Defender Rafael Czichos scored late in the first half and Chris Brady made it stand up to lead the Chicago Fire to a 1-0 victory over St. Louis City on Saturday at Soldier Field.
The Fire eliminated St. Louis City in U.S. Open Cup play Tuesday with a 2-1 victory under interim coach Frank Klopas in the first meeting between the teams. Klopas took the reins after the Fire fired Ezra Hendrickson on Monday. The Fire had lost two straight at home and five of its last seven against expansion teams.
Czichos took a pass from Xherdan Shaqiri off a set piece and scored in the 40th minute for the Fire (3-3-5). It was Czichos’ second goal of the season. Brady made two saves to earn his second shutout.
St. Louis City (6-4-1) was forced to play a man down after John Nelson picked up a red card in the 70th minute. The Fire had a 9-8 edge in shots and a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal. Roman Bürki finished with five saves for St. Louis City.
St. Louis City entered play with 19 points, the second most through 10 matches behind Los Angeles FC’s 20, and is 1-4-1 in its last six matches.
