Chicago Fire FC II (6-4-3-1, 22 points) earned a 3-1 victory against Inter Miami CF II (4-9-2-0, 14 points) Wednesday night at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Midfielder Trip Fleming tallied a second half brace, including the game-winning goal in the 77th minute, while winger Claudio Cassano added a trio of assists in the match. Forward Jason Shokalook opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the campaign.
Chicago got on the board just five minutes before halftime. Cassano passed forward to Shokalook on the left wing, who sprinted to the box untouched before cutting back to his right foot past a sliding defender. He then angled a shot to the far post to tally his fourth goal of the season, giving his side the 1-0 lead going into the break.
Miami sought to answer back, finally doing so 11 minutes into the second half. Zeltzer-Zubida came away with the ball on the Fire end, sparking a counterattack that ended in the feet of Pinter, who dribbled then blasted a shot off the corner of the box to equalize the match at 1-1.
After 20 minutes of end-to-end action, Fleming and the Fire got the lead back. In his second match back from injury, David Tchetchao directed a pass toward Cassano, who lofted a cross into an empty space in the box where Fleming headed the ball into the net to put the Fire up 2-1.
Fleming completed his brace with four minutes remaining in regulation. Cassano again sent a pinpoint corner kick into the box, where the Libertyville native was waiting to head home the dagger. The goal sucked the life out of Miami attack as the Fire extended their streak of unbeaten matches to seven.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago Fire FC II will have five days off before playing a Monday night home match against Crown Legacy FC on June 30 at SeatGeek Stadium. First kick in Bridgeview is set for 7:30 p.m. CT. The match can be streamed across the globe on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Social: X - @ChicagoFireFCII (Hashtags: #ChicagoFireII) | Instagram - @chicagofirefcii | Facebook
Box Score:
Inter Miami CF II 1:3 Chicago Fire FC II
Goals:
CHI - Shokalook (4) (Cassano 4) (WATCH) 40’
MIA - Pinter (4) (Zeltzer-Zubida ) (WATCH) 56’
CHI - Fleming (3) (Cassano 5) (WATCH) 77’
CHI - Fleming (4) (WATCH) (Cassano 6) (WATCH) 86’
Discipline:
MIA - Zeltzer-Zubida (Yellow Card) 31’
CHI - Calle (Yellow Card) 45+4’
MIA - Pinter (Yellow Card) 54’
CHI - Gasper (Yellow Card) 84’
Chicago Fire FC II: GK Los, D Reynolds, D Diouf, D Konincks (capt.), D Gasper, M Fleming, M Calle (Oyegunle, 64’), M Soudan (Richards, 89’), F Borso (Tchetchao, 57’), F Shokalook (Boltz, 64’), F Cassano (Kanyane, 90’)
Substitutes not used: GK Molenda
Inter Miami CF II: GK Marin, D Vorenkamp (Garcia-Spencer, 65’), D Hall, D Sumalia, D Abadia-Reda (Basabe, 78’), M Sparks (Ledesma, 46’), M Zeltzer-Zubida (Plambeck, 57’), M Montenegro, M Flores, F Pinter (Rey, 78’), F Saja
Substitutes not used: GK Russo, M Martinez, M Alenga, M Ortiz, F Cohen
Stats Summary: MIA / CHI
Shots: 19 / 18
Shots on Goal: 6 / 5
Passing Accuracy: 90% / 86.5%
Saves: 2 / 5
Corners: 2 / 6
Fouls: 12 / 11
Offsides: 3 / 2
Referee: Sean Caouette
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Morales-Lastra
Assistant Referee 2: Diego Lucio
4th Official: JJ Bilinski