Chicago Fire FC II defeated Chicago City SC 6-0 in the First Round of the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at SeatGeek Stadium on Wednesday night. Following an own goal by the Chicago City defense in the seventh minute, five different players tallied a goal for Chicago Fire II to help the team advance to the next round of the Open Cup.
The opponent, date and time for the Second Round of the Open Cup will be announced by U.S. Soccer in the coming days.
Defender Giovanni Granda and midfielder Vitaliy Hlyut each made their professional debut and scored their first professional goal against Chicago City SC, with Hlyut becoming one of the youngest goal scorers in Open Cup history. The Fire also saw goals from midfielders David Poreba, Michael Nesci and Harold Osorio to seal advancement to the second round of the historic tournament.
Five current Chicago Fire Academy players featured for Chicago Fire II against City: Granda, Hlyut, Nesci, Dylan Borso and Patrick Los. Additionally, Homegrown player Javier Casas Jr. played the first 45 minutes and former Academy product Poreba played the full 90. Along with Casas Jr., first-team players Spencer Richey and Wyatt Omsberg also registered 45 minutes in the match.
The score opened in the seventh minute in favor of the home team, when midfielder Harold Osorio sent a ball up the right side for Granda. Granda sent the ball across the box, hoping to connect with a teammate but instead connecting with Chicago City defender Aleksandar Labovic, who miscleared the ball and hit it past his own goalkeeper for the goal.
Chicago made it 2-0 just before the halftime whistle when Nesci and Granda connected in the box. Nesci won a ball on the right side of the box, sending a shot that bounced off a defender. The rebound fell right back to his feet and he laid it back to the top of the box for Granda, who hit a one-time shot into the left side of the goal past the outstretched hands of a diving Carlos Demeneghi.
Poreba extended the lead in the 65th minute after Nesci ran down a ball on the right side and sent in a shot. The attempt was cut off by defender Matthew McNamara, but Poreba pounced on the rebound. He settled the ball before sending a tight shot across the goalmouth that crossed the line just inside the left post.
After setting up the previous two goals, Nesci scored one of his own in the 70th minute. Poreba sent Nesci the ball at the top right corner of the 18-yard box. The young midfielder took a touch inside before firing a shot past Demeneghi.
Osorio made it five on the night with a free kick in the 84th minute. The Salvadoran lined up for a free kick, sending the ball through the wall toward goal. The ball bounced just in front of Demeneghi, then over his hands and into the goal.
Goal number six for the Fire came by the way of 15-year-old Hlyut. Lamonth Rochester won the ball back from an opposing defender and played it forward into a quick counter that saw Jason Shokalook offer a shot on goal. After the shot was blocked in the box, Hlyut collected the spill, evaded a sliding tackler and slipped the ball home to wrap up the match for the Fire.
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Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC II 6:0 Chicago City SC
Goals:
CHI - Labovic (Own Goal) (WATCH) 7’
CHI - Granda (Nesci) (WATCH) 45+1’
CHI - Poreba (WATCH) 65’
CHI - Nesci (Poreba) (WATCH) 70’
CHI - Osorio (WATCH) 84’
CHI - Hlyut (Shokalook) (WATCH) 86’
Discipline:
CCSC - Mendoza (Yellow Card) 10’
CHI - Casas Jr. (Yellow Card) 20’
CCSC - Angeles (Yellow Card) 21’
CHI - Konincks (Yellow Card) 47’
Chicago Fire FC II: GK Richey (Los, 45’), D Borso (Rochester, 75’), D Omsberg (capt.) (Shannon, 45’), D Konincks, D Granda (Hency, 45’), M Casas, Jr. (Blake, 45’), M Poreba, M Osorio, F Hlyut, F Nesci, F Shokalook
Subs not used: F Soudan
Chicago City SC: GK Demeneghi, D Butler (Zarate, 82’), D Labovic, D McNamara, D Sutton (capt.), M Angeles, M Lara, M Lopez (Dizdarevic, 71’), M Mendoza (Cozma, 87’), M Shkidchenko (Pacheco, 87’), F Marquez (Voica, 71’)
Subs not used: GK Krawczyk
Stats Summary: CHI / CCSC
Shots: 31 / 5
Shots on Goal: 15 / 2
Passing Accuracy: 84.8% / 56.3%
Saves: 2 / 8
Corners: 4 / 0
Fouls: 7 / 14
Offsides: 4 / 3
Possession: 74.3% / 25.7%
Attendance: 810
Referee: Alex Beehler
Assistant Ref 1: Fermin Sanchez
Assistant Ref 2: Leo Mora
4th Official: Mario Martinez Cabrera
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC II Head Coach Ludovic Taillandier
On the team's resilience despite playing with a split squad and a few days rest…
“When we play the game in any kind of cup format, you play to win. Then I told the guys that on this side of things they achieved, they're completely objective. And that was good after I'd say for us, it's all about growing, also so we started our league. We want to get better each game. We tried to work on our philosophy, our style of play. Then we asked the players to also be ambitious in the way we want to win, not just on the results. And I thought halfway we said okay, we got two in the first, we need to do more than two for the second. Then they were speaking to each other on the field as well, we need to do better than the first half. But in general, we're very proud of the guys.
On the performance of the substitutes he brought into the match at half…
“Well actually, to be completely honest, we had to serve some players due to them coming back from injury. Then we had to make sure we manage the load as the time of some players. That's why we have to sit four halfway, and we were a little shaky in the second half. Hopefully we don't get too many injured players because we had just one more sitting at the end, but yes definitely the players that came in and did the job, if not better than expected then that was good from the subs. We sometimes call them the finishers. They also finish us and I guess they finished well.
On being able to rest because of recent schedule changes…
“Yeah, I mean, look, he said three days, three days gap. In general, when we train the players, we want them to be able to potentially repeat two games with three days in between. Then I believe they will fit, surprisingly fit enough to push all the way to the end, then I think it's really good and it's a work of performance department also always trying to make the playoffs again ready to potentially play every three days then. I think on this side of things it was pretty good.”
On the next step for the team…
“It's definitely competition. The more you advance to the next round, the more difficult we expect the game to be. More difficult in the second round and you know with a desire to win it. Whoever comes our way, it’s game after game but ambitious. That's what we told the players. Congrats for today, but let's be ambitious enough to not be happy with that. And we want more on and we see the opponents we will have in front of us for the second round. But yes, we want to go with ambition.”
On the performance of Michael Nesci and Giovanni Granda…
“We are very proud to be able to say that we had a lot of academic products on the field. And I think that's important to realize that we played this game at the start if it's not far off, four players I think from our Academy. U-17, U-19 from our academy with more coming in the second half from the bench. And that's also something very important to say. We are working with a vision and developing players from the Academy. And to see Gio scoring goals and Vitally at 15-years old on the field tonight, scoring a goal. It's fantastic. I'm very proud of them.”
On Harold Osorio’s performance tonight…
“He is one of the players that is the closest to be ready for the next level. He is very close. I mean he's an international player who plays for his national team. He is definitely a very, very good profile prospect for our first team for the next few years and we're very proud of Harold because he's not just a good footballer, he's also a great guy, an amazing mentality, work ethic. Then we have a good package for the future for the Club.”
Chicago Fire FC II Midfielder Michael Nesci
On his assists in tonight’s victory…
“I cut in for the first one and took the shot and then came back out and I saw Gio [Granda] at the top of the box so I was thinking maybe I'll shoot again but then I saw Gio and I know Gio is always going to score so just had to find him in the box there.”
On what it means to participate in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup…
“Yes, we did. We talked about in the locker room that the history between the Fire and the tournament was very vast and I mean, it's important for the Chicago Fire, that's won the most US Open cups that we need to always stay strong and just get it done.”
On what it was like winning the game by six goals…
“It's our second game of the season, but I think it was good. And we created a lot of chances. We scored a lot of goals, but I think we can do much better and we can, I mean, we could have scored 10. So I think we just need to keep going and progress as the season goes by.”
On his commitment to Indiana, and how he focuses on his time with Chicago…
“Yeah, I'm just trying to get everything done that I can. Just keep going. Of course Indiana is a big step and that's going to be exciting. But in these next couple of months I want to focus on Fire and get it done.”
Chicago Fire FC II Midfielder Harold Osorio
On the confidence needed to score a free kick goal…
“It’s a goal that I had attempted many times in training and in the first half of the match. It was not working at first, but I had the opportunity in the second half and I had the good fortune of making it in.”
On the performance of the team…
“It was a very complete game from the entire team. I think we did a good job defensively; offensively, I think we were well organized. After the first two goals, we managed the match and kept the result. I am very thankful for the coach for his confidence and trust in me. I feel prepared for what is to come and hope the team can continue doing well.”
On the importance of scoring a goal in the match…
“It was a good opportunity to score. Obviously, every player wants to score and I am no exception. I saw the chance, I saw that I was very close to the goal and I had to take the chance.”
Chicago Fire II Midfielder David Poreba
On how he’s feeling after tonight’s U.S. Open Cup match and Chicago Fire II’s season opener on Sunday at FC Cincinnati II…
“I’m feeling great. Obviously, last Sunday we played FC Cincinnati in our season opener. We did well, we brought two points back home, and obviously, we played tonight and we’re just grateful for this opportunity to participate in the U.S. Open Cup. As the Second Team, it gives a lot of these young guys – myself, too – an amazing opportunity and we got a good win, I think a solid performance, but I think we can be even better.”
On what changed with the team’s performance in the second half…
“As a team, I think coach Ludo was telling us, we know we had to be better, so I think it was ok. In the transitions defensively, when we would lose the ball, we weren’t very organized, so we needed to improve on that, and I think in the second half, we did improve on that – we did better. And then obviously, we scored instead of two goals, we scored four goals in the second half. So as a team, it was great, and I think we showed a solid mentality.”
On the team’s mentality after other MLS NEXT Pro teams were eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup tournament…
“We actually talked about that before the game, and you know, we knew that if we didn’t show up with a good mentality that anything could happen in this game. So yesterday, like you said, all three of the MLS NEXT Pro teams lost, so a huge emphasis I think for us was to just be humble and to go into the game with a good attitude, a good mentality and we knew the rest would take care of itself with the talent we have.”
On his goal and his assist on Forward Michael Nesci’s goal…
“I think that’s just the type of player I am. You know, I want to be a creative player, I like finding those passes that break through the lines or a through ball – I like to create. Especially playing a little higher now, as like a 10. Last season, when I was in Charlotte, I played more as a center-mid, like an 8, so here I’m higher, so obviously, it’s a big position and I need to – I need to be creating. I thought I did well in that aspect, but I know I can be even better. So hopefully, it can just keep going up from now.”
On the reaction in the locker room post-match…
“Obviously, we were ecstatic, we were all happy, but we’re definitely not satisfied. We’re participating in a historic tournament and we’re going into every single game with one goal and purpose, and that’s to win. So, our goal is to win a championship – that’s every team’s goal – and that’s definitely our main focus.”