In a first half that saw six goals scored, New York City struck first when Alexander Callens scored off a corner kick in the 15th minute. Maximiliano Moralez delivered a ball to the edge of the six-yard box that Callens powerfully headed towards goal. Fire goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth was able to get a hand on it, but the ball fell into the net for the Peruvian’s second goal of the season (WATCH).
Gary Mackay-Steven doubled the lead for NYCFC in the 32nd minute. Valentin Castellanos played a ball in behind the Fire backline to Mackay-Steven, which forced Shuttleworth off his line. The veteran goalkeeper was able to get a hand on the ball and push it wide, but the Scottish midfielder was able to maintain his footing, spin and score on a left-footed shot from a difficult angle (WATCH).
One minute later, Chicago answered from none other than striker Robert Berić. Midfielder Djordje Mihailović crossed in a ball from the left side to find Berić unmarked in the box. The Slovenian directed a strong header on frame for his team-leading 12th goal of the season. Berić is currently tied for second in the MLS Golden Boot race (WATCH).
New York made it 3-1 in the 37th minute with a goal from Jesus Medina. A poor clearance from the Fire fell to Keaton Parks. Parks found Moralez who laid it off for Medina. The Designated Player struck a left-footed shot to the left side of the net to regain a two-goal lead (WATCH).
Fire midfielder Przemysław Frankowski would score back-to-back goals in the 42nd and 43rd minutes. After a long diagonal ball that New York failed to clear, Mihailović made his way to the endline before playing it dangerously into the box. Frankowski took advantage of a melee to tap it home (WATCH).
The Fire did not waste any time leveling the match. Berić would take on his defender one-on-one and swing in a cross from the left side to Mihailović. The Homegrown Player would mistime the volley but it fell to Frankowski. The Polish international calmly placed a right-footed shot inside the left post to grab a brace (WATCH).
NYCFC scored the game-winner in the 77th minute off a Fire turnover. An errant pass fell to Castellanos who easily redirected the ball into the net (WATCH).
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Notes:
- The Fire finished the season with a 5-10-8 record (11th place, Eastern Conference).
- Berić scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season. He is currently tied for second in scoring in MLS with Columbus forward Gyasi Zardes. LAFC’s Diego Rossi leads MLS with 14 goals.
- Frankowski notched his first brace of 2020 and earned Heineken Man of the Match honors. With the two-goal performance, Frankowski became the first player in Club history to score a goal in consecutive minutes. Prior to the start of the 2020 season, only 12 players in MLS history had scored goals in consecutive minutes.
- Rookie defender Mauricio Pineda earned his 23rd start of the season, becoming the first Homegrown player to start every regular season match for the Club in his rookie season.
- Every Fire broadcast starts with an original feature, The Open. Tonight’s version, “Fortress” was voiced by Fire defender Jonathan Bornstein. You can watch it here.
- Game highlights can be viewed here (Imagen) and here (MLS Matchcenter).
Goals:
NYCFC - Callens (2) (Moralez 3) (WATCH) 15’
NYCFC - Mackay-Steven (2) (Castellanos 3) (WATCH) 32’
CHI - Berić (12) (Mihailović 6) (WATCH) 33’
NYCFC - Medina (5) (Moralez 3, Parks 1) (WATCH) 37’
CHI - Frankowski (2) (WATCH) 42’
CHI - Frankowski (3) (Mihailović 7) (WATCH) 43’
NYCFC - Castellanos (6) (WATCH) 77’
Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC 3:4 New York City FC
Chicago Fire FC: GK Shuttleworth, D Sekulić (F Collier 76’), D Bornstein (D Navarro 58’), D Calvo ©, D Pineda (D Terán 88’), M Medrán, M Mihailović, M Giménez, M Frankowski, M Herbers (M Aliseda 58’), F Berić
Subs not used: GK Sparrow, D Bronico, D Omsberg, D Kappelhof, M Gutiérrez
New York City FC: GK Johnson, D Tinnerholm, D Chanot, D Callens (D Ibeagha HT), D Ring ©, D Matarrita (D Thorarinsson 68’), M Moralez, M Mackay-Steven (F Tajouri-Shradi 81’), M Medina (M Rocha 81’), M Parks (D Acevedo 68’), F Castellanos
Subs not used: GK Stuver, D Scally, M Torres, M Haak
Stats Summary: CHI / NYCFC
Shots: 19 / 20
Shots on Target: 7 / 10
Saves: 6 / 4
Corners: 3 / 8
Fouls: 9 / 12
Offsides: 4 / 2
Possession: 46.9% / 53.1%
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referees: Andrew Bigelow, Peter Balciunas
Fourth Official: Timothy Ford
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Raphael Wicky
On the progress of the team after missing the playoffs…
"Honestly, I don't really look who we are behind. That's not the biggest concern of me, which team is in front, if it's expansion or not expansion. I see, like I said in the last weeks, I see a lot of progress in this team but I also see a lot of mistakes, which are repetitive, which we have to change. But I see a lot of progress in the last three months since we have restarted after Orlando here. I see that, that gives me, like I said it, after last game, that gives me a positive feeling, to go with that base into the new season, but we have to obviously stop doing similar mistakes in every single game. Look, it was a difficult year, it is a difficult season for everyone, for us as well, with a lot of new faces, we started basically new as well, that's why. I think we have laid a good foundation, a very good foundation for next year. But we're obviously disappointed."
