Chicago Fire FC extended their season-opening unbeaten streak to five matches, but star Xherdan Shaqiri left the match with an apparent injury in a 0-0 draw against FC Dallas at a rain-soaked Soldier Field Saturday afternoon.
The Swiss international, who recently started against both England and Kosovo in a pair of international friendlies, exited the match after just 19 minutes after seemingly picking up a knock.
Boris Sekulic threatened to break the scoreless stalemate in the 55th minute. But after a devastating cutback in the box to create space from the sliding Marco Farfan, the Slovakian right back put his shot off the outside of the netting.
Back from helping the US men's national team qualify for the FIFA World Cup, Jesus Ferreira came on as a second-half substitute for FC Dallas, but he couldn’t help the visitors come away with more than a point.
Goals
- None
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: That’s now five matches out of the gate without a defeat for Chicago, and four clean sheets to boot. That’s the first time since 2009. Making that accomplishment even more impressive was that star center back Rafael Czichos was a late scratch because of health & safety protocols. FC Dallas, meanwhile, picked up their first road point of the young season, extending their own unbeaten streak to three matches.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Seeing Shaqiri sub out early is unnerving for Fire fans, to say the least. Here’s hoping it was minor.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Mauricio Pineda stepped in for Czichos and was solid in central defense, but we'll give the honors to 18-year-old homegrown Brian Gutierrez, who entered early for Shaqiri and had a strong shift, playing this killer ball moments after stepping onto the field.
Next Up
- CHI: Saturday, April 9 at Orlando City SC | 1:00 pm ET (Univision, TUDN, Twitter)
- DAL: Saturday, April 9 vs. Colorado Rapids | 8:30 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+)
