Chicago win over Atlanta Open Cup
ATLANTA, Ga. — The Chicago Fire advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 1-0 road win over Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Wednesday evening.
Nemanja Nikolić scored the lone goal of the match in the 54th minute. Bastian Schweinsteiger received the ball and played it forward for Luis Solignac, who was racing into the 18-yard box. Solignac played a square ball across the face of goal and found Nikolić open to chip it in for the game-winner.
The Fire will host USL side Louisville City FC in the quarterfinal round at Toyota Park on July 18 at 7:30 p.m. CT. Louisville advanced with a 2-1 win over Nashville SC on Wednesday.
The Men in Red return to MLS action against Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Wash. on Saturday, June 23 at 9 p.m. CT (ESPN+/Univision Deportes Chicago 1200AM). Coverage begins at 8:45 p.m. CT with a live pregame show on ESPN+ presented by CIBC.
Veljko Paunović, Chicago Fire Head Coach
On the importance of the Open Cup:
“It is for everyone. For our club, for our ownership, for our fans, for our front office and everyone in our club, we like to say that we are family and everyone is putting in the effort to help the team. I think we are building the culture that is not only a soccer culture, but football culture, you know where I am coming from. We are trying to build something similar while obviously keeping the peculiarities of the culture of the American sport. We want to find the right merge and I think so far it is going good. But, it is very important for our club that we are progressing in this competition, which is very important, but we still know that it is a long way to go. We have to first prepare and recover for our next game in Seattle. Then we have another tough opponent at home in New York City FC. Every game for us is almost like a final. That is how we approached this game and previous games too. I think that is what helps us to keep building the performance and the form of the team. As time goes by, I think the team is getting more mature and getting to know each other better and that helps with all of the veterans that we have with their experience and their input, it is very nice to be the coach of this team today.”
On Nemanja Nikolić’s goal:
“If you go back last year and see how many goals we scored, out of 61 goals, I believe, how many goals were team play. Again today, it was team play. That is something I think that for the coaches, that is what you want to see. Not only playing on set pieces, on counter attacks, you want to see a team that is playing football. I think today we had some good moments during the 90 minutes where we played and dominated and controlled the game, also we had a tough opponent in front. Every time they took over the possession, it was hard for us to defend, but as I said, the guys gave a huge effort and a great job today. It is very important that we are now starting to see more of what we kind of used to be in the past.”
On using the Open Cup to build cohesion for the MLS season:
“Every game is an opportunity to get better and to get the experience that the team needs playing together without taking out the importance of competing. For us, in our environment, it is very important. Learning and competing. Actually learning to compete. That is what we try to teach and try to instill. I think it is getting better. We still have a long way to go. It is an important win for us as a team, but also I think we have to remain humble and keep working towards improvement.”
On how the win helps propel the team back into league play:
“This win gives you confidence in this competition, but it propels us to any other competition, which for us is very important in MLS. In the MLS regular season, we want to get to the playoffs. I think this helps us. I think the confidence is the most important thing, and the best thing to get the confidence is to win every time you have the opportunity. I think that is going to help us even to prepare for the next game, which is our most important game, Seattle. To recover better, it is not the same when you win and obviously the body heals and recovers much better when you have the burst of adrenaline in your system. I think that is what we achieved today, but we also remain humble. This locker room is very mature and knows that we have to keep working and move forward.”
On preparing for an unfamiliar opponent in Louisville:
“We will do our jobs. We have to do our jobs as a coaching staff to prepare for the game. For us, it is going to be another MLS game, another World Cup game, call it how you want. For us, every game is a final. We believe in what we are doing and we believe that the most important thing is always giving your best. To give your best, you have to mentalize and prepare for every game the best you can. It is not always easy, and there are a lot of games now at this point of the season that we are playing so many games in a row. We also believe that it is a good opportunity for us to build momentum in Open Cup and in the league.”
On the atmosphere of the match:
“It’s amazing. We have seen on TV and we had the opportunity to see other opponents play here and it was always tough for them because of the crowd. But not only because of the crowd, but also for officiating. I think the pressure is high here, but I think today, in our case, we did a very good job. Very proud of the effort. We achieved something that many teams did not here. Winning in this beautiful stadium, beautiful venue. That is why I think it is very important. For us, for our club, the tradition of fighting hard for the Open Cup means a lot getting this win today. We will continue building our team. I believe we are slowly getting to the point where we are having the confidence to play the way we played last year and it helps that all of the guys on the team are getting better. I am very happy. As a coach, obviously you want your team to get better and improve and that is what I am seeing now. I just want to encourage our guys to keep working hard and working with quality like they did. It is a process, it takes time and I think today I am especially happy because I saw that proudness in our game and individual players who are understanding the game tactically and are capable of executing.”
Nemanja Nikolić – Chicago Fire Forward
On his goal:
“It was great action. We spoke before the game that we wanted to keep the ball and from that to create space and, of course, to finish the action. It was great action from the whole team, from the behind and after in the finishing from Katai, Bastian and, of course, Solignac. Lucho made that final pass, and for me these kinds of goals like we scored, it was an amazing pass from him, so really important for us and we are in the next round. This is what you want, so we are happy.”
On the importance of the win:
“It was important an competition for all of us, for our club, for us like players. We are in the next round. We beat two very difficult teams like Columbus and now Atlanta. Of course, we want to build good momentum from this and now we go to play against Seattle. Again away, again difficult opponent, turf, so it will be really difficult for us. We want to build from this and we want to play this style because we show we are really mature and we can beat every opponent here if we are disciplined offensively and defensively also.”
On gaining confidence by scoring goals:
“In confidence, I don’t have a problem. Of course, the goals are coming. Maybe not in the numbers like last year, but I scored in all competitions nine goals in 16 games, so I think it is not bad. Everybody needs to make his role in the team, his job. Of course, my job is to score goals and this is what I want to do. But also, defensively I also have some things to do to help the team. Of course, looking forward to the games in the championship and to score also goals there. But the most important, as always, is that the team wins and we are in a better mood than we were in the beginning of the season and we want to grab this opportunity.”
Chicago Fire 1:0 Atlanta United
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – Round of 16
June 20, 2018 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Attendance: 41,012
Scoring Summary:
CHI – Nemanja Nikolić (Luis Solignac, Bastian Schweinsteiger) 54′
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