Chicago Fire FC (3-2-2, 11 points) suffered a 2-1 loss on the road at New York Red Bulls (3-2-2, 11 points) Saturday night at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
The sides traded counters in an open first half, but it was the visiting team that struck first. After recovering the ball in his own half, Philip Zinckernagel quickly played the ball to Hugo Cuypers in the midfield, who quickly played it back to the Danish winger as he took off on a breakaway. Drawing defenders, Zinckernagel spotted an open Jonathan Bamba on the left, who dribbled and coolly finished from his left as the defense closed in.
New York struck back quickly as wingback Omar Valencia found space on the left wing to seek a cross into the box. The Panamanian sent a line drive into the box that was headed home by fellow wingback Serge Ngoma for the equalizer.
One minute into stoppage time, the Red Bulls took the lead after Dylan Nealis was brought down in the Fire box. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting took the ball from captain Emil Forsberg, then softly struck the penalty to score his third of 2025 and go into the break up 2-1.
Chicago returned from the break determined to tie the match, but New York’s defense clamped down, and Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel made a handful of saves in the second half to keep the score at 2-1 through the final whistle.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to the lakefront for a Soccer Sunday match against Inter Miami CF on April 13 at Soldier Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CT and the match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, and transmitted locally on WLS 890-AM and wlsam.com (English), and Que Buena 105.1 via the Uforia app (Spanish).
Notes:
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Ivorian winger Jonathan Bamba scored his first goal of the season, and first goal with the Fire, in the 32nd minute. Bamba went into Matchday 7 with a six-way tie for first in the league in assists, but was on the receiving end of Zinckernagel’s assist in the 32nd minute instead.
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Rominigue Kouamé made his first start for Chicago in his third appearance for the Club in a row. The midfielder played 62 minutes in the match, coming off the field for Mauricio Pineda in the second half.
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Homegrown defender Justin Reynolds started the match in place of Leonardo Barroso (Lower Body) at right back for the first time in 2025, the second start of his career. In his 10th appearance for the Fire first team, the Chicago native played 62 minutes in a strong defensive effort before coming off the field for Maren Haile-Selassie.
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The loss marked the first time the Red Bulls beat the Fire at home since May 1, 2021. Chicago was previously unbeaten in its last four at Sports Illustrated Stadium, with a 2-0-2 record in that span, and now sports a 32-22-16 record overall against New York in 70 matches.
- Defenders Leonardo Barroso (Lower Body), Jonathan Dean (Torso), Jack Elliott (Lower Body) and Chase Gasper (Lower Body); and midfielders Brian Gutiérrez (Lower Body), David Poreba (Lower Body) and Chris Mueller (Not Due to Injury) were not available for selection tonight.
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Box Score:
New York Red Bulls 2:1 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
CHI - Bamba (1) (Zinckernagel 3, Cuypers 2) (WATCH) 32’
RBNY - Ngoma (1) (Valencia 2, Eile 1) (WATCH) 41’
RBNY - Choupo-Moting (3) (Penalty) (WATCH) 45+2’
Discipline:
None
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Reynolds (Glasgow, 61’), D Rogers (González, 37’), D Terán, D Gutman (Haile-Selassie, 84’), M Oregel, Jr., M Acosta (capt.) (Barlow, 61’), M Kouamé (Pineda, 62’), F Zinckernagel, F Cuypers, F Bamba
Subs not used: GK Gal, D Cupps, M Borso, M Williams
New York Red Bulls: GK Coronel, D Eile, D D. Nealis, D Parker, M Ngoma (Gjengaar, 69’), M Edelman, M Carballo (Stroud, 76’), M Valencia, F Sofo (Carmona, 69’), F Choupo-Moting (Bogacz, 88’), F Forsberg (capt.) (S. Nealis, 88’)
Subs not used: GK Marcucci, D Hack, M Donkor, F Zakrzewski
Stats Summary: RBNY / CHI
Shots: 7 / 12
Shots on Goal: 6 / 6
Saves: 5 / 4
Passing Accuracy: 79.7% / 84.0%
Corners: 2 / 4
Fouls: 6 / 15
Offsides: 3 / 4
Possession: 46.5% / 53.5%
Attendance: 17,238
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Adam Wienckowski
Fourth Official: JC Griggs
VAR: Geoff Gamble
AVAR: Craig Lowry