The Chicago Fire picked up what may have been their biggest win of the season so far on Saturday night as they beat the Seattle Sounders 1-0 at Soldier Field.

A pretty fun contest throughout, the lone goal of the match came midway through the first half when Rafael Czichos headed home a lovely cross from Federico Navarro. Seattle put on plenty of pressure in search of an equalizer later on, but Chicago were able to handle everything that was thrown at them.

As a result, the hosts secured a clean sheet and three potentially massive points.

Story of the match

Chicago carved out a chance in the opening minutes. Hitting on the counter, the ball eventually ended up at the feet of Brian Gutiérrez on the left wing. He did well to cut inside, but the angle was too tight, and his shot was saved as a result.

They continued to push forward, which allowed Seattle a chance to counter themselves. Jordan Morris flew by a defender before going for goal, and his strike was a good one, but Gabriel Slonina got an arm up to deflect the ball away.

The up-and-down nature of the fixture continued as the hosts then had another solid opportunity. A botched clearance sat perfectly for Kacper Przybyłko, and he reacted quickly to it, unleashing a volley on target. Goalkeeper Steven Cleveland was up to the task, though, just about doing enough to make the stop.

It wouldn’t take much longer for a goal to come. The Fire were the ones who jumped in front, as a wonderful ball from Federico Navarro picked out the run of Rafael Czichos. He made no mistake with the finish, powering a header home from close range.

They could have made it two moments later. A lovely move led to Gutiérrez being played through on goal, but he couldn’t convert, as his low shot was blocked by an outstretched leg.

That was the last of the action in the first half, and the frantic tempo of the contest continued following the break, with Seattle controlling most of proceedings.

Everything almost changed when Xherdan Shaqiri went for an audacious olimpico, but his attempt was tipped just over the crossbar.

Another corner on the other side of the pitch led to the next chance, as a cross picked out Albert Rusnák on the edge of the area. He just couldn’t keep his volley on target, though, and the ball ended up rolling just wide.

Seattle kept sending bodies forward, and they almost had a opening late on. Jordan Morris was slipped through, but he couldn’t make solid contact on a shot, so his tame toe-poke was saved pretty easily by Gabriel Slonina.

That proved to be the final chance of the contest, as Chicago were able to hold on to clinch the victory and all three points.

Takeaways

The emerald green shorts with the same color jersey was a nice look for Seattle.

Kacper Przybyłko got a chance in the starting lineup due to Jhon Durán’s injury, but he failed to make the most of it. Nothing he did on the night felt convincing, and he had a number of bad moments, whether it was a misplaced pass or a poor first touch. He just has no confidence at the moment, and showings like this aren’t going to help. It’ll be interesting to see if he still starts next time out if Durán isn’t healthy.

This looked like the Fire team everyone saw near the start of the season. They were solid throughout, and they really demonstrated a bend-but-don’t-break attitude on the night. Their efforts were worth it at the end as they kept the much-needed clean sheet, their second in as many games. If the backline can stay this solid, then Chicago might be able to put a run together.

There’s a lot of work left to be done, but this win has kept Chicago’s playoff hopes alive, at least. They’re only four points off of the final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference, and they’ve got plenty of games left to go. Whether or not they can keep the good times rolling remains to be seen, but for now, things are looking a little up.

Man of the match - Rafael Czichos

A clean sheet and the matchwinning goal is every centerbacks dream, and that dream was a reality for Rafael Czichos in this game.

His goal came relatively early, which gave his side a very important lead. The number 5 decided to stay high up the pitch following a set-piece, and that decision paid off as he was picked out by Federico Navarro. He then finished off the move perfectly, burying a header past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Then, on the other side of the field, Czichos commanded the backline. He took charge of proceedings, making sure that everyone was in position at all times. When he had to step in he was superb, winning challenge after challenge after challenge.

There’s a reason why he’s Chicago’s captain, and he was certainly captain fantastic on this night.

Quotes

Chicago Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson - "Our back were against the wall, so to speak. And what I told them is, when your backs are against the wall like that, you got to come out fighting, you know, you have no choice."

"They're a good team. They gave us everything and we fought, we fought and we just did not want to lose this game tonight. And I'm so proud of the players because it's so easy throughout this year in these first six, seven months to just give up, but they never did. They never, ever gave up."

Chicago Fire captain Rafael Czichos “I think this is the best part of the two wins we got now because the loss in San Jose was very tough and then, at home, two-zero up and you still lose the game, the days after were really hard for us. We were so disappointed. So I think these two wins are huge for us. We are back in the middle of the table and still have a chance to get what we want at the end of this season so we are really, really happy right now.”

“It was crazy tonight, really, a nice atmosphere. And especially after the home game last weekend, it was not normal that they came back and support us. So we are really happy. The crowd was amazing and I hope that people will come more this season.”

Chicago Fire defender Jonathan Bornstein“Obviously I always like to say in the highs you can't get too high and in the lows you can't get too low. So we have to stay humble and keep putting in the work. This week we have a complete week to work on things and prepare ourselves for the next match we have on next Saturday. You know obviously, each game is very difficult and we got to be getting points whenever we can.”

Chicago Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina - "I think this was a massive three points for us this season. It shows we can play with one of the top teams in the league. It shows we have the ability and confidence and talent on the field to be able to come away with wins from these games. So I think the mentality was that we need these three, and we weren’t going to leave Soldier Field tonight without these three points.” 

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