BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Hugo Cuypers scored two second-half goals, Brian Gutiérrez added another and the Chicago Fire advanced out of the wild-card round of the MLS Cup playoffs with a 3-1 victory over Orlando City on Wednesday night at SeatGeek Stadium.
Chicago, which is in the playoffs for the first time since 2017 under first-year head coach Gregg Berhalter — the former U.S. men’s national team coach — advances to play the Philadelphia Union in a best-of-three first-round playoff series. The Union won the Supporters’ Shield for having the best regular-season record in MLS this season.
The Union host Game 1 on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Fire will then host Game 2 on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 4:30 p.m. at SeatGeek Stadium.
If necessary, Game 3 will be back at Subaru Park on Saturday, Nov. 8, at a time to be determined.
Whoever wins the first-round series advances to the conference semifinals, followed by the conference finals and then the MLS Cup, which begins Dec. 6.
In Wednesday’s wild-card win, Gutiérrez and Cuypers each scored a goal in the opening 12 minutes of the second half for a 2-0 lead.
Gutiérrez settled a Jonathan Dean cross in front of the goal with his left leg and sent in a shot with his right foot in the 48th minute.
Cuypers scored in the 57th on a hustle play when he got a foot on Pedro Gallese’s clearance attempt, and it redirected into the back of the net. Cuypers then added another in the 68th off a pass from Philip Zinckernagel for a 3-0 advantage.
Tyrese Spicer scored for Orlando in the 89th.