Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

Chicago Fire FC II

2024 US Open Cup Round 3: Indy Eleven earns first USOC road win, 1-0 over Chicago Fire II

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Indy Eleven fans set up shop at SeatGeek Stadium before their club's' 2024 US Open Cup Third Round match against Chicago Fire FC II. Photo: David J Ziemba | @davidjziemba
Brickyard Battalion sets up shop at SeatGeek Stadium before their club’s 2024 US Open Cup Third Round match against Chicago Fire FC II. Photo: David J Ziemba | @davidjziemba

In a match that featured a significant gap in both average age and experience, the difference on the night proved far narrower as Indy Eleven defeated Chicago Fire FC II 1-0 on Wednesday night at SeatGeek Stadium in the Third Round of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

With just one league win each so far in 2024, a trip to the Round of 32 awaited as a potential boost for either team.

Fire II named just one senior player, 20-year-old Javier Casas, Jr., in the starting XI to which head coach Ludo Taillandier made two changes from the team’s 5-5 draw with New York Red Bulls II last weekend in MLS NEXT Pro play.

Indy Eleven’s lineup included former Fire forward Elliot Collier (54 appearances in four seasons) and current Fire loanee Laurence Wootton, as head coach Sean McAuley made seven changes after losing at home to the Charleston Battery last time out.

The young Fire II group showed good early energy, but they collapsed defensively in the fourth minute, as Indy’s Jack Blake slid an easy through ball behind the Fire backline for Douglas Martinez to run on to and smash past Patrick Los.

“We want to start well and strong in every game because that’s your moment of unbalancing the opponent and trying to get ahead in the game, not letting any team settle into a rhythm,” Eleven head coach Sean McAuley said.

“We wanted to start hard and fast, and I thought that’s what we did,” Collier added.

Fire II offered a few bright moments in their efforts to chase the game, most notably through the work of David Tchetchao down the right wing, but failed to produce any great opportunities. Martinez nearly doubled his tally in the 38th minute but blazed a shot over Los’ goal from 15 yards out. The USL Championship side took the one-goal lead into the break.

“I thought we were excellent in the first 20, 30 minutes of the first half and could have gone more than 1-0 up,” McAuley said.

Fire II made two halftime changes, with Sergio Oregel, Jr. swapping places with fellow first-teamer Casas, Jr., and Giovanni Granda replacing Tchetchao. While the young Fire continued to explore ways to create chances, control of the play remained steady with Indy.

Their control didn’t yield many chances, however, as Fire II came closer to equalizing than Indy did to grow their lead. The clock ultimately ran down on the game and on Fire II’s Open Cup adventure as the visitors advanced to the round where the seven Major League Soccer teams participating will enter the competition.

“I think the biggest thing for us is the clean sheet,” said Collier, as Indy Eleven has conceded 15 goals in just six USL-C games this season. “We’ve been scoring goals every game, and enough goals to win the game but we’ve been giving up too many goals.”

Added McAuley: “It was a bit touchy at the end but that’s adversity that we’ve gone through and kept a clean sheet. So, all in all, we’re in the next round.”

2024 US Open Cup Round 2: Chicago Fire II bring heat on cold night in win over Forward Madison

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Jason Shokalook of the Chicago Fire II celebrates after scoring a 90th minute goal against Forward Madison in the Second Round of the 2024 US Open Cup. Photo: Chicago Fire FC
Jason Shokalook of the Chicago Fire II celebrates after scoring a 90th minute goal against Forward Madison in the Second Round of the 2024 US Open Cup. Photo: Chicago Fire FC

Chicago Fire FC II survived the cold and snow to move past Forward Madison FC to the Third Round of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in what ended up being a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The MLS NEXT Pro side pulled ahead via David Poreba’s goal in the 11th minute. The Fire II midfielder pounced on a ball served in by Omari Glasgow that was not well handled by Madison goalkeeper Martin Sanchez. The cross from the right-hand side ended up in the six-yard box where Sanchez deflected the ball right to Poreba, who just needed to tap the ball into the empty net. 

“We knew that with the weather that the keeper could spill some shots,” said Poreba of his goal. “Credit to Omari not even for that play but throughout the game he was putting in some really good  good crosses from the wing.”  

It wouldn’t get easier for the Mingos. They had to make an early substitution when forward Mauro Cichero went down shortly after the goal was scored and they had to burn a substitution early.

Fire II continued to pressure them as the first half pushed on. Harold Osorio hit one off the bottom of the crossbar in the 26th minute and continued to control possession in the first half ending up with 52% possession when the half-time whistle was blown.

Madison did have their chances in the first half but never really threatened to score. Their best attempt was a shot from Nazeem Bartman after a Fire II turnover in midfield led to a well-worked counterattack. His shot however curled past the far post.       

The first 15 minutes of the second half were largely the same. Fire II mostly controlled the game and Madison looked to get shots in when they could. But Midway through the second half, though things started looking up for the Mingos. Head coach Matt Glaeser turned to his firepower on the bench by bringing in Ferrety Sousa, Derek Gebhard, and Jimmie Villalobos to try and get a tying goal.

