Late Luka Stojanovic goal gets Chicago Fire past Columbus Crew

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:05 am

Luka Stojanovic scored in the 77th minute and Bobby Shuttleworth made his only save in second-half stoppage time to give the Chicago Fire a 1-0 victory over the visiting Columbus Crew on Sunday to extend their unbeaten streak to four games.

The Fire (5-9-5, 20 points) have won two straight to go along with two ties since the start of August.

Columbus (6-7-6, 24 points) has lost four straight games, its longest losing streak since dropping five consecutive games from June 23-July 13, 2019.

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Shuttleworth made a reaction save on a shot by Alexandru Matan in the 92nd minute. After several deflections following the save, Bradley Wright-Phillips' shot hit the right post for the Crew's final opportunity.

The Crew were shut out for the eighth time, while Shuttleworth earned his third shutout.

Eloy Room made five saves for the Crew, who had a seven-game unbeaten streak vs. the Fire (3-0-4) stopped.

Stojanovic, who scored twice in the Fire's 2-1 win vs. the New York Red Bulls in the previous match, took a pass from Brian Gutierrez off his thigh, turned and scored his sixth goal.

The Fire are 3-0-5 in the past eight home games with Columbus.

The Crew's first good look came in the 49th minute when Gyasi Zardes took a ball from Lucas Zelarayan but fired his shot outside the goal and into the left side netting.

From there, the Fire began to break down the Columbus defense. Fabian Herbers got an open header that Room saved in the 61st minute. In the 72nd minute, Robert Beric headed a cross by Carlos Teran that Room tipped away.

Play was choppy at Chicago's Soldier Field, with Sunday's game coming one day after the NFL's Chicago Bears played host to the Miami Dolphins in a preseason game on the same surface.

While Columbus plays at the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, the Fire just completed a three-game homestand. They will face Inter Miami CF on Wednesday for the first of six straight away games. Chicago plays 11 of its final 15 games on the road.