Brian Gutiérrez Scores Match-Winner as Chicago Fire Defeat Houston 2-1

The Chicago Fire snapped their two-match winless streak thanks to heroics from Brian Gutiérrez, whose 78th minute goal was the difference in his side’s 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday evening at Soldier Field.

Goals from the Fire’s Xherdan Shaqiri and Gutiérrez on each side of halftime was enough to secure Chicago’s first win over the Dynamo since their 4-0 win on September 23, 2020.

After a whole lot of nothing from either side to start the contest, the Fire jumped ahead in the 10th minute. Rafael Czichos won Chicago a penalty kick after he was tackled by Houston’s Franco Escobar while a corner kick was in the air and Shaqiri, who was wearing the captain’s armband, had no problem scoring from the penalty spot to give his side the early 1-0 lead.

Chicago were inches away from doubling their lead just before halftime but Chris Mueller couldn’t connect with the cross from Maren Haile-Selassie in the 45th minute and the Fire took their 1-0 lead into the break.

Houston had a few chances from set pieces that Chicago’s Chris Brady was able to deny before taking advantage of a Fire mistake in the 65th minute. Fabian Herbers play a terrible back-pass that was intercepted by Ibrahim Aliyu just outside of the Fire’s penalty area. Aliyu danced around for a moment before ripping a right-footed shot that flew into the top of Chicago’s net to tie the match at one.

Gutiérrez, who came off the bench for the first time in 2024, was the difference maker for the Fire on the lakefront.

Shaqiri played a ball over the top of Houston’s defense and just as their goalkeeper Steve Clark was about to knock the loose ball away, Gutiérrez got a toe on the ball and chipped it over Clark into the Dynamo’s net, sending the crowd into a frenzy as the scoreboard read 2-1.

Houston had a handful of chances as the match wound down but, as they were about to take a corner kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle and Chicago earned their second win of the MLS season.

Match Observations

Credit to Rafael Czichos for getting in the referee’s ear before the Fire’s corner kick in the ninth minute. The Fire’s center back and Houston’s Franco Escobar had just been given a lecture by referee Malik Badawi ahead of the corner kick from Xherdan Shaqiri. As soon as Shaqiri’s corner went up, Escobar took Czichos to the ground and Badawi pointed straight to the penalty spot. Shaqiri, wearing the captain’s armband again after Fabian Herbers donned it the previous two matches, buried the penalty kick and gave his side the early 1-0 lead.

Hugo Cuypers did not work defensively to win back possession in the 16th minute. Cuypers won the ball back in Houston’s half of the pitch from Artur, turned and found Fabian Herbers making a run toward the penalty area. Herbers’ shot was on target but failed to seriously test Houston’s Steve Clark.

Houston finally had a chance on goal in the 22nd minute and should’ve done better with the shot after a lovely run from Coco Carrasquilla to set it all up. Carrasquilla danced around multiple Fire defenders at the edge of Chicago's penalty before finding Amine Bassi with space. Bassi’s shot lacked power and Chris Brady was able to make the diving save to his right, keeping his side’s lead intact.

Chicago utilized fabulous passing down the right side to create their best chance in open play of the half. Maren Haile-Selassie played a give and go with Arnaud Souquet from inside Chicago’s own half that sprung the Swiss winger down the right flank. Haile-Selassie took the ball toward the endline before playing a perfect cross that just missed the toe of a sliding Chris Mueller in front of Houston’s goal. It was such a great cross from Haile-Selassie that avoided Steve Clark and the Houston defenders but Mueller just wasn’t able to get on the end of it and the Fire weren’t able to double their lead in the 29th minute.

Houston created a great chance from very little in the 37th minute. Griffin Dorsey (who this writer went to summer camp with) played a great cross from the right side toward Franco Escobar at the far post. Escobar won the header over Arnaud Souquet but didn’t get much behind the effort, making the save routine for Chris Brady.

The Fire had the opportunity to double their lead just before halftime all because of a beautiful pass from Kellyn Acosta in his own half of the pitch in the 45th minute.. Acosta just played a ball over the top of Houston’s defense that Hugo Cuypers fought off Ethan Bartlow to win. Cuypers cut to his right and hit an on-target shot, but Steve Clark kicked the shot away to keep it a one-goal deficit for Houston at the break.

