Fire beats Minnesota United 2-0 for 3rd straight shutout

Don't look now but the Chicago Fire appears to be gaining confidence, and momentum along with it.

The Fire defeated visiting Minnesota United 2-0 Saturday night at SeatGeek Stadium for its third straight shutout. The Fire has won consecutive games for the first time in almost two years and is unbeaten in its last three heading into next week's game at San Jose.

"We have two straight wins and that's important for the team," said new central defender Francisco Calvo, who preferred not to talk about playing for the first time against the team that traded him May 3. "I'm happy because Chicago is getting there. Three clean sheets in three games. That's no coincidence. It's something good that we're doing."

The Fire (4-4-4, 16 points) is looking especially strong at home, where it is 4-1-2, despite low attendance and reports the team will buy out its stadium lease and play next season at Soldier Field.

The Fire scored on as clinical and quick a counterattack as you're likely to see, with Nico Gaitan easily tapping in a Przemyslaw Frankowski pass at the end of the breakout in the 21st minute.

"The team is still growing," Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said. "I think the confidence we get from these two consecutive wins is very important. And we still know that we have to keep working together, working like we did so far, with cohesion."

Aleksandar Katai made it 2-0 in the 34th off a Johan Kappelhof assist. It was the second goal of the season for both Gaitan and Katai.

"I think we're trying to put everything together," Calvo said. "We're trying to because in this locker room is a lot of talent. A lot, a lot of talent. Since I'm here I can see a lot of talent. And we just need to put everything together. Now we're getting the results."

The only sour note was an apparent hamstring injury to Gaitan, who went down after delivering a perfect pass to Nemanja Nikolic in the 33rd minute. He planned to get an MRI Saturday night.

"We don't think it's bad, but he's going to miss some games," Paunovic said.