Fire snap scoreless drought, slide past Inter Miami
Jhon Duran scored on either side of halftime, and Xherdan Shaqiri also had a goal, as the Chicago Fire ended their four-match scoreless drought and handed visiting Inter Miami CF their third consecutive defeat with a 3-1 victory on Saturday night.
Prior to Saturday, the Fire (9-13-8, 35 points) last scored through Chris Mueller in the 49th minute of a 4-1 loss at Philadelphia on Aug. 13. However, the 18-year-old Duran ended a drought that reached 439 minutes in the 40th minute when he headed home a deflected cross.
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Shaqiri scored his fifth goal of the season in the 64th minute on Mauricio Pineda's brilliant set up that tipped Mueller. It proved to be a valuable goal as Miami (10-13-6, 36 points) cut its deficit in half when Gonzalo Higuain converted from the penalty spot in the 77th minute.
However, Chicago held strong defensively, and Duran converted off a two-on-one scenario with Shaqiri in the 87th minute for his fifth goal of the season. Trying to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, the Fire ended an 0-3-2 rut that dated back to a 3-2 victory at Charlotte on Aug. 6.
Miami, meanwhile, is winless in three matches following a 3-0-2 stretch. Inter also fell to 2-10-3 on the road.
Chicago held a majority of the possession early on, and nearly ended its goal drought in the 13th minute when Duran footed a ball that was blocked deep in the box, then appeared to hit woodwork. Duran also missed just wide left four minutes later. However, the Fire persisted and finally ended their scoring rut when Duran came through just before half.
Miami's best chance of the first half came shortly after Duran's goal. Off a set piece, Robert Taylor right-footed a rather pedestrian strike that was easy for Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina to hug.
After Shaqiri converted, Miami received a lifeline when the Fire's Federico Navarro committed an obvious foul in the box. Higuain had no trouble beating Slonina for Inter's answer.
