Real Salt Lake Pummel Chicago Fire 4-0

The Chicago Fire played like a minor league side and were dispatched as such, losing 4-0 to Real Salt Lake in a non-conference matchup at Soldier Field.

The Fire never showed up and were played off the pitch, giving up three goals in a 15 minute span before halftime.

To make matters worse, Brian Gutiérrez was a late scratch from the starting lineup while Xherdan Shaqiri, Federico Navarro, and Gastón Giménez left the match with injuries.

It was an open match for the first twenty minutes of the contest before Real Salt Lake took control in the 24th minute.

Left back Alexandros Katranis made a run toward the endline before playing a cross to a wide-open Andrés Gómez on the opposite side of Chicago’s penalty area. Gómez had zero Chicago defenders around him and composed himself before placing his shot perfectly into the corner of the Fire’s net, making it 1-0.

Federico Navarro replaced the injured Gutiérrez in the starting lineup and made one of the worst mistakes you’ll see this season. Navarro played a back-pass in the 33rd minute that was intercepted by Chicho Arango, who scored two touches later.

The final goal for Salt Lake will be the hardest for the Fire to watch in the film review. Bryan Oviedo played a corner kick in the 37th minute to the far post that met the head of Chicho Arango, who was inexplicably unmarked. Arango had no problem powering the header past a sprawling Chris Brady to give the match a 3-0 scoreline before the halftime break.

Diego Luna sealed the 4-0 win for his side in the 93rd minute after no member of the Fire chose to pressure the ball.

The Fire had a couple of chances after halftime but none were substantive nor did any of them truly test Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Gavin Beavers, who earned his first MLS clean sheet in Chicago at only 18 years old.

The loss is the first for Chicago against Real Salt Lake in MLS since August 4, 2018.

Match Observations

Fabian Herbers won the Fire a free kick 30 yards from goal in the second minute. Xherdan Shaqiri played the subsequent free kick toward Carlos Terán, who was making a run at the far post, but the Fire captain’s feed bent just past the toe of Terán and went out harmlessly for a goal kick.

Real Salt Lake had a centrally-located free kick in the 14th minute and completely wasted the golden scoring chance. Kellyn Acosta took down Salt Lake’s Chicho Arango 20 yards from goal and after a few minutes, Arango took the free kick but missed yards wide of the net with his shot. Acosta was assessed a yellow card

Chris Brady made a mess of Braian Ojeda’s cross into the penalty area in the 16th minute and was fortunate to not concede a goal. Chicho Arango collected the loose ball and his shot was goal-bound before Carlos Terán intervened and blocked the shot, denying the goal-scoring opportunity.

Chris Mueller’s left foot failed him in the 18th minute. Arnaud Souquet sprung the Fire’s counterattack with a pass from his own half that found Hugo Cuypers as he made a run toward Salt Lake’s penalty area. Cuypers played the ball to Mueller on his right but the winger’s left-footed effort had very little power and required very little from Gavin Beavers to make the save. Cuypers needed to play the pass to Meuller a moment earlier to give his winger a better scoring angle.

Mueller nearly made up for his mediocre shot after turning Salt Lake over in their own half of the pitch in the 21st minute. Mueller intercepted a pass 25 yards from his opponent’s goal, nutmegged his defender but took one touch too many and Gavin Beavers was able to deny the chance.

Xherdan Shaqiri left the match in the 22nd minute and was replaced by Georgios Koutsias.

Real Salt Lake took the lead in the 24th minute through Andrés Gómez. Alexandros Katranis made a lovely run down the left flank and played a cross from near the end line that found a wide-open Gómez in the Fire’s penalty area. Gómez had what felt like hours of time and took a couple of touches before ripping a left-footed effort into the corner of Chicago’s net to give his side the early 1-0 lead. It is mind-boggling that Gómez had enough time in the penalty area to take multiple touches in the Fire’s penalty area before taking his shot.

Things went from bad to worse for the Fire through a terrible turnover from Federico Navarro in the 33rd minute. The midfielder won the ball back for Chicago in his own half of the pitch near the sideline and immediately turned and played a back-pass intended for goalkeeper Chris Brady. The pass was intercepted by Chicho Arango in the Fire’s penalty area and he had no problem burying the shot past Chris Brady to give his side the 2-0 lead on the lakefront.

