Red Moon: Chicago Fire 1 (9), Club Puebla 1 (10)
“Champions of Group Central 2, you’ll never sing that!”
The Chicago Fire were once again involved in late drama as they battled Mexican side Club Puebla to not only clinch first place in their group, but also set up an eye-watering showdown with continental powerhouse Club América. Though they won/lost on penalties, the thrilling 1-1 draw in regulation ensured that the Fire got the point that they needed to win the group.
With tonight’s matchup just four days removed from an impressive 3-2 road win at Minnesota, and with a possible round of 32 game just four days in the Fire’s future, Frank Klopas opted to make numerous changes to the eleven. Chris Brady, Alonso Aceves, Mauricio Pineda, Ousmane Doumbia, Xherdan Shaqiri, and Georgios Koutsias all slotted in as like-for-like replacement for Spencer Richey, Miguel Ángel Navarro, Rafa Czichos, Jairo Torres, Brian Gutiérrez, and Kacper Przybyłko respectively. Carlos Terán, Arnaud Souquet, Gastón Giménez, and Maren Haile-Selassie were unchanged.
Similarly to against Minnesota, the opening half of action was not the most action-packed, though some things about gameday were a bit different than usual. For starters, the players were introduced one-by-one, individually, in a basketball-esc manner, as opposed to the traditional format in which both teams walk out together. Captains Shaqiri and Federico Mancuello both issued anti-discriminatory statements to the crowd, in English and Spanish. In a similar vein, goal kicks were drowned out by loud trumpet music, intentionally blasted through the stadium speakers as a preventative action against “The Chant,” an epidemic which has plagued Mexican soccer for decades.
On the field, though, very little happened. It was a fairly even 45 minutes, though the Fire did muster the best opportunity of the half when a close-range effort from Herbers was thwarted. Shaqiri was a creative force in the middle, but also couldn’t do enough in the final third early on produce a game-changing moment.
The approximately 50-50 split crowd totalled to 12,619 spectators, fairly impressive given the setting on a Monday evening, but it seemed much louder than that. Despite a strong atmosphere for the first hour, it wasn’t until shortly after the 60th minute that things went up a notch. Klopas looked to his bench for inspiration, and sent on Przybyłko, Jonathan Dean, and Gutiérrez.
Gutiérrez is a fan favorite in Chicago, and his introduction was met with the most rupturous applause of the night to that point. Moments later, he nearly repaid their warm welcome; an inch-perfect cross from Shaqiri found the 20-year-old, who buried a world-class header with his first touch of the game, but it was called back moments later as Shaqiri was offside in the build-up.
The energy in the building fueled both teams, though. A rare Puebla attack in the 74th minute gave left back Brayan Angulo – a Colombian veteran whom Klopas specifically feared would be a threat heading into the match – an opportunity to rip an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box. The visitors took the lead late, and it seemed the Fire might have to cede their home-field advantage for the Round of 32.
Soccer is a funny game, though, and Klopas’ team doesn’t know how to back down. Almost immediately, Shaqiri was fouled harshly by Carlos Baltazar, who saw red. The Swiss DP took the ensuing free kick, and with the help of a deflection, it found its way into the back of the net. It was nearly settled in stoppage time as Pineda and Terán were among the Fire players scrapping in the box to find a late winner, but Puebla’s defense kept it out and ensured that the final moments were only slightly uncomfortable.
It ultimately took eleven rounds of kicks to settle it, but Puebla prevailed in the shootout, with Czichos missing twice. It was meaningless in the scheme of the tournament, though, as the Fire had already done what they needed to do, and Puebla were already eliminated.
Now, the fun begins. A knockout game looms this Friday against Club América, possibly the biggest team in all of North America. Las Águilas actually lost to the Columbus Crew, 4-1, in their final group match, but nonetheless, they have arguably the strongest roster on the whole continent.
