The warmest home game of the season so far (trust me, its a low bar) saw the team eek out another 1-0 win against a fellow Eastern Conference rival. Unlike last week where they scored 15 seconds into the game, Chicago took all the way to the 13th minute to score…
Though it followed a similar playbook to their 1-0 win against Nashville the previous week, the Fire were definitely on the front foot much more versus Atlanta. Honestly, after seeing all the close calls and misses by Chicago, I thought Atlanta was going to make them pay and tie the game up. But the defense held strong, something Fire fans did not say much in 2025.
Up next is an Open Cup match up versus Detroit City FC on Tuesday. The team wants to make a Cup run this year so it will be interesting to see the roster for the game.
Tactics
- For the first time all season, the starting lineup was repeated. Hugo Cuypers was not able to go again so we get Maren Haile-Selassie and Robin Lod up top. I have a feeling Jason Shokalook will a decent amount of minutes against Detroit to gauge whether he is ready for more league minutes.
- The Fire have a busy week with Tuesday night game in Detroit for the Open Cup and travel to Cincinnati on Saturday. I figured Berhalter might be have earlier subs against Atlanta but only had 2 subs before the 89th minute. Really curious what the lineup will be in Detroit as the team will be prioritizing the Cup.
Stats
- xG Battle: Chicago (2.34) v Atlanta (1.68)
- Fire: 5 Big Chances
- The woodwork was unkind to both teams: Fire hit it 3 times and the Atlanta 1 time
- Jonathan Bamba led everyone with 1.25 xG +xA with Lod coming in 2nd with .78
- Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Jack Elliot combined for 27 defensive contributions. They’ve found a rhythm playing together and look like one of the better pair of starting CBs in MLS.
- Chris Brady had .47 goals prevented and is 3rd in MLS in goals prevented this season. He is also 4th in Save percentage. Really hoping he makes the World Cup roster for the US.
- Anton Saletros chipped in with 3 key passes and 1 big chance created. As he gets more comfortable with his midfield partners, he is starting to contribute more going forward.
- FotMob had the transfer values of each starting 11 and it wasn’t even close: $17m vs $63m. I don’t take those numbers too seriously but Atlanta has spent a ton of money on their roster the last couple years and have gotten very little in return.
Highlights
- Please come back Cuypers…