FC Cincinnati rode on the back of Evander’s brace to extend their winning streak to four matches with a 3-2 win over the host Chicago Fire on Saturday night.

The Fire (3-3-3, 12 points) are now four matches removed from their last victory.

Evander opened the scoring early in the ninth minute. Cincinnati (6-2-1, 19 points) launched a counterattack after the referee accidentally tripped Chicago’s Mauricio Pineda, who had attempted to receive a pass.

Evander received the ball from Sergio Santos near midfield and shifted past a Chicago defender before firing off a deflected shot. The ball flew over the head of Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady and bounced over the goal line.

Hugo Cuypers struck back for the Fire in the 31st minute. The Belgian forward scampered onto Jonathan Bamba’s curling through ball, outran a Cincinnati defender and snuck a rolling ball past keeper Roman Celentano to even the lead at 1-1. The goal marked Bamba’s fifth assist and Cuypers’ league co-leading sixth goal.

Kevin Denkey helped Cincinnati regain the lead just before halftime, capitalizing on a defensive error. Chicago’s Sam Rogers, who came on for the injured Carlos Teran, gave the ball away to Santos at Cincinnati’s baseline.

Santos squared the ball to Denkey, who slotted his shot in the bottom right corner in the 42nd minute.

Denkey celebrated the strike by revealing his undershirt, which paid tribute to the late Aaron Boupendza, 28. The former FC Cincinnati forward tragically fell from an 11th-floor balcony in China on Wednesday.

Evander scored Cincinnati’s third in the 71st minute. He received the ball off a counter and outran a Chicago defender before firing off a shot at a tight angle amid heavy contact.

The shot squeaked past Brady, giving Evander his second goal of the night and Cincinnati a huge two-goal lead.

Chicago won a penalty after Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson clumsily tripped Andrew Gutman in the box. Midfielder Brian Gutierrez sent Celentano the wrong way to trim Cincinnati’s lead to one goal with five minutes left of regulation time.

A frantic last-minute corner kick produced multiple yellow cards, a blocked shot and several threatening looks on goal but amounted to nothing as Cincinnati escaped with a win.

Teran was stretchered off the field after sustaining a thigh injury in the 20th minute. The Colombian’s injury adds to Chicago’s defensive depth woes; they have six defenders on the injury list.

–Field Level Media