Chicago Fire FC (7-17-9, 30 points) fell 4-3 to Charlotte FC (12-11-9, 45 points) on Wednesday night at Bank of America Stadium.
Charlotte acquired an early lead with a goal from Karol Swiderski in the eighth minute. Chicago leveled the score in the 25th minute when Fabian Herbers redirected a cross from Ariel Lassiter into the lower right corner. Two more goals from Charlotte in the 30th and 45+1st minutes sealed the first half scoreline and Liel Abada added to the tally in the 58th minute.
Kellyn Acosta scored his third goal of the season, sending a powerful shot from distance into the upper left corner in the 67th minute. Chicago continued to push forward and cut the lead even further in the 90+3rd minute with a goal from Tom Barlow.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to Soldier Field for the Club’s final regular season match of 2024, hosting Nashville SC on Saturday, Oct. 19, on MLS Decision Day. The match is scheduled to kick off at 5:00 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 WLS 890 AM.
Notes:
- With six saves on the night, Chris Brady became the sixth goalkeeper in Fire history to record more than 100 saves in a single season, and the first to do so since Sean Johnson reached the mark in 2012. With 105 saves in 2024, Brady joins Johnson, Zach Thornton, Henry Ring, Matt Pickens, and Jon Busch as the only goalkeepers in Fire history to record 100 or more saves in a single season.
- Additionally, Brady tied former Homegrown Gaga Slonina for the second-most appearances by a goalkeeper in a single season with 32.
- With his goal, Fabian Herbers recorded his single-season career high eighth goal contribution of the season. With three goals and five assists, Herbers recorded the second-most goal contributions in his nine year MLS career.
- Kellyn Acosta tied a career-high in goals in a single season with his third of the campaign. Acosta tied a personal best set in 2017.
- Additionally, Acosta surpassed his single-season career high in appearances with 33 in 2024. The Texas native surpassed his previous best set in 2016 (FC Dallas) and 2022 (LAFC).
- With his assist on Acosta’s goal, Federico Navarro recorded his first assist of the 2024 season.
- Former University of Wisconsin-Madison teammates Tom Barlow and Chris Mueller combined for their first goal at the professional level. The last time Barlow scored off an assist from Mueller was in a 4-1 victory against University of Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 16, 2017 in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
- Defenders Chase Gasper (leg) and Andrew Gutman (leg); winger Maren Haile-Selassie (personal reasons); and forward Hugo Cuypers (personal reasons) were unavailable for today’s match.
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Box Score:
Charlotte FC 4:3 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
CLT - Swiderski (4) (Biel, 2) (WATCH) 8’
CHI - Herbers (3) (WATCH) 25’
CLT - Urso (1) (Biel, 3) (WATCH) 30’
CLT - Swiderski (5) (Byrne, 3) (WATCH) 45+1’
CLT - Abada (6) (Swiderski, 1) (WATCH) 58’
CHI - Acosta (3) (Navarro, 1) (WATCH) 67’
CHI - Barlow (2) (Mueller, 3) (WATCH) 90+3’
Discipline:
CLT - Abada (Yellow Card) 16’
CHI - Navarro (Yellow Card) 64’
CLT - Swiderski (Yellow Card) 69’
CLT - Smith (Yellow Card) 70’
CLT - Kahlina (Yellow Card) 90+4’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Souquet (Reynolds, 46’), D Czichos, D Omsberg (Salquist, 34’), D Dean, M Gutiérrez, M Herbers (Mueller, 59’), M Acosta, M Giménez (capt.) (Navarro, 64’), M Lassiter, F Koutsias (Barlow, 59’)
Subs not used: GK Richey, D Arigoni, D Pineda, D Terán
Charlotte FC: GK Kahlina, D Ream, D Byrne, D Malanda, M Westwood (capt.), M Biel (Paterson, 79’), M Bronico (Vargas, 72’), M Urso (Diani, 72’), M Privett, F Swiderski (Agyemang, 72’), F Abada (Tavares, 88’)
Subs not used: GK Bingham, D Lindsey, D Tuiloma, D Uronen
Stats Summary: CLT / CHI
Shots: 19 / 18
Shots on Goal: 10 / 7
Saves: 4 / 6
Passing Accuracy: 87.6% / 88.6%
Corners: 5 /3
Fouls: 8 / 5
Offsides: 2 / 1
Possession: 44.5% / 55.5%
Attendance: 26,899
Referee: Segii Boiko
Assistant Referees: Ian McKay, Mike Nickerson
Fourth Official: Tori Penso
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert