CHICAGO — The Chicago Fire have three wins in a row, and largely have Maren Haile-Selassie to thank for it. The Swiss winger propelled the Fire to a 2-1 victory over New York City FC, the first time the Men in Red have defeated that opponent in five years.
Riding high after a 3-1 demolition of the Vancouver Whitecaps on Tuesday, Gregg Berhalter made just two changes to the starting XI to face New York City. Both were obvious ones – Robert Lewandowski returned to the initial lineup, replacing Johan Gómez up front, while Chris Brady returned between the sticks after returning on Wednesday from the U.S. Men's National Team camp.
For the third successive game, Leo Barroso got the nod at left back ahead of Andrew Gutman in a position he had never played for the Fire before two weeks ago. One of the most fascinating experiments of the Fire season continued, and Barroso was up to the task as he was against Vancouver (albeit playing in a slightly more advanced role this time).
It was a nightmare start for the Fire. In the 19th minute, a Djé D'Avilla giveaway gave NYCFC possession, which ended with Hannes Wolf opening the scoring. Things went from bad to worse for D'Avilla in particular; moments after the restart, he was booked for a lazy challenge.
Another late tackle ended D'Avilla's night early, shortly before halftime. The Ivorian holding midfielder, who has been the Fire's top performer in the last few weeks, received a second yellow card, leaving the Fire down a goal and a man at the interval.
The only change at halftime was to compensate for the lost central midfielder: Jonathan Bamba was sacrificed after a decent but quiet night on the wing, with Mauricio Pineda introduced to fill D'Avilla's role at the base of the midfield.
Despite playing 10 against 11, the Fire were the better team coming out of the half. as the better team. Incredibly, Maren Haile-Selassie, playing in his first game since a multi-year extension was announced, supplied a cross for Anton Salétros to head home and level things in the 55th minute. Salétros' first goal of the regular season dragged the Fire back into a game that, by all accounts, they should have been completely out of.
After tying the game, the Fire incorporated a compact 4-4-1 shape. It kept things under control before a final press in the last ten minutes of regulation. Johan Gómez and Puso Dithejane were among those introduced in an effort to put attacking pressure on the NYC back line, despite their man advantage.
In the 86th minute, that press came to fruition. Dithejane forced a massive save from Matt Freese, and moments late, a Jack Elliott header went just over the bar. The visitors were reeling, and it would have felt as if the Fire – not New York City – were the team up a man.
Then, the magic happened. Haile-Selassie pressed Freese in the six-yard box, where the USMNT's World Cup #1 was too lackadaisical in possession, and gave the ball away. Haile-Selassie rolled the ball into the net, recording his tenth goal of the season.
The Swiss winger becomes just the second player in Fire to reach double-digit goals and assists in a season, joining Philip Zinckernagel last year.
The Fire climb to second place with the win, at least for the moment. They jumped New England and Miami in the table, though both teams are still yet to play this weekend.
