Minnesota United 2, Chicago Fire 3 | Player Ratings

Playing away at Minnesota for their first match in Group C2 of the Leagues Cup, the Fire endured a fairly boring first half with the Loons which ended at 0-0. The second half was the complete opposite though, proving to make up for the lack of action in the first 45, as there were five goals scored, plenty of trash talk, weather delays, and even on-field selfies. Here is a short recap of the Fire’s individual performers.

*Players are listed in the order they lined up, followed by substitutes in the order they appeared 

Starting XI

Spencer Richey (7.5) – Richey got the start between the posts as the Fire’s go-to cup goalkeeper, and although he conceded twice, there was not much he could have done to prevent either goal. With that being said, Richey was outstanding when called upon, making three saves against five shots on target, with his last being in the 93rd minute to prevent Kervin Arriaga from scoring a beautifully struck volley. 

Miguel Ángel Navarro (7.5) – Miggy looked extremely energetic on the left-hand side, often getting up-field to try and provide service for his teammates offensively or put pressure on Minnesota’s forwards looking to receive the ball out wide defensively. This energy did cost him fully on the first goal, as it allowed Bongo Hlongwane to receive the ball unmarked in front of the net, and partially on the second goal as his overstep ended up allowing the ball to bounce over him and land in the path of Hlongwane for a second time. These mistakes were costly, but are easily coachable and really the only downside to the Venezuelan’s performance against Minnesota, with the outside back also assisting Arnaud Souquet for the Fire’s second goal.

Rafael Czichos (7) – This was one of Czichos’ best matches for the Fire in terms of his distribution, as the German posted a 98% pass accuracy across 49 total passes, also completing all four of his long balls. Although none of the goals were explicitly his fault, defensively Rafa has definitely done more across 90 minutes, only winning three of his eight duels. Czichos did complete two tackles, two interceptions, and six recoveries so it was not a performance of lows, but I personally love watching the German absolutely maul forwards who have their back turned to him, so I guess we were just missing some of that against Minnesota.

Carlos Terán (7) – Having not started since the July 1st match in Orlando, Terán returned with a good performance as the Fire’s right-center back. The Colombian entered 11 duels total, which was joint third across both teams, as well as having three interceptions and two tackles. Earlier this season, my biggest issue with Carlos’ play was his errant passing, and as that was cleaned up after a few games, it returned against Minnesota. His pass accuracy sat at 81% which is by no means bad for a center back, however, he only completed 22% out of nine long balls, and although those types of passes do not consistently yield high accuracy, that was still possession being lost on seven different occasions. In a comically short summary, defense good, passing meh.

Arnaud Souquet (7.5) – Souquet had a good performance that was capped off with a pretty comedic goal. The Frenchman was commonly involved in helping the team get forward and provided some solid service himself. Souquet also held a 97% pass accuracy, won two tackles, and engaged in 11 duels. His goal came after nobody got on the end of a Navarro-driven ball, with the right-back steering it back on target to bounce over the hands of Dayne St. Clair who was still scrambling on the floor from the initial cross. He then partnered with Czichos to do a chicken dance celebration. Loved it. 

Gastón Giménez (6.5) – Gastón had a very competent performance on the ball, and if I was to grade him only on his passing a 10 could be warranted as he completed 98% of his 53 passes. Defensively though the Paraguyan was lacking, only winning 37.5% of his duels and posting no other defensive statistics. Generally speaking, Gastón’s pivot partner has historically been more involved in the defense than he has, but during the Fire’s last five wins, Giménez was very engaged in helping out defensively, so it just feels like that extra effort was missing in this match. Giménez was substituted for Mauricio Pineda in the 74th minute. 

Fabian Herbers (7) – Retaining his starting spot despite Ousmane Doumbia now being fully integrated into the team, Fabi tried to get involved in both the offense and defense and due to the collective lag the front line faced in the first half, there was not much Herbers was able to mount until the second half kicked off. Defensively throughout both halves, Herbers was good, posting nine duels, five ball recoveries, and completing a tackle. Herbers was substituted for the aforementioned Doumbia in the 65th minute. 

Maren Haile-Selassie (6.5) – Maren had a quiet match against Minnesota, as for Fire players who started he had the second-least amount of touches besides Kacper Przybyłko, only posting 29 total. When he was on the ball he was not bad, but because of the absence of touches his overall impact on the field suffered. There were some solid moments out wide for Haile-Selassie, but the winger definitely has had more memorable moments for the Fire this season. 

