Player Ratings: Chicago Fire 1-1 RSL

Nick Rimando - 8

Nick had what some may call a “howler” on an early free kick. For some reason, moving the direction of the wall instead of the empty side. The next 80 something minutes were pretty chill until Nick had to come out and stop a dangerous shot from Katai in the 82’ which he handled with ease. He was tested again in the 89’ and handled a shot from across the face of goal with ease. While it hurt to give up a goal so early, those two big saves show that he is going into match 500 still towards the top of his game.

Aaron Herrera - 7

Aaron had a pretty easy night until around the 68’ when he had to go face to face with Bastian Schweinsteiger in the penalty area. His reaction to the situation shows how much he has improved since earlier this season. Instead of reaching for a tug, he held his ground and made quick to clear the ball.

Nedum Onuoha - 6.5

Nedum, as always, is a boat anchor in the defensive line. He’s consistently in position and and does everything he can to keep everything in order. It allows Glad, Herrera, and Toia to sit in slightly more attacking positions instead of being completely bunkered.

Justen Glad - 6

Justen had a quiet night and only had to deploy his patented jump kick once or twice. He did give away a pretty dangerous free kick in the last minutes of the match, but nothing came of it.

Donny Toia - 6.5

Toia spent a lot of the evening squaring off with Aleksander Katai and held his own pretty well. There were a couple scary moments, but he kept his head under the pressure down the wings. He had a pretty dangerous opportunity in the 56’, but ended up kicking an easy ball to the the Chicago goal keeper.

Kyle Beckerman - 7

Kyle played a pretty defensive role, which seems obvious, but I notice there are times he drifts into the attacking third and is caught out. This game, he seemed to let Everton handle that forward movement and held down the back half of the midfield. I was impressed that he was on the receiving end of a pretty egregious off the ball foul in the 38’ and didn’t escalate the situation with the referee or the Chicago Fire players.

Albert Rusnak - 7

Rusnak evened the match back out in the 33’ with a PK. While I think he’s strong playing on the wings, it didn’t really show tonight.

Everton Luiz - 7.5

Ultimately, the first Chicago goal falls a bit onto Luiz giving away a free kick outside of the 18 yard box. Luiz also saw yellow in the 44’ for a pretty soft foul, but it was consistent with the soft foul that was given to Chicago earlier in the match. I’m glad to see him back in the starting XI with regularity, but I hope he can figure out the pace of matches a little better and try to keep his name out of the discipline book. Late in the match, Everton had a pretty promising run towards goal before he caught the back side of Schewinsteiger’s elbow.

Corey Baird - 6

Corey had a pretty quiet night. Didn’t have a ton of impact on the game and came off in the 75’ with cramps.

Damir Kreilach - 6.5

Damir started up top and through the match tended to drop back towards the middle of the pitch, but didn’t have too much of an impact in either position. A pretty quiet night, but I do like seeing the passion he plays with.

Sebastian “Bofo” Saucedo - 6

Bofo had a pretty quiet night. He got fouled a couple times and came out of the match without having too large of an impact.

Substitutes:

Brooks Lennon (72’) - 6

Brooks came on for Bofo and actually played in his natural attacking position. He didn’t make much of the opportunity up front, but it was nice to see him in an attacking position.

Sam Johnson (73’) - 6.5

Sam went on for a cramping Corey Baird and immediately had an impact. Unfortunately, that immediate impact was fouling Schweinsteiger and breaking up a quick counter attack. The rest of the match, Sam was mostly just buzzing around trying to find space and time. It definitely felt like he could have had more impact in the starting XI, but that wasn’t how it unfolded.

Nick Besler (83’) - 6.5

Besler came on late for Kyle Beckerman and immediately tried to get into it with Nicolás Gaitán. I feel like that’s really the best thing you can hope for him to do. Come in late and immediately play the hard-man role of Beckerman.

Others:

Baldomero Toledo - 5

Toledo does what Toledo does. Gives a yellow to Mo Adams in the 15’ for a slightly late tackle that the Chicago defender pulled out of before making contact. In the 44’ he gave a yellow to Everton Luiz for an equally soft foul. So I guess it’s good to see some consistency. It did hurt to hear the final whistle go right after awarding a corner kick.

Seat Geek Stadium - 3.5

What was going on with that grass? Those pitch conditions were terrible. I can understand the spots, we’ve seen those at Rio Tinto Stadium all year, but it looked like there were manhole covers all over the place and an extra set of lines on the near side of the field. I’ll also never understand the teams being behind the advertising boards.