Speechless: Columbus Crew 3, Chicago Fire 0
The Chicago Fire suffered one of the biggest and most humiliating defeats in their history Wednesday night as they were obliterated 3-0 by the Columbus Crew at Lower.com Field. A Cucho Hernández hat-trick within just 23 minutes put the game out of reach in the blink of an eye, extending the Fire’s winless run in MLS to six game since the Leagues Cup break.
Heading into the night, it seemed like the Fire might be able to muster something from this game. Though Columbus were much higher up the standings, they were coming off of a gut-wrenching loss, whilst the Fire showed resilience to earn a point last weekend in Montréal. Brian Gutiérrez was the only regular starter sent to the bench after Saturday, as he picked up a minor knock in the previous match, so Xherdan Shaqiri returned to the team.
It took all of four minutes for that optimism to evaporate. Referee Ismir Pekmić issued what seemed to be a somewhat soft penalty to Diego Rossi, arguing that Chris Brady had fouled him, allowing Cucho Hernández to step up and make the score 1-0. The Fire are yet to even muster a point this season when they’ve conceded first on the road, so falling behind so quickly was a crushing blow.
While the first penalty was somewhat contentious, the second one certainly wasn’t. Arnaud Souquet took down Yaw Yeboah inside the box to prevent a counter attack, and the referee didn’t even need to consult VAR to make this decision. Cucho scored his second penalty of the night, doubling the lead, and practically putting things out of reach for the Fire.
In the 23rd minute, the Colombian made it a three-piece. This time, it was not from the penalty spot, but rather from a Julian Gressel corner; Cucho headed the ball past Brady, who reacted late. The hat-trick was the fastest in Crew history by a country mile, taking merely one-third of the time it took for the previous record holder, Stern John in 1999. It was the second quickest hat-trick in league history, only missing out to Hany Mukhtar against the Fire in 2021.
As if going down three goals wasn’t bad enough, how about going down two starting center backs. Mauricio Pineda came off hurt in the 28th minute, and just before the half, Rafa Czichos went down too. Czichos’ looked worse, as it appeared to be a non-contact injury, and potentially a serious one. Wyatt Omsberg was Pineda’s replacement, making his first non-cameo appearance since June 3rd, and Carlos Terán came on to Czichos at the half, returning from his own injury.
The Crew did take their foot off the gas in the second half, but the Fire did manage to make things worse. Brady produced a few impressive saves that limited the Crew to just three goals, but it meant very little. Shaqiri made a very bad foul on Rudy Camacho, and was sent off with a second yellow card. If anything, the DP was lucky that he wasn’t given a straight red card and that his suspension will just be one game instead of up to three. Wilfried Nancy completely tore the Fire apart, and the first sending off of Shaqiri's illustrious career was the cherry on top.
So what now? The Fire have just five games left in the regular season, and the playoffs are slipping further and further away. It would take a miracle at this point, as they would almost certainly need to win all three games at home (against 4th placed New England, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, and playoff rival Charlotte FC) as well as steal points on the road against the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC to make the playoffs, and there’s nothing to indicate that the team in their current form will do any of those things.
If nothing else, one thing is for certain: Saturday night’s Soldier Field showdown against the headless chicken of New England is a must-win game.
