Justin Reynolds and Brian Gutierrez scored late to lift the visiting Chicago Fire to a playoff-clinching 5-3 victory over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, bringing a wild end to the league’s longest active postseason drought.
Dje D’Avilla, Jonathan Dean and Rominigue Kouame also scored and Maren Haile-Selassie notched two assists for Chicago (15-11-6, 51 points), which guaranteed its first playoff qualification since 2017 and moved above Columbus into eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Luis Suarez scored his eighth and ninth goals to erase Miami’s two-goal deficit in the second half. But the Herons missed a crucial opportunity to close ground on the Philadelphia Union in the Supporters’ Shield race.
Tomas Aviles also scored for Miami (16-7-8, 56 points), which remained fourth in the Eastern Conference with the defeat. The Herons will be eliminated from contention for the Shield and the top East spot if Philadelphia wins one of its final two matches.
Miami pressured for much of the second half, but struggled with transition defending all game long. That showed up on Chicago’s decisive goal during a slow-developing counterattack in the 80th minute.
Hugo Cuypers twice had pass attempts near the top of the box blocked during the sequence, But even after that, Gutierrez had time to play a give-and-go with Mauricio Pineda before getting to the byline and guiding a low cross to the back post for Reynolds’ easy finish.
Gutierrez added an exclamation point three minutes later, unfurling a ferocious strike from about 25 yards out that left goalkeeper Oscar Ustari little chance as it sailed into the top right corner.
After Messi and Tadeo Allende both hit the woodwork in the 52nd minute, Suarez cut Miami’s deficit to 3-2 with an off-balance finish in the 57th minute.
Baltasar Rodriguez provided the line-breaking pass to put Suarez into the box, and the veteran Uruguayan striker rode Jack Elliot’s challenge while driving a low finish past Chris Brady inside the right post.
Seventeen minutes later, Suarez showed the finishing class that once made him a 20-plus goal-scorer nine times between Ajax, Liverpool and Barcelona.
After Rodriguez found Jordi Alba wide left, Suarez received Alba’s ball into the box with his first touch. Then, with his second, he snapped off a perfect finish inside the right post from about 15 yards out.
–Field Level Media
