Fabian Herbers scored in the 34th minute, and host Chicago Fire held off charging Nashville SC to win 1-0 on Saturday night.
Herbers’ third goal in four matches proved to be all Chicago (6-7-8, 26 points) needed to win for the third time in four matches and beat Nashville for the first time in five tries.
Meanwhile, Nashville (11-6-5, 38 points) entered the match day second in the East but dropped a third consecutive road match for the first time ever. Nashville has been shutout in each of those defeats and totaled one goal during its 0-3-1 road rut.
Nashville star Hany Mukhtar, the MLS goal leader with 13, didn’t start the game to manage his workload but made things interesting when he came on as a sub after halftime.
Mukhtar hit the post in the 72nd minute, and teammate Teal Bunbury’s close header floated into the hands of 19-year-old Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady (two saves) in stoppage time.
Nashville started strong as Bunbury got behind the Fire defense in the 12th minute, then found himself with the ball on a 1-v-1 against Chicago’s Rafael Czichos, who blocked the Nashville attacker’s shot twice.
Chicago’s first quality chance came in the 23rd minute when Herbers’ wide-open attempt from the top of the box went over the bar.
Herbers, though, didn’t miss 11 minutes later, when he got the ball off a Nashville turnover, sent it wide to Maren Haile-Selassie, then got it back to beat goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Nashville appeared to level things in the 41st minute, but Jack Maher’s successful header was waved off as he committed a foul on the play. Mukhtar nearly evened the match in the 56th minute, but his curling free kick was nabbed by Chris Brady.
The Fire looked to have padded their lead through Brian Gutierrez on the hour mark, but he was whistled for a hand ball.
Nashville played without star defender Walker Zimmerman, who picked up two yellow cards in last weekend’s victory over D.C. United.
–Field Level Media
