Categories: Chicago Sports

Improving Chicago Fire beat Sporting Kansas City 3-1 for best start since 2009

It’s probably too early to say what the Fire are. Four games certainly isn’t enough time to make any learned judgments about this team’s potential.

However, Saturday’s 3-1win over Sporting Kansas City made it clear the Fire won’t be buried in the Eastern Conference race.

Led by two goals from Kacper Przybylko and another from Xherdan Shaqiri, the Fire (2-0-2, 8 points) extended their season-opening unbeaten streak to four. They’ve also picked up eight points in their opening four matches for the first time since 2009, the last year the Fire won a playoff game.

Thoughts of postseason success are still premature, though the Fire are showing signs 2022 could be different than the last few seasons.

The Fire took a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute when Przybylko’s shot snuck through Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia. Acquired over the offseason from the Philadelphia Union for $1,150,000 in allocation money, Przybylko had been relatively quiet to start the season but scored his first for the Fire after accepting a pass from Fabian Herbers. Shaqiri was also credited with an assist, his first with the Fire.

Shaqiri did more in the 50th. After Mauricio Pineda was fouled in the box by Sporting KC defender Kortne Ford, Shaqiri sent Melia the wrong way on the ensuing penalty kick to give the Fire a 2-0 advantage.

But the Fire’s hopes of a fourth straight shutout ended in the 50th minute when Roger Espinoza turned in a pass from Felipe Hernandez and got the ball past Gabriel Slonina. The goal was the first the Fire have allowed this season, snapping a streak of 326 minutes without conceding, and also ended Slonina’s hopes of becoming the first MLS goalie to begin a season with four straight shutouts.

Yet unlike past seasons when that goal might have been the start of a collapse, the Fire responded. The victory was clinched in the 82nd minute after Brian Gutierrez cut inside and found Przybylko.

NOTE: After picking up two yellow cards in 22 minutes over the Fire’s first two matches, forward Jhon Duran was not on the gameday roster. Duran, a hyped prospect who joined the Fire this season after signing in Jan. 2021, was an unused substitute last week at DC United.