Chicago Fire FC wins Road Point with 1-1 draw against DC United at Audi Field

Washington, D.C. (May 25, 2024) – Chicago Fire FC (2-8-5, 11 points) earned a hard-fought point away from home in a 1-1 draw against DC United (4-5-6, 18 points) Saturday night at Audi Field.

Midfielder Kellyn Acosta scored his second goal of the season for the Men in Red, equalizing early in the second half.

The home side opened the scoring in the 20th minute when midfielder Mateusz Klich sent a free kick into the penalty area. Defender Steven Birnbaum connected on a header to redirect the ball towards goal, where defender Christoper McVey stuck out his leg and slotted the ball into the net.

Chicago tied the score in the 53rd minute thanks to a play that started with defender Andrew Gutman, who was active in the attacking third in tonight's game. The Chicago native played a quick one-two and carried the ball down the left flank, before passing it centrally to Acosta. Running towards goal, Acosta combined with striker Hugo Cuypers before placing his shot perfectly into the bottom left corner.

NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to the lakefront for a midweek match, facing Orlando City SC on Wednesday, May 29 at Soldier Field. 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

• Tonight's game marked the 70th regular season matchup between the Fire and DC United since 1998. Chicago's record against DC now stands at 23-26-21.
• Midfielder Kellyn Acosta put on the Fire captain's armband for the first time early on. Acosta's goal in the 53rd minute marked his second of the season for Chicago.
• Acosta is now one goal away from tying his career high for goals in a single season in MLS (three).
• Forward Tom Barlow made his first start for the Men in Red, appearing in his 12th game of the 2024 regular season.
• Forward Hugo Cuypers started his 15th consecutive game for the Fire, making him the only player on the team to have started every game so far in 2024. His assist on Acosta's goal puts him at team-high with four goal contributions (three goals, one assist).

• Defenders Chase Gasper (leg) and Tobias Salquist (leg); and midfielders Chris Mueller (leg) and Xherdan Shaqiri (international) were unavailable for today's match.

The score of the box:DC United 1:1 Chicago Fire FC

Goals:
DCU – McVey (1) (Birnbaum, 1) (WATCH) 21'
CHI – Acosta (2) (Cuypers, 1) (WATCH) 53'

Discipline:
CHI – Arigoni (Yellow Card) 36'
DCU – Dajome (Yellow Card) 42'
CHI – Terán (Yellow Card) 45'
DCU – Benteke (Yellow Card) 46'
DCU – Birnbaum (Yellow Card) 83'
CHI – Nagamura (Ejection) 90'

Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Terán, D Czichos, D Gutman (Souquet, 85'), D Arigoni (Dean, 65'), M Pineda, M Acosta (capt.) (Herbers, 65'), M Navarro, F Cuypers (Haile -Selassie, 85'), F Barlow (Koutsias, 78'), F Gutiérrez

Unused submarines: GK Richey, D Omsberg, M Giménez

UDC: GK Bono, D Bartlett (Tubbs, 79'), D Birnbaum (captain), D Herrera, D McVey (Peltola, 46'), M Stroud (Murrell, 71'), M Ku-DiPietro (Fletcher, 71'), M Hopkins (Pirani, 83'), M Klich, F Dajome, F Benteke

Summary of statistics: DCU / CHIShots: 14/11
Shots on goal: 5/3
Backups: 2/4
Passing accuracy: 75.6% / 77%
Corners: 8/1
Fouls: 15/14
Offside: 2/2
Ownership: 49.2% / 50.8%

Arbitrator: Marc Allatin
Assistant referees: Kathryn Nesbitt, Adam Wienckowski
Fourth official: Joshua Encarnación
VAR: Ian McKay