Georgios Koutsias scored the tying goal in the 89th minute Saturday night, as the Chicago Fire, a man down from the 26th minute on, rallied for a 3-3 home draw with Atlanta United, who got a second-half brace from Giorgos Giakoumakis, but also finished with 10 men.
With Chicago down 3-2, Koutsias got enough of his foot on the ball, amid a net-front scrum, to convert the stunning equalizer for Chicago (3-4-6, 15 points). The Fire truly showed their mettle to also remain undefeated in 10 2023 home matches (4-0-6) over all competitions.
Six minutes after Chicago broke a 1-1 tie through Maren Haile-Selassie’s 49th-minute goal off a in-box chest from Kacper Przybylko, Giakoumakis — Atlanta’s co-leader in goals with six entering the match — sent home Andrew Gutman’s header.
Then on 65 minutes, Giacominis’ broke behind the Chicago defense and beat Fire keeper Chris Brady (four saves) to put Atlanta (6-4-4, 22 points) ahead. The play was initially whistled offside, but video review reversed the on-field call.
However, just six minutes later, Atlanta also went down a man when Luiz Araujo was booked with his second yellow card over a two-minute span. That opened the door for the Fire to ultimately equalize and keep Atlanta winless in five straight matches at Chicago.
Just two minutes into the match, Chicago’s Federico Navarro was booked with a yellow. Then 24 minutes later, Navarro was again shown yellow, and sent off, for a rough foul on streaking Miguel Berry.
Three minutes later upon the restart, Thiago Almada (who has six goals this season) curled a free kick toward the goal. Brady made a diving punch save on the shot but right onto the right foot of Gutman, who converted for a 1-0 Atlanta lead.
Chicago, though, equalized in the 42nd minute, when Xherdan Shaqiri curled his corner at the near post, where a host of Atlanta players could not get a clean piece of the ball, and it ultimately went in off Juan Jose Purata for an own goal.
Atlanta United are 0-3-3 away from home since beating Charlotte in their road opener on March 11.
–Field Level Media
