Chris Brady, Chicago Fire face scoreless draw in Columbus

Goalkeeper Chris Brady made four saves Saturday night, including stopping a difficult shot early in the second half, to lift the visiting Chicago Fire to a scoreless draw with the Columbus Crew.

Brady blocked Taha Habrun’s right-footed shot in the 51st minute, which achieved 66% of expected goals, according to MLS statistics. Teammate Dylan Borso gave Brady the assist moments later by blocking Max Arfsten’s goal-line shot.

Chicago (1-1-1, 4 points) took a 14-8 lead against Columbus goalie Patrick Schulte, who had just three shots in the frame. However, Brady’s work was enough to earn him his second successive clean sheet.

The Crew (0-1-2, 2 goals) were left blank for the first time with Diego Rossi and Wessam Abou Ali off the scoresheet. Each had more than one shot, but none were on target after two goals in the team’s first two games.

The Fire played without forward Hugo Cuypers, one of their most dangerous attacking threats with 29 MLS goals since the start of the 2024 season. He was sidelined with a lower body injury.

The main story before kickoff was whether Columbus could figure out its defensive issues. The Crew got goals from Rossi and Abou Ali in each of their first two away games, but failed to fend off counter-attacks and score three points. The result was a 3-2 loss at Portland on February 21 and a 2-2 draw at Sporting Kansas City a week later.

After beating CF Montreal 3-0 in its home opener on February 28, Chicago got off to a slow start. Columbus dominated possession in the first half and did not allow a single shot in the frame through the opening 45 minutes, allowing just one total shot.

But the Fire’s defensive shape held up, allowing them to go into the locker room scoreless. It helped when Arpsten fired a shot far left from the center of the penalty box in the 24th minute of the first half.

–Field level media