The Chicago Fire don’t appear to have lost confidence despite an injury to their star striker.
The Fire (3-2-1, 10 points), winners of their last two matches and currently tied for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, host struggling Atlanta United (1-4-1, 4 points) on Saturday night.
Chicago was without leading scorer Hugo Cuypers (head injury) for its home match against East-leading Nashville SC on April 4. But Philip Zinckernagel’s goal just 16 seconds in — the fastest in Fire history — and four saves by Chris Brady helped the Fire squeeze out a 1-0 victory.
While the Fire have conceded just five goals through six matches this season, they look keen to change up their approach a bit against Atlanta.
“I think one thing going into this week is we’ve had a main focus on possessing and valuing the ball a little more, because I think there are some areas we feel like we can hurt Atlanta,” Brady said. “We continue to set a higher standard for ourselves, and we know that with the ball we can do a lot more.”
Cuypers, who has been unavailable to train with the team, is in a “wait-and-see” scenario regarding his availability for Saturday, per head coach Gregg Berhalter.
“He hasn’t progressed so far to that stage (of being fully available in training). But there’s still a little bit of time, and we’ll see what happens,” Berhalter said.
Atlanta, which was dealt a 3-1 home loss to the Columbus Crew in its last outing, will be desperate for a rare road win. The squad is 0-2-0 away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium this season and has won just once in its previous 20 regular-season road games (1-13-6) since the beginning of 2025.
“Time is scarce. We all know that. But I think it’s clear that we need to continue evolving and continue progressing, and we haven’t been able to do it as quickly,” Atlanta head coach Tata Martino said through an interpreter.
Alexey Miranchuk, Atlanta’s leading scorer (four goals), hinted at his team potentially playing more freely against the Fire as they look to pick up just their second victory of the season.
“When you’re in a winning position, you’re trying to play one-two, just to play safe, let’s say,” Miranchuk said. “But maybe we should try just to free our minds and risk it sometimes.”
The teams met twice last season, with the Fire earning a 2-2 draw on the road and a 2-1 triumph at home.
–Field Level Media
