Chicago Fire FC II defeats Huntsville City FC 4-0 in North Alabama

Huntsville, Ala. (June 16, 2024) – Chicago Fire FC II (6-2-4-3) defeated Huntsville City FC (2-8-3-0) 4-0 on the road Sunday night. Midfielder David Poreba scored his eighth and ninth goals of the campaign to take sole possession of the MLS NEXT Pro Golden Boot. Christian Koffi scored his first Chicago Fire II goal, while Osorio added a late penalty for his seventh of 2024. Additionally, goalkeeper Patrick Los notched his first Chicago Fire II shutout of the season regular.

On a warm evening in north Alabama, the game started almost instantly. Just five minutes into the game, Huntsville earned a corner kick that found Forster Ajago, who hit a header to the far post that Poreba barely cleared off the line. Both teams continued to push, stopping for a hydration break before resuming play and combining for more than 20 shots in the first 45 minutes.

With a minute of regulation remaining in the half, Christian Koffi found a pocket of space in the box, holding the ball away from Huntsville defenders before getting tripped. The referee pointed to the spot and Poreba stepped forward to take the kick. The Fire captain saw his effort saved, but cleaned up his own rebound to give the Fire a one-goal lead before the whistle.

The action died down early in the second half, but the Fire looked to double their lead. In the 66th minute, Koffi found enough space in the center of the field to push the ball just outside the Huntsville City box. The French striker played the ball past Peter Soudan, who returned it for the one-goal goal and a 2-0 lead for Fire.

Chicago continued to dominate the pace of play, adding a third goal shortly after. Fresh off the bench, Osorio played a ball to Jason Shokalook behind the defense, who dragged a defender with him into the box. That left Poreba wide open in the penalty area, who simply tapped into an empty net for his brace, his ninth goal of the year and his turn as the league's top scorer.

Huntsville pushed forward to score a goal in front of their home crowd, but the Fire exploited the late surge to score one last goal. Poreba once again found plenty of space in the box to eventually score a third, but he was tackled for a second Fire penalty. Osorio stepped up this time, striking cleanly to the right of a diving Simon Jillson to add the team's fourth goal and tie the result on a warm Sunday evening.

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Huntsville City FC 0:4Chicago Fire FC II

Goals:
CHI – Poreba (8) (WATCH) 45'
CHI – Koffi (1) (Sudan 1) (WATCH) 66'
CHI – Poreba (9) (Shokalook 2) (WATCH) 83'
CHI – Osorio (7) (Penalty) (WATCH) 90+6'

Discipline:
CHI – Tchéchao (Yellow Card) 39'
HNT – Bolanos (Yellow Card) 44'
HNT – Skinner (Yellow Card) 60'
CHI – Shannon (Yellow Card) 62'
CHI – Calle (Yellow Card) 81'
HNT – Wright (Yellow Card) 90+4'

Chicago Fire FC II: GK Los, D Glasgow, D Konincks, D Shannon, D Diouf (Borso, 59'), M Heuer, M Koffi (Prpa, 67'), M Poreba (capt.), M Oregel, Jr. (Osorio, 67' ), M Soudan (Calle, 74'), M Tchétchao (Shokalook, 74')

Unused subs: GK Dowd, D Hency, M Blake

Huntsville FC: GK Jillson, D Ritondale (Skinner, 45'), D Cicero, D Opande, D Sangwa (Perkins, 32'), M Wright, M Johnston, M O'Brien (Jones, 73'), M Bolanos (capt.) , F Picazo (Sipic, 73'), F Ajago (Pacius, 60')

Unused subs: GK Martino, D Cheevers, M Wilson, M Velazquez-Lopez

Summary of statistics: HNT / CHI
Shots: 18/19
Shots on goal: 4/9
Pass accuracy: 85.0% / 92.9%
Saves: 5/3
Corners: 7/2
Fouls: 12/11
Offside: 0/1
Ownership: 47.9% / 52.1%

Arbitrator: Abdou Ndiaye
Assistant Ref 1: Christian Petit
Assistant Ref 2: Sarah Gaddes
4th Official: Kyle Johnston