Those moves helped Madison go on the front foot. They started to have more possession and looked more likely to score the second goal of the game for a long time in the second half, but they couldn’t find that crucial final ball to put them on the board.

It all fell apart for them late. Fire II missed a few chances on the counterattack with substitute Jason Shokalook barely missing a couple of crosses. He didn’t miss his third opportunity, however. A ball played over the top by Lamonth Rochester found Shokalook’s foot, he won his 1v1 with the goalkeeper and Fire II were up 2-0 with just four added minutes left to play.

“It just happened instinctually]. I just got the ball moving as quick as I could did what I could and it worked out perfectly.” Shokalook said of his first goal in a Fire II shirt. “You’re put in different scenarios that are very game-like all week in practice so things like this become second nature.”

Madison had one last shot at a goal in garbage time. A free kick won in a dangerous place was struck just wide before the final whistle blew to end the game and Fire II into the Third Round of the Open Cup.

While this is Chicago Fire II’s first time playing in the Open Cup, this is not a first for the organization. The Fire have won this tournament four times, most recently in 2006. Fire II are looking to build on that legacy with a deep cup run. As for Madison, it’s back to the grind of USL League One where they look to once again make the playoffs and best their quarterfinal appearance from last season.    

2024 US Open Cup Round 1: Chicago Fire II explodes in second half to pull away from Chicago City

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Chicago Fire II players celebrate after scoring a goal against Chicago City SC in the First Round of the 2024 US Open Cup. Photo: Chicago Fire II

It was competitive until it wasn’t as Chicago Fire II rolled over Chicago City SC 6-0 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Ill. in the Round 1 of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

The MLS NEXT Pro side featured a handful of players from its first team though they were largely buoyed by players from the Fire’s second team. USL League Two’s Chicago City featured players of local talent from the Chicagoland area as the team is not currently in season and many of the regular players were unavailable for selection.

City had the first chance of the match and Christian Marquez could have done better with his opportunity. Marquez got in behind the Fire II defense in the third minute but his on-target effort hardly tested veteran MLS goalkeeper Spencer Richey.

Fire II took the lead for good in the sixth minute with some help from Chicago City. Fire II’s Giovanni Granda played a cross into City’s penalty area and Aleksandr Labovic knocked the ball into his own net to give the hosts the 1-0 lead.

Fire II doubled the lead just before the halftime whistle when the 16-year-old Granda slotted a shot into the corner of the net after Michael Nesci found him in the middle of the penalty area, giving the match its 2-0 scoreline at the break.

Fire II removed three First Team players at halftime and that’s when the floodgates opened.

After a listless 20 minutes to begin the second half, Fire II came alive.

David Poreba collected a loose ball in the Chicago City penalty area in the 65th minute and controlled it well enough to hit a shot between the legs of goalkeeper Carlos Fernández to make it 3-0. Poreba teamed up with Nesci moments later as the future Indiana Hoosier made it 4-0 for the hosts in the 70th minute.

Harold Osorio, the player of the highest repute in the match, played the entire time and scored a lovely goal from a free kick in the 84th minute. Vitaliy Hluyt won Fire II a centrally-located free kick 20 yards from Chicago City’s goal and Osorio stepped up and bounced a shot perfectly over the hands of Fernández and into the back of the net to make it 5-0. Osorio said that he had practiced that bounce-shot free kick and wanted to be on the scoresheet after seeing his side dominating the contest.

“It was a good opportunity to score,” Osorio said through a translator. “Obviously, every player wants to score and I am no exception. I saw the chance, I saw that I was very close to the goal and I had to take the chance.”

To add to the shenanigans, the 15-year-old Hluyt added a goal of his own in the 86th minute with the assist going to 2024 MLS SuperDraft pick Jason Shokalook.

Fire II outshot Chicago City 31-5 and had 15 shots on target compared to only two for the visitors.

Fire II head coach Ludovic Taillandier was content with his side’s effort just three days after winning a MLS Next Pro season opener over FC Cincinnati 2.

“When we play the game in any kind of cup format, you play to win,” Taillandier said. “I told the guys that on this side of things they achieved, they’re completely objective. And that was good, it’s all about growing. We want to get better each game. We tried to work on our philosophy, our style of play.”

“We asked the players to also be ambitious in the way we want to win, not just on the results. And I thought halfway through, we said okay, we got two in the first, we need to do more than two for the second. They were speaking to each other on the field as well, we need to do better than the first half. But in general, we’re very proud of the guys.”

Taillandier was happy about the effort he saw from the young players on his squad, many of whom came up through the Fire Academy.

“We are very proud to be able to say that we had a lot of academic products on the field,” he said. “And I think that’s important to realize that we played this game at the start (with) four players from our Academy. U-17, U-19, from our academy, with more coming in the second half from the bench. And that’s also something very important to say.

“We are working with a vision and developing players from the Academy. And to see scoring goals and Vitaliy , at 15 years old on the field tonight, scoring a goal. It’s fantastic. I’m very proud of them.”

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