Chicago Fire FC ties Orlando City SC 1-1 at Soldier Field

CHICAGO (May 29, 2024) – Chicago Fire FC (2-8-6, 12 points) came back to tie 1-1 with Orlando City SC (4-6-5, 17 points), Wednesday evening at Soldier Field.

The visitors scored early when midfielder Facundo Torres took advantage of a loose ball in the box to score in the fourth minute.

Chicago pulled one back in the 70th minute. Substitute and second-half midfielder Maren Haile-Selassie played a ball behind the backline to defender Arnaud Souquet, who was sprinting towards goal from the left wing. The French defender returned the ball to the edge of the penalty area, where striker Hugo Cuypers managed to fire a first-time shot into the bottom left corner. It was Cuypers' fourth goal of the season and Souquet's first assist of 2024.

Goalkeeper Chris Brady kept the score going in the 77th minute, after Torres sent a dangerous ball just over the Fire defense to advance Luis Muriel in the penalty area. Muriel jumped for the lead, but Brady was there to make the save.

NEXT MATCH: Chicago will return to Soldier Field for a weekend meeting with Western Conference opponent the LA Galaxy on Saturday, June 1. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast worldwide on MLS Season Pass and transmitted locally via wlsam.com (English) and WRTO 1200 AM (Spanish).

Social: Twitter – @Chicago Fire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #CF97 #VamosFire) | Instagram – @chicagofire | Facebook

• Chicago's regular season record against Orlando City SC now stands at 5-7-7.
• With a goal in the 70th minute, Chicago has now scored eight times between the 60th and 75th minutes against Orlando, which is the most goals the Fire has scored in a 15-minute span in the head-to-head series with the Lions.
• Forward Hugo Cuypers remains the only player to have started all 16 matches for Chicago so far in the 2024 regular season and leads the team with four goals in 2024.
• Tonight's game also marked the second time this season that Cuypers recorded goals in back-to-back games for the Fire.
• Defender Arnaud Souquet scored his first assist of 2024 on Cuypers' goal, and his fourth in total for the Men in Red.
• Midfielder Maren Haile-Selassie also recorded an assist on Cuypers' equalizing goal. Haile-Selassie, who led the Fire in goals scored in 2023 (six), now leads the team in assists (three) this season.
• Defenseman Andrew Gutman made his seventh straight start and eighth start overall. Gutman, who had started every match he has played for the Men in Red so far in 2024, left the field in the 12th minute due to injury. He is replaced by Souquet.
• Defenders Allan Arigoni (yellow card accumulation), Chase Gasper (leg) and Tobias Salquist (leg); and midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri (international) were unavailable for today's match.

The score of the box:Chicago Fire FC 1:1 Orlando City SC

Goals:
ENT – Torres (2) (Angulo, 5) (WATCH) 4'
CHI – Cuypers (4) (Souquet, 1; Haile-Selassie, 3) (WATCH) 70'

Discipline:
ENT – Jansson (Yellow Card) 46'
CHI – Navarro (Yellow Card) 47'
CHI – Gutiérrez (Yellow Card) 54'
CHI – Dean (Yellow Card) 90+2'

Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Terán, D Czichos, D Gutman (Souquet, 12'), D Dean, M Pineda, M Acosta (capt.) (Giménez, 71'), M Navarro (Herbers, 61'), F Cuypers (Koutsias , 71'), F Barlow (Haile-Selassie, 61'), F Gutiérrez

Unused submarines: GK Richey, D Omsberg, M Mueller, M Casas

ENT: GK Gallese, D Brekalo, D Jansson (capt.), D Thorhallsson (Smith, 90+2'), M Araujo, M Lodiero, M Cartagena, M Angulo, F Muriel (Enrique, 79'), F Torres (Kocevski, 90+2'), F Ojeda (Santos, 79')

Unused subs: GK Stajduhar, D Schlegel, D Freeman, M Martins, F Lynn

Summary of statistics: CHI / ENTShots: 18/9
Shots on goal: 2/2
Backups: 1 / 1
Passing accuracy: 82.9% / 83.6%
Corners: 6/4
Fouls: 14/3
Offside: 3/4
Ownership: 52.1% / 47.9%

Arbitrator: Malik Badawi
Assistant referees: Justin Howard, Kali Smith
Fourth official: Calin Radosav
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic, Jonathan Johnsonn