Brian Gutiérrez (8) – Moving into the attacking midfield position, Guti had a solid performance despite the attack as a whole not picking up speed until the second half of the match. Gutiérrez’s best attribute was undoubtedly his dribbling in this game as he posted three successful dribbles in his 77 minutes played, and that does not even factor in when he diced the Minnesota defense and was taken down in the box to grant Xherdan Shaqiri a penalty for the Fire’s first goal. Guti was substituted for Georgios Koutsias in the 77th minute. 

Jairo Torres (6.5) – Starting at left wing as Brian Gutiérrez was moved centrally, Jairo provided a few glimpses of a player who could justify his designated player tag but simultaneously did not offer much offensively. His general passing was tidy, completing 95% of his passes accurately, however, he did not have any crosses or shots, and only four of his 29 passes went into the final third. Jairo Torres made way for Xherdan Shaqiri in the 66th minute. 

Kacper Przybyłko (6) – After scoring the game-winner against Toronto in the Fire’s last match before the All-Star and League’s Cup break, Frank Klopas tipped his hat to the forward and gave him the start. Unsurprisingly Przybyłko didn’t offer much offensively, not posting any shots in his time played and only having a 65% pass accuracy before being substituted off in the 66th minute for Kei Kamara. 

Substitutes 

Ousmane Doumbia (7.5) – Getting his debut for the Fire, Doumbia came on as a substitute in the 65th minute for the cautioned Herbers. It was a rough start for Doumbia as a lack of communication with Haile-Selassie granted Minnesota an opportunity to enter the 18-yard box, with Hlongwane eventually scoring the goal that had Minnesota up 2-1 in the 73rd minute. Doumbia grew into the game though, as he showed control and a high standard for passing despite his limited time plus the need for an equalizer, posting a 94% pass accuracy with two tackles and a 75% duel win rate as well. Hopefully, we see more of this. 

Kei Kamara (7.5) – Replacing Przybyłko in the 66th minute, Kamara provided possibly one of the moments of the tournament after he scored the winner in the 83rd minute, then proceeded to go take a selfie with a Minnesota fan literally moments before a lightning delay was called. In his limited touches (12), Kei posted a 75% pass accuracy while linking up with a mostly substituted front-line, with those passing numbers being relatively high for the forward. If only this was an MLS game. 

Xherdan Shaqiri (7.5) – Coming on in the 66th minute for Torres, Shaqiri instantly became the target of trash talk from St. Clair when he stepped up to take the penalty won by Gutiérrez. In my personal favorite moment of the match (besides winning), Shaqiri made a face at St. Clair that simply conveyed the idea that he was not that guy before he sent the Minnesota goalkeeper in the wrong direction and scored the Fire’s first equalizer. St. Clair then proceeded to give up two fairly saveable goals, but unlike the Canadian, Shaqiri had a quality match, frequently threading the needle in the Fire’s offense. Some linkup play between Navarro and the Swiss saw the Fire eventually score their second goal, with Shaq later connecting with Pineda who assisted the third goal. It has been a while since we saw Xherdan Shaqiri put his on stamp a game like this. 

Mauricio Pineda (8) – Pineda came on as a substitute in the 74th minute for Giménez and quickly added to his resume for becoming a Fire legend. Mauri completed all 24 of his passes and then stepped up in the 83rd minute to drop an absolute dime onto Kei Kamara’s head for the forward to nod home to get the Fire three points and all but book their spot in the next round of the Leagues cup. AIso in his time played before and after the lightning delay, Pineda also grabbed an interception and two ball recoveries. A very seamless performance for the Bolingbrook native. 

Georgios Koutsias (6.5) – Koutsi appeared as a substitute for Gutiérrez in the 77th minute, but was not able to get much of a shot at involvement in this match. Koutsias only reeled in 13 touches across his time played but did get involved in protecting the Fire’s lead late in the game, which was extremely helpful to see the team head back to Chicago with all three points. 

Manager

Frank Klopas (8.5) – Starting with a partially rotated squad was a decision most could have guessed considering it is a cup competition, but Klopas did not over-rotated the side either, which proved to be very important here as there were large stretches of the match where Minnesota were in control. Overall his tactics were the same as usual and none of his subs were errant, however, they could possibly have been earlier. Under his guidance, the Fire now moves to six wins in their last seven matches across all competitions. Some other club out there has to be taking notes about Klopas.