MLS scoring leader Hugo Cuypers tallied in the 71st minute as the Chicago Fire snapped a three-game losing streak in all competitions with a 3-1 victory over D.C. United Wednesday in Washington.
Robin Lod and Maren Haile-Selassie also scored second-half goals for Chicago (6-4-2, 20 points), which avenged a 2-1 loss to D.C. on March 14 and strengthened its hold on fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Chris Brady had six saves for Chicago, which had surrendered three goals in each of its previous two MLS matches.
Tai Baribo scored in the 41st minute for D.C. United (4-5-4, 16 points), who were unbeaten in their previous five matches to string together their longest streak since 2021.
The first goal of the match came when Baribo headed a pass to Louis Munteanu and cut to open space in the middle of the box. Munteanu gathered the ball and fed Baribo with a backward sole pass.
Baribo fired a left-footed shot into the left side of the net for his seventh goal of the season and first since scoring a hat trick against the New York Red Bulls in a 4-4 draw on April 22.
Since then, Baribo missed two matches and played just six minutes Saturday in a 2-2 draw at Nashville SC.
Chicago got the equalizer in the 62nd minute as Philip Zinkernagel crossed from deep on the right wing to the middle of the box. D.C. keeper Sean Johnson (five saves) got a hand on Lod’s header from point-blank range, but not enough to prevent it from sneaking under the crossbar.
Cuypers’ 12th goal of the season came after Johnson dove to his right to deflect Zinkernagel’s penalty kick. Chicago’s Andrew Gutman hustled for the rebound and sent it to the middle of the box and Cuypers scored without a challenge.
The penalty came after D.C.’s Nikola Markovic was called for a foul in the box. Puso Dithejane, who had just entered the match, sold the call with what appeared to be a convincing flop.
The clinching goal came off another rebound as Johnson made a save on a free kick by Zinkernagel, but couldn’t control the ball in the wet conditions.
Haile-Selassie was in position on the left side of the box and fired to the top right corner for his third goal of the season.
Chicago midfielder D’Avilla Dje Taj sustained a yellow card in the 20th minute. It was his fifth this season, which triggered a suspension for the next Fire match on Saturday at CF Montreal.
–Field Level Media
