Football
2021 Major League Soccer, Regular Season
CHI 
2
FT
 NYC
0
Reuters 2y

Chicago Fire defeat New York City FC back in old home

The Chicago Fire looked right at home in their former stadium, getting a go-ahead goal from Robert Beric early in the second half and a shutout from 17-year-old goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina to earn a 2-0 victory Wednesday over visiting New York City FC at Bridgeview, Ill.

Slonina had three saves to earn his first professional victory in his fifth career game, while Federico Navarro added a deflected goal from close range in the 66th minute as Chicago (7-15-6, 27 points) ended its five-game winless streak.

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The game was played at the suburban venue the Fire called home until 2019 before moving back downtown to Soldier Field. A return to Bridgeview was necessitated for one game because it fell too close to Sunday's NFL game at Soldier Field.

Using an aggressive pressure defense, Chicago limited NYCFC's scoring chances in winning a home game for the first time since Aug. 15.

Goalkeeper Sean Johnson had three saves for NYCFC (11-10-6, 39 points), who entered the game in third place in the Eastern Conference, but was closer in the points chase to eighth-place Atlanta United FC (36 points) than it was to second-place Nashville SC (45 points).

NYCFC saw their winless streak extended to three games with just one combined goal in that stretch. The club finished a lackluster September with a 1-4-2 record.

Beric's go-ahead goal came in the 48th minute when he took a low free kick from Alvaro Medran, split the left side of the NYCFC defense and scored to the right side of the goal for his fourth of the season.

Less than 20 minutes later, Navarro added an insurance goal off a feed from Beric, when his shot from close range was deflected and slipped under an off-balance Johnson for his first of the season.

NYCFC appeared to pull within a goal in the 68th minute, but Santiago Rodriguez was ruled offside after he headed the ball into the Fire goal.

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