was a bit less threatening offensively than in some of his prior performances. The Swiss’ dribbling was tame and his crossing never truly forced NYRB to answer any questions. Arigoni did maintain a pass accuracy of 85%, but it never translated into anything in the final third.
Rafael Czichos (7.5) – It was Rafa’s potentially most influential match without a goal in a Fire jersey, as he attempted 103 passes this match, completing 92 of them. It is rare a defender, nonetheless any player, is this involved with play, but Rafa did it comfortably. The German also completed nine longballs and had 17 passes into the final third. In defense, Czichos won 60% of his aerial duels, but was limited to just six defensive actions as NYRB largely succumbed to playing exclusively on the counter attack.
Tobias Salquist (6.5) – The Dane had a good showing in his 46 minutes played, completing 93% of his passes from 29 touches in this time. The Red Bulls pressed the Fire against the back wall for the large majority of the first half, but everything changed when Salquist caught an elbow to the mouth from Andrés Reyes, resulting in a straight red card. Salquist was then put into concussion protocol because of the incident, and substituted right before halftime with Maurico Pineda as the oncoming player.
Arnaud Souquet (7) – Souquet got his second-consecutive start at right-back, and again put in a good showing despite continually playing out of position. The Frenchman was reliable in possession and looked comfortable defending a potent NYRB offense out wide. Souquet was also very involved with the team’s attacking play, and it appears that it would be a disservice to say that he has not established himself as an option at right-back. Souquet was substituted for Jonathan Dean in the 75th minute.
Fabian Herbers (7) – Fabi continued to serve as a reliable midfield maestro for the Fire as he helped push the Fire to try and take some advantage in possession of their man advantage. Herbers often served as the connecting piece between the wings to move the ball side-to-side to try and create any space in a densely populated Red Bulls defensive third. Although he frequently took up this advanced role, he also helped defend whatever chances NYRB got, with a 100% aerial duel win rate and five ground duels.
Kellyn Acosta (6.5) – Kellyn had a hot-and-cold performance against NYRB, as although his ball carrying was good and he was very involved in possession, he was frequently being overrun by the opposition in transition prior to the man advantage. The Texan won just a sole duel and only had four defensive actions total, and as he was shown a yellow card in the 55th minute, his substitution at the 61st minute for Brian Gutiérrez was seemingly done to ensure the Fire kept 11 players on the field.
Chris Mueller (6.5) –The Schaumburg native had a few creative glimpses during his time on the left wing, as he frequently took on his man and looked to whip crosses into the box. The end product did not come to fruition though, as the winger struggled to work around the Red Bull’s low block. Mueller’s play did keep the Red Bulls on their toes, but the breakthrough never came, with the winger being substituted in the 61st minute for Gastón Giménez.
Xherdan Shaqiri (7) – Shaq had a decent game against the Red Bulls, but lacked that killer final pass throughout the entire match, as he completed just one cross from seven attempts. Outside of a turnover that resulted in the Red Bulls hitting the post twice in the same sequence, Shaqiri was tidy in possession and also had eight ball recoveries as he rotated between playing centrally and out wide as he tried to find and create new passing angles on the wings.
Maren Haile-Selassie (7) – The Swiss had arguably his best performance in 2024 yet, but this was rued by a nasty non-contact injury in the 64th minute. Maren had a pass accuracy of 93% and looked confident on the ball in terms of both his dribbling and his linkup play prior to being forced off, but because of his abrupt injury, he was taken off with Georgios Koutsias being the oncoming player.
Hugo Cuypers (6.5) – At this rate, you really have to feel for Hugo Cuypers because of his limited involvement. Cuypers had just 30 touches and a sole shot in 75 minutes, but again this is an issue that exists outside of his own doing. The Fire currently lack the ability to connect crosses or find a happy medium between linking up with the Forward and simply just pelting the ball up to him to deal with. Cuypers had just two touches in the Red Bull’s 18-yard box, and was eventually substituted in the 75th minute for Tom Barlow.
Substitutes
Mauricio Pineda (7) – Mauri came on as the Fire’s first substitute in the first half’s extra time while Tobias Salquist was admitted into the league’s concussion protocol. Like his center back partner Rafa Czichos, Pineda was extremely involved with play as he held a 97% pass accuracy from 69 total attempts. Defensively though, Mauri was also relatively untested, showcased by just five total duels and two accompanying defensive actions.
Brian Gutiérrez (6) – Guti was substituted in at the 61st minute for Kellyn Acosta, but played out wide on the left as Chris Mueller came off at the same time. Guti’s starting spot on the bench was surprising given how he rescued three points last weekend, but when he came on, he was unable to provide a big impact in consecutive games. The homegrown was unable to work around a dense NYRB backline, and had just a sole touch in the opposition box in 37 minutes. Outside of that, he had just a 61% pass accuracy, and did not create any chances.
Gastón Giménez (6.5) – Tonga came on as a substitute in the 61st minute for Chris Mueller, but played centrally as Kellyn Acosta came off at the same time. The Paraguayan maintained a high passing accuracy and rotated the ball well, but subsequently was also unable to find the key to unlock the congested opposition low block.
Georgios Koutsias (6) – The Greek forward came on for Maren Haile-Selassie in the 64th minute when the Swiss winger went down with a worrying injury. Besides an opportunity in front of net that he really should have done better with, Koutsias was unable to get involved with play, with just seven touches in his 34 minutes played.
Jonathan Dean (6.5) – Dean came on as a substitute for Arnaud Souquet in the 75th minute at right-back, and played relatively well given that he barely had to defend. Dean had a pass accuracy of 89% from 27 passes, but a majority of his time on the ball was spent facilitating it between whoever was dropping wide on the right, and Rafa Czichos to move it the other direction.
Tom Barlow (N/R) – The former NYRB forward came on for Hugo Cuypers in the 75th minute, but despite being over the minutes threshold to earn a rating, Barlow had just four touches during his 23 minutes played, thus he could not obtain a rating.
Manager
Frank Klopas (6.5) – It was a performance just like any other, and that is the problem this team faces right now. The Fire have consistently maintained the same primary attacking issues every game this season bar a few instances outside of the norm, which is concerning if the team is going to push to make the playoffs. The low block the team faced was difficult to break down and thus this should not be blown out of proportion, but the Fire simply never even looked as if they would even knock on the door to get ahead. An away point is fine, but this was a great opportunity for three, and it was not taken.
