Da Silva dribbled through the defence, then used his left foot to flip the ball through the legs of Fire keeper Jon Conway to give United a 2-1 lead. Nani sealed the win in the 82nd minute.
With temperatures in the 90s and oppressively high humidity in Chicago, Ferguson went with a young starting lineup and it showed early on, as United’s defence looked shaky at times and the Fire exploited it to take the lead in the 13th minute.
“It requires good patience, and we showed the patience,” Ferguson said. “We don’t panic being down, we just play our game.”
Wayne Rooney equalised in the 66th as a sold-out crowd of 61,308 saw the preseason debut of new United goalkeeper David de Gea, who allowed a goal from Cory Gibbs.
Ferguson said he initially thought De Gea was at fault for Chicago’s goal, but changed his mind after seeing a replay.
“When I saw it again, he had absolutely no chance,” Ferguson said.
United midfielder Park Ji-sung of South Korea said the heat was a challenge for players on both sides.
“When it’s hot, it’s always difficult,” Park said. “But we played our style, and we won. It was a pretty good match.”
Trailing at half-time after being turned away several times by Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson, United brought on some of their top players as substitutes to start the second-half including Rooney.
Rooney showed his ability to create an instant scoring chance when he chipped the ball over backup Fire keeper Jon Conway, a second-half substitute, to level the game in the 66th minute.
Then da Silva dribbled through the defence and used his left foot to flip the ball past Conway in the 75th minute. Nani sealed the victory with a goal in the 82nd minute.
While Chicago missed on a few chances to extend their lead, Fire interim coach Frank Klopas scoffed at the idea that his team let one get away.
“No,” Klopas said. “Come on, guys, you’ve got to understand what we’re playing against. We put up a very good challenge. For me, more than anything, we made the game competitive.”
With high temperatures humidity in Chicago, manager Alex Ferguson went with a young starting lineup and it showed early on, as their defence looked shaky at times and the Fire exploited it to take the lead in the first half.
Chicago took the lead when a long free kick by Marco Pappa was headed into the back of the net by Gibbs. Chicago went on to hold long stretches of possession for much of the first half and created a few more scoring chances including a powerful shot by forward Cristian Nazarit that went just wide of goal in the 32nd minute.
“Chicago Fire played well,” Ferguson said. “Very good in the counterattack, a lot of pace up front. They gave us some problems. They could have scored two or three more.”