On the disappointment of missing the playoffs in his first season…
"Yeah, look, of course, we're all very disappointed. This is an objective we all had, we all wanted to go in there and we didn't accomplish that, and of course we're disappointed. It hurts because we all felt that we could've been in there, but in the end of the day you are where you are. But again, like I said in the question earlier, I believe in the foundation we've laid, I think it's a good foundation, we can work with that next season. But we have to, in the crucial moments of the games, like today, again, we have to be better, we have to do less of those mistakes. But it is a disappointment, of course, when you don't achieve your objectives."
On defensive lapses throughout the game…
"Yeah, I mean, we struggled against a very good team defensively, but that's not only the defenders. We defend as a team; it starts up front with Robert and it ends in the goal with Bobby. I think we got stretched, too stretched in the first half, we had problems with runs behind. We knew that New York City is, in my opinion, one of the best teams in the league, plays some very, very fluid soccer and always creates chances. We knew that and we were not on our best defensively as a team today. But still, we came back, we scored some nice goals and we were there, we were there to win this game. But yeah, today we were, for sure, not as good defensively as in other games."
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Gastón Giménez (translated from Spanish)
On the defensive mistakes made in such an important match…
“I don't think they were so much conceptually defensive errors. There were individual errors. There were individual concepts, not defensive concepts, I don't know if I'm explaining myself that well but it's something that happened and we paid for it and we're very sorry about that. And now we find ourselves out. But, you know, these things, you pay for them, and we're paying for it, and now we're out and it's something that we have to take responsibility for.”
On what went wrong down the final stretch of the season…
“It's something that I couldn't really tell you right now. Sometimes things like that happen in football where you have to win a game and you don't. And then, you know, two or three games go by. And it's things like you know, you have chances to score and you don't, or the passes aren't quite there. Things don't quite go the way you want them to in the midfield. But it's something that you know now, looking at it a little bit more cool headed, where we have that pain of being out of the playoffs. We've improved a lot this season. We've played up to par with every team that we've faced. We've been superior in many of the matches. And so it's something that we have to look forward to. There's great growth for next season, for next year.”
On his first season in Major League Soccer, high and low points of the season, and rating the overall season…
“The best part that I'm taking from here is being able to adapt quickly to a new country, a new club. It's a great club. I found a great club with great human qualities and great people. They have taught me a ton of things and I'm so grateful for that. And sure there are things to improve because this is a process and processes take time. It's been a difficult year for everyone, both in football and also just in life, it's been a difficult year, but we're on the right path. And we're going to keep going forward and I know that now what's next is to rest and spend some time with family, and I'm sure that we're going to keep growing for next year.
Chicago Fire FC Forward Robert Beric
On the level of frustration and disappointment following tonight’s result…
“First of all it's a huge disappointment. So, I don't know what to say because I don't think that we are so bad that we are not in the playoffs, that's for sure. That we are not in the top 10 teams. But something is missing and that is through the whole season. We are struggling, in the MLS is Back tournament, it was the same thing. All the time there's something missing in the last, let's say, last minutes, little later maybe I don't know. Concentration, experience, I don't know how to describe it. But like I said, the disappointment is huge.”
On if the game was too big for some players, and if the mistakes made were preventable…
“I don't know. We were losing, coming back, losing, coming back. We were in halftime and we were like, we came back in the game. We had the whole second half to push. We knew that we had to win the game. Look, these kinds of mistakes in these kinds of games should not happen. It's just like that. This was our playoff game. We can count this as a playoff game. And if you win, you go forward. If you don't win, you’re out. And in these kinds of games, we have to put everything out. Every mistake is punished with a goal, so I don't know what to say.”
On his satisfaction with his play throughout the season…
“I mean I'm happy with every goal I scored and everything, and I can just say thanks to my teammates who put the good balls for me. But in the end that's a team sport. And again, I mean I had the same as bad season as everybody else. We didn't come in the playoffs and that's bad. So, yeah, that's it, I have nothing else to say.”