The Fire left Chicho Arango completely unmarked on a corner in the 37th minute and Braian Oviedo’s feed found the unmarked Arango at the far post. Arango headed the ball past a flying Chris Brady, making it 3-0. How the Fire managed to allow Arango, one of the best scorers in MLS, to go unmarked is a mystery that is incredibly disheartening to see from a side that hired a set-piece coach in the offseason.

RSL outshot the Fire eight-three overall in the first half and had five on-target efforts compared to only two sub-par efforts from Chicago. RSL’s three goals came while generating only 0.83 expected goals before halftime, per FotMob.

Andrés Gómez nearly scored his second goal of the match in the 49th minute and created the chance on his own. Gómez had the ball on the right and bodied Allan Arigoni to get past the defender as he made his run toward Chicago’s goal. Gómez got near the endline and played a shot that was saved by Chris Brady as he hugged his post. It was another chance for Salt Lake from very little.

Speaking of chances from very little, Fidel Barajas will be kicking himself for not doing better with his shot in the 52nd minute. Chicho Arango lost the ball in Chicago’s half of the pitch but Matt Crooks got his toe on the ball and deflected to a wide-open Barajas. Salt Lake’s 18-year-old winger had acres of space but dragged his shot well wide of the Fire’s net, sparing the hosts from an even larger deficit.

To add insult to literal injury for the Fire, Gastón Giménez had to be subbed off in the 58th minute after replacing the injured Federico Navarro at halftime. Frank Klopas said post-match that Navarro suffered a knee injury.

Fabian Herbers was the one Fire attacker who was looking for Hugo Cuypers throughout the match and the two nearly combined for a goal in the 55th minute. Herbers played a lovely through ball to Cuypers in RSL’s penalty area but Cuypers’ effort was denied by a diving Gavin Beavers. It took nearly an hour but Chicago finally found their club-record signing in a dangerous spot.

RSL continued to create chances and substitute Diego Luna was inches from making it 4-0 in the visitors’ favor in the 63rd minute. Chicho Arango made a run down the right side and played a pass to Luna in the middle of Chicago’s penalty area but RSL’s number eight’s shot was just wide of the post.

The two former Wisconsin Badgers combined to create a nice chance for the Fire in the 67th minute. Chris Mueller made another run down the right side and played a ball toward the penalty spot. Tom Barlow connected with Mueller’s pass but his toe-tapped effort was saved easily by Gavin Beavers.

Real Salt Lake made it 4-0 in the 93rd minute through a goal that exemplified the entire match for Chicago. Chicho Arango fought off his man before finding Diego Luna, who took multiple touches before burying his effort to seal his side’s win.

Brian Gutiérrez was a late scratch from the starting lineup after he suffered an injury during warmups at Soldier Field, which Frank Klopas said post-match was due to a hamstring issue.

Fire head coach Frank Klopas was visibly upset when he spoke to the media post-match but wanted to wait until he watched the match back before fully diving into what went wrong for Chicago.

“I’d like to see the game a couple more times. But obviously, before the game, it's not about excuses, injuries, this or that. But I think right before, the situation with [Brian Gutiérrez] Guti – with his hamstring, he felt something, he couldn't go – and then [Xherdan Shaqiri] Shaq coming out early after the first goal, then I think that disrupted a little bit our rhythm. But then, I think the goals we gave up, I think, (were) all preventable goals. Simple give-and-goes, especially in the first one, tracking runners.

“So yeah, it's just from one bad thing to the other, and it just seemed you can never get a grasp of the game or when we had chances, when we got in certain moments, even when we pushed the game with a second forward and third forward, we really didn't get any really crystal-clear chances. So it just snowballed from there. We have to reflect, review the game, but I think it's one that, how quickly can we put it behind us and regroup?”

Kellyn Acosta wasn’t happy that his side started out their three-match homestand with this poor result.

“Definitely disappointed overall,” said Acosta. “We talked about having this homestand of three games, three important games for us to get points, this being the first of the three. If we’re reflecting on the game, I think from start to finish it was just a poor performance and I don’t think the effort wasn't there. I mean, you saw the guys running for 90-plus minutes, but it was just concentration in moments with and without the ball, giving up some goals, I think that was just a lack of concentration from the set piece.

“And obviously, you had a bad giveaway and the counterattack. There's some things we definitely want to shore up. But that's the nature of the game. Sometimes you get kicked in the teeth and it's about how you bounce back. And yeah, we're going to have to reflect, watch this game, watch the film, see the things that we did wrong, and we got to just move forward and on to next week.”

What’s On Tap Next?

The Fire will be back at Soldier Field on April 27 when they host Atlanta United. The match is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.