Chicago Fire FC (6-12-8, 26 points) scored two second half goals to earn a point on the road in a 2-2 tie with New York City FC (11-9-6, 39 points) on Saturday night at Citi Field.
Fire forward Hugo Cuypers started the comeback when he scored a powerful left-footed effort in the 78th minute. With the goal, Cuypers became the first Fire player since the 2020 campaign to score 10 or more goals in a single season. Homegrown midfielder Brian Gutiérrez closed out the scoring with his sixth goal of the season, sending a penalty kick past goalkeeper Matt Freese in the 90+4th minute.
New York City opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a shot placed into the lower left corner by forward Alonso Martínez. The home side doubled their lead seven minutes later with a short-range blast, also from Martínez.
With the result, Chicago now sits in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, two points below the playoff line.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to the lakefront to host Inter Miami CF at Soldier Field on Saturday, Aug. 31. The match is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass, and transmitted locally in Spanish on WRTO 1200 AM and in English on 890 WLS-AM.
Notes:
- With the draw, this is the sixth time the Fire have earned a point when trailing in a match this season. The Fire have recorded three victories and three draws in those six matches.
- Hugo Cuypers became the only Fire player to start every MLS regular season match so far in 2024, and leads the team in goal contributions with 10 goals and two assists.
- Brian Gutiérrez scored his sixth goal of the season for Chicago, and his 10th career goal, in his 21st start of the regular season. He surpassed teammate Maren Haile-Selassie for the second-most goals so far this season.
- Gutiérrez became the second Homegrown player in Club history to score 10 goals for the Fire (Harry Shipp).
- Greek forward Georgios Koutsias made his 50th appearance for the Men in Red when he entered the match in the 72nd minute.
- Midfielder Federico Navarro returned from injury, entering the field for the Fire for the first time since May 29 against Orlando City SC.
- Defender Chase Gasper (leg), midfielder Fabian Herbers (leg) and winger Ariel Lassiter (yellow card accumulation) were unavailable for today’s match.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #CF97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Box Score:
New York City FC 2:2 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
NYC – Martínez (9) (Moralez 3) (WATCH) 15’
NYC - Martínez (10) (Parks 2) (WATCH) 22’
CHI - Cuypers (10) (Salquist 1) (WATCH) 78’
CHI - Gutiérrez (6) (penalty) (WATCH) 90+4’
Discipline:
NYC - Gray (Yellow Card) 50’
CHI – Giménez (Yellow Card) 65’
NYC - Parks (Yellow Card) 90’
CHI - Navarro (Yellow Card) 90’
NYC - Gray (Yellow Card) 90+4’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Souquet, D Terán (Salquist, 46’), D Czichos, D Gutman (Reynolds, 72’), D Arigoni (Mueller, 46’), M Haile-Selassie (Koutsias, 72’), M Gutiérrez, M Acosta (Navarro, 72’), M Giménez (capt.), F Cuypers
Subs not used: GK Richey, D Dean, D Pineda, F Barlow
New York City FC: GK Freese, D Risa, D Martins (capt.), D McFarlane (O’Toole, 72’), D Gray, M Sands, M Moralez (Fernández, 71’), M Parks, F Rodríguez (Haak, 85’), F Martínez ( F Mijatovic, 79’), F Wolf
Subs not used: GK Barraza, D Tanasijevic, D Ilenic, F Bakrar, F Ojeda
Stats Summary: NYC / CHI
Shots: 12 / 9
Shots on Goal: 4 / 3
Saves: 1 / 2
Passing Accuracy: 86.3% / 79.5%
Corners: 12 / 4
Fouls: 7 / 14
Offsides: 1 / 05
Possession: 58.1% / 41.9%
Attendance: 24,428
Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Brian Dunn, Ben Pilgrim
Fourth Official: Jeremy Scheer
VAR: Jon Freemon, Jonathan Johnson