The Fire outshot Houston five to three overall and had three on-target efforts while the Dynamo only tested Chris Brady once in the first half. The field was tilting in Houston’s direction but Chicago’s counterattack was strong despite only 43% possession.

Chris Brady did well to deny Houston from tying the match on a corner kick in the 54th minute. Amine Bassi played a powerful corner kick toward the penalty spot that was met by the head of Franco Escobar. The left back’s header was goalbound but Brady leaped to his right and snagged the ball, denying Houston’s best chance of the match to that point. The Dynamo had another chance to score off a header in the 59th minute but Eric Sviatchenko’s effort missed just high of the Fire’s net after he beat everyone to Amine Bassi’s corner kick.

Fabian Herbers made a dreadful mistake that helped Houston tie the match in the 65th minute. Herbers was attempting to play a back-pass to one of his defenders but the ball was intercepted by Houston’s Ibrahim Aliyu just outside the Fire’s penalty area. Aliyu cut to his right and blasted a shot into the top corner of the net to tie the match at one, with a ceremonial assist going to Herbers.

Herbers nearly made up for his mistake in the 75th minute. Kellyn Acosta’s corner kick was headed to the back post by a Houston defender, falling perfectly to Fabian Herbers in space. Herbers had time but his shot was saved by a sprawling Steve Clark, leaving the Fire wanting more.

Chicago got more in the 78th minute. Xherdan Shaqiri had the ball on the right side and played a lovely ball over the top of Houston’s defenders. Brian Gutiérrez got on the end of the ball and as Steve Clark made an attempt to stop him, chipped the Houston goalkeeper. Gutiérrez’s looping chip fell perfectly in the corner of Houston’s net as Soldier Field rose up in celebration around the Fire.

The Fire were outshot 14-8 by Houston but Chicago had six on-target efforts compared to only four for the Dynamo.

Eyebrows were raised when Arnaud Souquet was named to the Fire’s starting 11 against Houston after not appearing for Chicago’s first team in 2024, pushing Allan Arigoni to the left back spot. Souquet, who spent part of the offseason training with another club in Europe in an attempt to get signed, played 69 minutes at right back before being replaced by Jonathan Dean. Houston constantly targeted Souquet but the French defender managed to win five duels and completed three long balls for Chicago in his season debut. He told reporters post-match that he’s content with his current situation with the Fire.

“I'm happy,” said Souquet. “You know, the career of a player, sometimes there are ups, and there are downs. You have to keep pushing, keep working. And that's it. I know it's difficult to explain what's happened with the club at the beginning of the year, but now it’s the past and the focus is for the future.”

Chris Mueller made his first start in 11 months for the Fire in what was his 150th MLS regular season appearance. Mueller played 69 minutes and was a threat down the left side for Chicago, coming inches away from connecting with multiple crosses from Maren Haile-Selassie.

Chris Brady made three saves in the win and liked how his side didn’t allow Houston’s endless pressure to break them.

“Defensively, aside from the goal, we bend but we don’t break, " said Brady. “We kind of showed that tonight, whether it was crosses, through-balls, shots, whatever I felt like myself and the backline dealt with that pretty well. And like you said they were coming off a couple of wins. They were probably confident coming into this game but they weren’t as sharp as us defensively. So, kudos to the guys in front of me but we got it done. Wasn’t pretty but three points is three points.”

Xherdan Shaqiri was thrilled that his side was able to get a win against a tough Houston side.

“It feels very good, especially since we haven’t won in a long time, said Shaqiri. “It’s always a good feeling for the boys to have a win in the pocket and three points at home. I always tell the guys, ‘when we play at home nobody comes here to take points.’ This is always our goal, we want to take our points especially at home in front of our fans. Today that was the most important thing, we took these three points. We knew it was going to be a difficult game, Houston Dynamo was the Open Cup winner last year and they have a good team so it was a good win against a good team today. This gives us, I hope, a good boost for the next games.”

Allan Arigoni got his first start at left back in a Chicago Fire uniform and played exceptionally well against Houston, largely taking Griffin Dorsey out of the game. Frank Klopas loved what he saw from Arigoni.

“I thought it was a really good, solid performance,” Klopas said of Arigoni. “I think they're really strong on that side with [Adalberto] Carraquilla and overlapping with the fullback, they're really dangerous. We tried to force them on the other side, on their left side, which is their weakest side and tried to pin them on one side and of course, they broke through. But I felt he was excellent.”