Sporting KC 0, Chicago Fire 1 | Player Ratings
With the Fire grabbing a mid-week away win over the Portland Timbers, not many Fire fans or MLS viewers in general expected the Chicago to get another win from the remainder of their three-game road trip, but for the first time in over a decade, they reached back-to-back road wins after beating SKC 1-0 thanks to a 47th-minute finish from Fabian Herbers. 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) – Absolutely standing on his head, Brady had a man-of-the-match-worthy performance by making four saves out of 12 shots and a 0.91 expected goals against Sporting Kansas City to record the shutout. In his first season as a regular starter, Brady has done nothing besides impress so far, and this performance is certainly no exception to his constantly improving resume.
Alonso Aceves (7) – For the second game in a row, Aceves has proven the doubters (me) wrong with another solid defensive display. I could hail the defensive performance of pretty much every player sitting behind the number ten position, but Aceves’ case is the most unique, considering game-time was challenging to come by for the Mexican before Miguel Ángel Navarro went out for international duty. Performances like this certainly will make future competition for the starting left-back spot more interesting. Aceves was eventually substituted for Jonathan Dean in the 70th minute.
Rafael Czichos (7.5) – The Fire’s skipper performed just as well as you’d expect him to. Rafa engaged in nine total duels, registered a completed tackle, and posted an 88.9% passing accuracy. Surprisingly, other defenders on the Fire eclipsed all of those statistics, but that should not take anything away from another competent performance from the German.
Mauricio Pineda (7) – Mauri got the start once again as Czichos’ center-back partner despite Carlos Terán being cleared to play, and the Bolingbrook native performed well. Even though Pineda only won one of his six duels, the defender’s presence was noticeably felt for long periods of the game. If you imagine a midfielder converting to center back you could expect his passing quality to dip a bit. However, it has actually been the opposite for Mauri, posting a 91.9% pass accuracy in this match. It will be interesting to see what backline Frank Klopas decides to start against Orlando on Saturday, but Pineda has made a strong case for himself to get some time regardless.
Arnaud Souquet (8) – Souquet led the entire match in duels won (69.2%) despite also being tied joint-first for total duels across both teams (15) so that on its own should say something about Souquet’s performance against Sporting Kansas City. The Frenchman was great at containing his one-on-one duels which is enhanced by the fact that he played a full 90 minutes against an SKC team that out-possessed the Fire 67% to 33%. Another good performance from Souquet.
Federico Navarro (8) – With the arrival of defensive midfielder and (temporary) designated player Ousmane Doumbia just hours before kickoff, it leaves a big question marking hanging over what the Fire’s midfield pairing could look like the rest of the season. Navarro provided his own answer to that question by putting in a solid defensive display to help collect all three points from the Soccer Capital of America. Fede was extremely disruptive to any attacking flow SKC could create, with the Argentine matching first for the Fire in tackles won at three total, playing a big role in this victory.
Gastón Giménez (7.5) – On the other side of the midfield, Gastón played…oh also good. In my opinion, Tonga has been one of my favorite Fire players to watch this season despite Fire fandom largely calling for his head as recently as earlier this year. Gastón tied with Fede for the most tackles made for the Fire, as well as having led the team in accurate passes at 93.8%. Besides the tackles, though, the Paraguyan dipped off a bit in his duels and looked a bit fatigued after halftime. Gimenéz was eventually substituted for Xherdan Shaqiri in the 59th minute.
Fabian Herbers (7) – After scoring midweek against Portland, former Zee Soccer Podcast host Herbers scored again to bring his season total up to three goals. After a Jairo Torres cross was deflected away from goal, Fabian Herbers nailed it back on target to put the Fire up 1-0. Besides that, Herbers had glimpses of creativity but was substituted in the 58th minute for Maren Haile-Selassie.
Brian Gutiérrez (7) – Retaining the starting attacking-midfielder spot despite the return of the power cube to the squad, Guti had another good showing on the night. Gutiérrez fed the initial ball to Jairo Torres to cross into the box before Herbers scored, and that was just one of several instances of the youngster’s creativity despite having limited possession. Gutiérrez was substituted in the 89th minute for Georgios Koutsias.
Jairo Torres (6.5) – With Jairo’s form being a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment, this game was certainly not an exception. Similar to Herbers, JT showed glimpses of attacking threat here and there but was generally quieter throughout his time on the field. Although Jairo kind of shanked the cross that ultimately fell to the feet of Fabi herbers to bury, credit is due for hustling into the attacking space to get on the end of Gutiérrez’s through-ball. Torres was substituted off for Terán in the 70th minute.
Kei Kamara (7) – Replacing Kacper Przybyłko as the Fire’s starting striker, Kei’s overall effort in pressing and winning the ball back has been vital for whenever the Fire have found success this season (besides his game-winning goals, obviously). Despite his age, Kei brought high energy to the front line and helped stop SKC from simply just possessing the Fire into submission. Kei tied Arnaud Souquet for the match’s highest amount of duels engaged in at 15, but the total he won rhymes with hero and starts with a Z. Regardless, it is still great to see the veteran leave all of his heart on the field.
Substitutes
Maren Haile-Selassie (6.5) – Coming on for Herbers in the 58th minute, Haile-Selassie came on to try and keep the tension on SKC’s backline while the Fire were ahead. Maren had a few runs down his favored right channel but was fairly limited to what he could really do with how much Sporting Kansas City had pinned the Fire down. With a few substitute appearances in after his brief injury-stint, it is likely Maren returns to the starting XI soon.
Xherdan Shaqiri (6) – Shaqiri came on for Giménez in the 59th minute to add some dynamism to the Fire’s efforts at counter-attacking, however, the designated player did not leave much of an impression on the match. Shaq only had a 72.7% passing accuracy despite coming on with 30 minutes minimum left to play, and yes I know he just came back from international duty as well but performances like this mirror those the Swiss attacker had pre-Ezra sacking. Before we go into meltdown, let’s see what Shaqiri can offer against Orlando.
Jonathan Dean (6.5) – Swapping with Aceves in the 70th minute to offer a more staunch defensive profile, Dean was solid in defense. Even though the pressure here was high, Dean proved again that defending is his strong suit, fending off the likes of Johnny Russell and Erik Thommy on the left side.
Carlos Terán (7) – Replacing Torres in the 70th minute in an effort to keep the Fire ahead, Carlos Terán’s return for his first appearance since playing against Saint Louis CITY on May 13th was great as the Colombian looked as if he was never injured. Terán was fully focused and a notable physical presence on the pitch, never really looking too bothered by SKC’s frontline.
Georgios Koutsias (N/A) – Koutsias came as a sub in the 89th minute for Gutiérrez, but given his extremely limited amount of minutes the Greek-youth international was unable to be properly rated.
Manager
Frank Klopas (7) – Despite the returns of Shaqiri and Terán to the squad, Klopas elected to stick with the same starting XI from the game against Portland, with that decision paying dividends. Tactically the Fire were unchanged as well, and although there were moments it did not look like three points (or any for that matter) were going to be traveling back to Chicago, the team ultimately locked in on defense and kept SKC from ever scoring. Klopas’ subs were good as well, with Carlos Terán making a notable impact.
