Photo by Mike DiNovo/USA TODAY Sports
By AARON CRANFORD
The first 38 minutes in Bridgeview, Illinois were the some of the worst of the season for New York City FC and some of the best for the Chicago Fire.
The Fire came ready to play, creating a handful of chances early on, especially through the play of David Accam and Shaun Maloney. Accam hit NYCFC goalkeeper Ryan Meara’s left post in the 15th minute, signaling a long evening in store for the young goalkeeper making his first start of the season.
An already-shorthanded NYCFC saw an Andrew Jacobson red card leave the expansion team down to 10 men, and Accam’s 20th-minute goal stood up as the Fire registered a 1-0 victory at Toyota Park.
Sean Johnson made four saves to record the shutout in his first start in a month.
One of the most dynamic players on the night was Harrison Shipp, who created many chances for the Fire through the midfield, and blasted a shot off of the post in the second half.
From early on, Chicago dominated the evening, and NYCFC’s night only went downhill after the initial Accam chance. Not only did Meara poorly handle the ball heading out of play in the 20th minute, which immediately led to Accam netting the game-winner, but NYCFC also saw Andrew Jacobson sent off in the 23rd minute and two starters — Adam Nemec and Javier Calle — forced into substitution after suffering injuries by the 38th minute of play.
NYCFC continued to be bombarded with wave after wave of attacks in the second half. First, Harrison Shipp blasted a shot off of the Meara’s right post in the 51st minute.
Then, in the 63rd minute, Accam once again took a chance right at the top of the penalty box, but his shot was parried away by a diving Meara. Matt Polster sent a bullet flying toward goal in the 78th minute, but it whistled just over Meara’s crossbar.
Meara continued to show signs of nervousness in the 79th minute when he came out of goal attempting to parry a corner kick away, but the ball flew over his head, creating some more nervy moments for NYCFC.
The young goalkeeper showed signs of promise, however, when he made a wonderful kick save in the 83rd minute after Accam attempted a diving header toward goal. He then made another big save in goal on the subsequent corner kick.
The Fire continued to control the game until Ricardo Salazar had enough and blew the final whistle.
With the result, Chicago wins their third consecutive game and will travel to meet Sporting KC on May 3rd. NYCFC will host the Seattle Sounders on the same day.
NYCFC are snakebit. So many injuries…
David Sean and Harry are fantastic stop bitching about the stadium and enjoy a great season
Of course i meant to type old not ild lol
Hey third win in a row but let’s just complain about the stadium some more that isn’t ild at all. They tried to get a Chicago stadium but Daley didnt want it at the time.
Thats MLS fans for you whine and complain about the imperfections of a team. NYCFC will get that for years whether they play well or not. One step at a time for teams.
Great win for Fire def deserved that accam player is looking like quality could be dangerous for years to come – NYCFC fan
Ya know……. out of all the sides w/ SSS already, Chicago is the one that needs a new “downtown” stadium the most. Imagine having a 30-35k stadium built on a man made plot of land along Navy Pier. Or even better, a stadium in the Hyde Park area, Washington Park… where they were going to have the Olympic park.
If you don’t have a car, Bridgeport is such a pain in the ass to get to. Chicago is the best sports town in America, hands down. Combine that w/ the Hispanic population there and you’ll have a gem of a franchise in MLS.
Make it happen rich developers.
We can talk about it till we’re blue in the face but it’s never going to happen, not at least until Toyota runs its course. The fact that the city of bridgeview put up lots of dollars and didn’t get the investment return promised, actually came up way short, no other city is going to touch it unless it’s 100% privately financed. And as any Fire fan can tell you, when it comes to forking over dough, we’re notoriously cheap.
They have something like a 99 year lease. If somebody with enough money comes in, they can buy that out and relocate the stadium. But it would take A LOT of money.
Agreed, the Fire aren’t moving. More likely is something like what happened in NY – a new ownership group comes in and starts a new team with a stadium in (or closer to) the city.
Washington Park is one of the bid spots for the Obama Library, but even that isn’t proposed to take up that much of the park. I don’t see a stadium ever being built there.
The next SSS could be in Rosemont. They offered some land to the Cubs when they were in negotiations with the city of the renovation of Wrigley. There, you’d have the suburban access, but also the Metra and CTA line making it accessible to city dwellers.
I could see it happening in Rosemont and that would go over very well. It needs to be a near Northwest suburb. Rosemont already has the infrastructure and were ready to welcome the Cubs with open arms.
Only if Chicago fire had a downtown stadium, they would have a great home advantage.
Saying that, where is Chicago fires biggest fan base, in the suburbs or city.
Look at Dallas, rapids, they look like they have soccer moms at their stadium all the time.