Chicago Fire FC (2-2-4, 10 points) fell 2-1 to Atlanta United FC (5-1-3, 18 points) after conceding a goal during second half stoppage time at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Second half substitute, Kacper Przybyłko, scored his second goal of the season in the 90th minute to bring the Fire level, following Giorgos Giakoumakis’ opening goal in the 13th minute. However, an own goal in the 99th minute would secure all three points for the home side, snapping Chicago’s four-match unbeaten run.
The Fire fell behind early in the match when a long pass found its way inside the box for midfielder Brooks Lennon, who then centered the ball through the Fire defense to Giakoumakis for the game’s opening finish.
Chicago bounced back with chances of their own and outshot Atlanta, 5-2, through the first 45 minutes of the match. The Fire’s best chance of the half came in the 37th minute, when winger Maren Haile-Selassie created space and found forward Kei Kamara just outside of the box, streaking towards the goal. Kamara registered a shot on target, but Atlanta goalkeeper Quentin Westberg was able to make the save.
Nearly midway into the second half, 19-year old Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady was forced to come up big to keep the Fire within one. In the 58th minute of play, Atlanta’s Matteus Rossetto found a trailing Thiago Almada, who fired a shot towards Brady that forced the young goalkeeper to make a sprawling save to keep the score at 1-0.
With the Fire still searching for an equalizer late in the match, Przybyłko was brought on and made an immediate impact in the final third. Pouncing on an errant pass from Atlanta, Przybyłko was left all alone on a breakaway against goalkeeper Clément Diop. Although Przybyłko’s initial shot was denied, the ball found Homegrown Brian Gutiérrez, who found a wide open Przybyłko to his left. The Polish striker would capitalize on his second attempt, scoring the equalizer and his second goal of the season in the 90th minute.
After the fourth official issued nine minutes of stoppage time, Atlanta nearly recaptured the lead off a set piece that was headed towards the goal by defender Juan José Purata, but was denied by Brady’s left-handed save. The Atlanta attack continued to apply pressure and were rewarded with a corner kick with a minute left in the match. The corner was whipped into the box and deflected off Haile-Selassie for an own goal.
NEXT MATCH: The Fire will return to Chicago for two matches in four days. Chicago is set to host Midwest Premier League side Chicago House AC in the third round of the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, April 26 at 7 p.m. CT at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Ill. Three days later, the Fire return to the lakefront to host the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. CT at Soldier Field. The match will be broadcast on Apple TV+, and transmitted locally in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.
Social: Twitter - @chicagofire, @vamosfire (Hashtags: #CF97 #VamosFire) | Instagram - @chicagofire | Facebook
Notes:
- Today’s road match against Atlanta United FC marked the 800th league match for Chicago Fire FC since 1998.
- Forward Kacper Przybyłko scored his second goal of the season.
- Fabian Herbers achieved an MLS milestone today with his inclusion in the starting lineup. The match marked Herbers' 150th regular season appearance of his MLS career. Herbers originally entered the league in 2016 as a member of the Philadelphia Union.
- Making his sixth straight start in today’s match, midfielder Brian Gutiérrez notched his team-leading fourth assist of the season by creating Przybyłko’s goal late in the second half.
- Midfielder Jairo Torres (right upper leg) and forward Victor Bezerra (left upper leg) were unavailable for selection due to injury.
