BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — Hugo Cuypers scored two second-half goals, Brian Gutiérrez added another and the Chicago Fire advanced out of the wild card round with a 3-1 victory over Orlando City on Wednesday night.
Chicago moves on to play the Supporters’ Shield-winning Union in a best-of-three first-round playoff series.
The Fire are 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. This was the team’s first postseason win in 16 years.
Orlando, which had advanced beyond the first round in each of the past two playoffs, had just one win in its last eight games.
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 goal with his left leg and sent in a shot with his right foot in the 48th minute.
» READ MORE: The Union clinched their second Supporters’ Shield thanks to three key veterans
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 added another in the 68th off a pass from Philip Zinckernagel for a 3-0 advantage.
Tyrese Spicer scored for Orlando in the 89th.
Union vs. Chicago Fire playoff schedule
Game 1: at Subaru Park, Sunday, 5:55 p.m. (FS1 starting at 5:30, Fox Deportes, Apple TV)
Game 2: at Bridgeview, Ill., Nov. 1, 5:30 p.m. (Apple TV)
Game 3 if necessary: at Subaru Park, Nov. 8, time TBD (Apple TV)
Inquirer staff writer Jonathan Tannenwald contributed to this report.