FC Cincinnati pulled off one of its most dramatic wins of the season, beating Chicago Fire 3-2 at Soldier Field behind a brilliant hat trick from Evander.
The match quickly turned into a battle between two stars. Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers scored twice in the first half, continuing his hot start to the season and giving the Fire the lead on two separate occasions. But every time Chicago struck, Evander had an answer. He scored in the 24th and 31st minutes to send the match into halftime tied 2-2.
The second half brought even more chaos. Cincinnati went down to 10 men after Kyle Smith was shown a red card in the 56th minute, giving Chicago a chance to take control. The Fire pushed for a winner and eventually earned a late penalty, but Roman Celentano came up with a massive save against Cuypers to keep the match tied.
Minutes later, Cincinnati earned a penalty of its own. Evander stepped up in the seventh minute of stoppage time and buried it, completing his first career MLS hat trick and giving Cincinnati a 3-2 win.
For Chicago, the loss hurts because Cuypers was once again excellent. The Belgian forward scored two goals for the third straight match and became the fastest player in Fire history to reach 10 goals in a single season.
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