Chicago snaps D.C.'s five-game undefeated streak

D.C. United entered Wednesday night's match against the Chicago Fire with a good run of form, as Rene Weiler's men entered the match being undefeated in their last five matches (2 wins and 3 draws) and were looking to expand on that against the Fire.

Both teams faced off back in March, with D.C. walking away the winners against the Fire 2-1 at Soldier Field, but the Fire would exact some revenge against the Black and Red, in front of 11,243 fans that gathered at Audi Field as they defeated D.C. United by a score of 3-1.

Tai Baribo scored his 7th goal of the season against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night. Photo Credit: D.C. United

“We have to respect the quality of Chicago. This is a strong team,” D.C. United head coach René Weiler said, “And me, I felt it even in the first half when we scored this single goal. No, no, it’s not always about us. It’s often about the quality of the opponent and that we have to respect and to accept.”

Aaron Herrera out?

One of the biggest absences in the starting lineup in this game for D.C. The absence of fullback Silvan Hefti. The Swiss player, who joined the club before the start of this season from German Bundesliga side Hamburg SV, has been a starter for the majority of the season, but had to miss Wednesday night's game against Chicago due to getting ejected in the second half of the team's draw against Nashville SC, and his place was taken by Weiler, who decided to play rookie Nikola Markovic over more established players in that role such as Connor Antley and Aaron Herrera.

When asked about that decision, Weiler said that Herrera had informed him and his staff about his desire to leave the club.

“Yeah, Herrera wants to leave. So that is a fact, and he told us that,” Weiler said flatly. “And I gave the chance to Markovic because he has the future and he’s not the fullback, but he’s a young guy with a good mentality. And I gave him this chance to play in this position even when I knew that it’s not his favorite position.”

Herrera, who arrived in D.C. before the start of the 2024 season, had appeared in 56 matches for the club, scoring 1 goal and recording 12 assists in his first two seasons with the club. So far this season, the Guatemalan international has appeared in 7 matches, registering a total of 365 minutes.

The Game

The Fire had the first goalscoring opportunity of the match in the 11th minute as Andrew Gutman played a back pass to Johnathan Bamba, who took a shot from distance that would sail over Sean Johnson and nearly ended in the top of the net, but his chance would go out of play.

D.C. would have a goalscoring chance of their own in the 15th minute as Lucas Bartlett's clearance would find João Peglow, who dribbled past defender Johnny Dean with a brilliant set of dribbles past the Fire defender and aimed a shot towards goal, but his chance went over Chris Brady and over the crossbar.

D.C. had another opportunity to break the deadlock in the 25th minute, on a free kick as Jackson Hopkins snuck the ball past Chicago's wall with a sneaky pass to Louis Muntaneu who raced towards the ball and shot it from an angle, but Brady was able to cut off the near post and stop the Romanian International's opportunity and send it out for a corner kick.

D.C. found the breakthrough in the 41st minute. Off a Markovic throw-in, he would connect with Brendan Sarvania, who played the ball back to the rookie. Markovic lobbed the ball in the air in the direction of Tai Baribo, who, with a header, flicked the ball to Munteanu inside the box. Munteanu settled the ball and, with a back heel pass, played it to Baribo, as the Israeli international got to the ball and launched a hard shot towards the net, beating Brady to net his 7th goal of the season.

“Louis is a great player. He showed that. He’s still showing this. We are still building the connection,” Baribo said. “We could play with each other a lot. It was a good goal, good assist for him, but again, it was not enough for today, unfortunately."

D.C. had a chance to double its lead early in the second half. After intercepting the ball in midfield, the ball would find Munteanu, who would shoot the ball from 45 yards out. Brady was able to get a fingertip to the ball and send the ball over the bar for a corner kick.

Chicago would tie the game in the 62nd minute. After a series of passes, the ball would find Phillip Zinckernagle, who sent a cross into the area to Robin Lod, who snuck a powerful header past Johnson and into the back of the net to tie the game.

In the 69th minute, referee Ricardo Fierro would call a penalty for the Fire after Markovic brought down Puso Dithejane inside the box, prompting the call. Zinckernagel would be the one in charge of taking the penalty kick, but Johnson was able to guess his shot and deny him from scoring, but Gutman was able to get to the rebound and played the ball towards the goal, after the ball bounced off a couple defenders falling to Hugo Cuypers who simply tapped the ball into the open net for his 12th goal of the season, leaving him as the top goal scorer in MLS at the moment ahead of Leo Messi and Petar Musa who both are tied in 2nd place with 11 goals.

Chicago would have a chance to put the game away in the 76th minute when a Maren Haile-Selassie through ball beat United's back line and found Dithjane, leaving him one-on-one with Johnson, but Johnson came off his line and made the save, sending Dithjane's shot out for a corner kick.

It would be Haile-Selassie who would secure all three points for Chicago in the 87th minute. Off a long free kick, Johnson would parry the ball off his line, but the ensuing rebound would fall to Haile-Selassie, who settled the ball and shot it past Johnson and into the upper right corner of the net to seal the win for the Fire.

With this result, D.C. United falls to 7th place in the Eastern Conference with 16 points, while Chicago stays in 4th place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points.

D.C. plays the second of three home games to close out the month of May before the World Cup break as they face St. Louis SC on Saturday, May 16th. at Audi Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST.