A late equaliser from substitute Djordje Mihailovic saw Chicago Fire hold Sporting Kansas City in their league clash at Soldier Field. Mihailovic, a second half replacement for German Fabian Herbers, scored deep into stoppage time following a mistake from onrushing Sporting goalkeeper Timothy Melia, who made a hash of his attempt to get to a long ball into the box, and allowed Mihailovic an easy finish.
The Fire had to come from behind in this clash, not once, but twice, and both their goals came in injury time in either half. The first real chance of the game actually went to the hosts in the 19th minute, but CJ Sapong inexplicably failed to find the back of the net from point blank range, with Melia making a good save to deny the forward.
The opener came in the 35th minute and came from a Fire mistake in midfield. Mauricio Pineda was robbed off the ball in the centre of the park by Gadi Kinda, who quickly moved it to Erik Hurtado. The forward easily outpaced Wyatt Omsberg and produced a good finish past Shuttleworth in the Fire goal.
Sporting appeared vulnerable at set pieces, and it perhaps came as no surprise that the Fire scored their equaliser from one such move. The ball landed at the feet of the unmarked Robert Beric, who fired it from close range. It first appeared that Amadou Dia, who returned to the club after three seasons at Phoenix earlier this year, had done enough to clear the ball off the line, but a VAR review later showed that Beric’s shot had crossed the line, and the hosts had their equaliser.
The visitors regained the lead seven minutes from time. A corner from Johnny Russell was flicked on by Ilie Sanchez and goal provider became goal scorer as Kinda had the easiest of finishes at the other post to put Sporting 2-1 up.
Elliot Collier was sent on for Sapong and had a glorious opportunity to make an instant impact- young Jaylin Lindsey slipped in the box, thus allowing Collier a one on one with the keeper. The New Zealand international however smashed his effort over the bar, and that opportunity was squandered.
With time running out, Sporting thought they had the match sealed, but for one last foray from Fire that resulted in Mihailovic scoring. Given both teams’ current conference positions, a draw, we’d say, is a pretty good result for Chicago. Local bookmaker BetRivers, the first land based sportsbook in the state, had the home side as clear underdogs going into this fixture, with the visitors, third in the Western Conference, expected to emerge victors. They had won this clash four times in a row and their reaction at the full time whistle told it all, seeing it as two points dropped rather than one gained on the road.
Goal scorer Hurtado said he was “very upset” and that “three points were there” for them. Coach Peter Vermes also questioned the referee’s decision to play beyond the four original minutes of added time- Fire’s equaliser came after Sporting had cleared the ball as the clock ticked past the 94 minute mark.
A win for SKC would’ve see them go top of the Western Conference. The point though is a priceless one for the Fire in their quest to make the end of the season playoffs.
Chicago Fire 2 (Beric 45+1, Mihailovic 90+5) Sporting Kansas City 2 (Hurtado 35, Kinda 83)
FT post=match stats