Box Score:
Atlanta United FC 2-1 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
ATL - Giakoumakis (5) (Lennon 3, Almada 6) (WATCH) 13’
CHI - Przybyłko (1) (Gutierrez 4) (WATCH) 90’
ATL - Haile-Selassie (Own goal) (WATCH) 99’
Discipline:
ATL - Giakoumakis (Yellow Card) 24’
CHI - Herbers (Yellow Card) 34’
CHI - Terán (Yellow Card) 77’
CHI - Giménez (Yellow Card) 80’
CHI - Dean (Yellow Card) 90+5’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Brady, D Soquet (Przybyłko, 82’), D Terán, D Czichos (capt.), D Dean, M Herbers (F. Navarro, 61’), M Gutiérrez, M Haile-Selassie, M Shaqiri (Giménez, 61’), M Mueller (Aceves, 81’), F Kamara (Koutsias, 72’)
Subs not used: GK Richey, D M. Navarro, D Omsberg, M Pineda
Atlanta United FC: GK Westberg (Diop 45’), D Gutman, D Purata, D Robinson, D Lennon, M Sosa, M Rossetto, M Etienne (M Wiley, 58’), M Almada (Chol, 69’), M Araújo (Ibarra, 80’), F Giakoumakis (M Berry, 58’)
Subs not used: D Hernandez, D Abram, M Sejdic, F Wolff
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
Overall thoughts on the match…
“Well, they're disappointed. I told them, ‘You guys put in the effort tonight. We played a really, really good game tonight.’ So they’re disappointed. The one key question I have, I’m trying to figure out, I have to go back and look at the game, how they get nine minutes extra. Because with just one goal being scored in the whole second half, somehow the ref comes up with nine extra minutes and they score with eight and a half minutes, 30 seconds to go in the game.
So that's something that I have to go back and look and see where those minutes came from but the boys fought hard. We didn't take our chances and that came back and hurt us in the end, because at the end of the day that could be a 4 or 3-2 game. We have to execute better in the box and take our chances, especially on the road. We didn't do that. But I thought that those extra minutes really wore us down. We put a lot of effort into getting that tying goal.”
On the team’s ability to put Atlanta under pressure in the second half…
“It’s the way we press. We have a very good, organized press as a team, and we try to push it to one side and keep it down that side, make it predictable for the guys in the back so everyone in the room has to do their job to make it easier for the team to defend like that. That's something that we train and that's something that was able to give us 12 shutouts last year and we need to get back to doing that more often because we’ve leaked some goals late this year.
But all in all, I thought the guys played really well. I'm very happy about the way they played. The result is not what we wanted but the effort was there and you can't fault them for that.”
On how to keep the mood optimistic after continuing to drop points…
“Well, it's easy when you know that deep down you're playing good football, and I think the guys are playing well. They are putting a lot of effort in, and we're just getting some bad breaks. That last goal hits our guy in the back and goes in the goal. Because of the way we are playing and the results that we have gotten and have not always been what we expected, but the football is good.
We're making good progress, so the guys continue to fight. As long as I'm the coach here, I'm going to keep them positive and keep the confidence high. One of the things we tell them is like when you get in pressure situations like this, think of an egg and a potato. Same boiling water, the egg becomes hardened and the potato becomes soft. What are you going to be, are you going to be an egg or a potato?
We have to learn to take the positive, egg side of things and be hard when things get rough, and especially on the road like this, can we find a way to come out with that point tonight. Tonight we were not able to but we're getting better, and that's something that I am happy to see that the players are grasping what we are trying to do and they are doing what we are trying to teach them in training.
The finishing part of things is still something that we are lacking because tonight we had really, really good chances in the box to score and we didn't take them, and I think that came back to haunt us tonight. But confidence-wise, it's not (hard) to keep them upbeat because they know that they are playing good football. We are just not quite there yet.”
On playing in Atlanta…
“Certainly, with the crowd, and the atmosphere that they have here, it's a difficult place to play, and they are a good team, too. Them being good, and the crowd behind them, it's difficult to play (here), but I thought the guys put in a really good effort tonight. I thought we played really, really good, and should probably deserve a point tonight. It didn't happen that way for obvious reasons. I think, considering how difficult it is to play here and how much the crowd gets behind them, I was happy to see that effort that we played with tonight.”
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Brian Gutiérrez
On how the team stays positive after continuing to drop points…
"I feel like we just have to move on. There's a ton of games left in the season. As you know, it's a long season, and I think we've just got to look forward and look at the tape, see what's wrong, see what we need to do in order to be successful and try to get your head up and move forward because the season is long, like I said, and anything could happen.”
On his fourth assist of the season…
“Well, it was a 50-50 ball that the center defensive mid played back, and thankfully he gave it to us. So Kacper was through on goal with the ‘keeper. In my head, I was like, follow the play, and I saw he missed it and for me following the play, I got the ball to my feet. I saw him open and I just had a glance at him and I saw a lot of people inside the goal. So I was like, there's no way I could try to finish and I saw him by himself. So I slipped it in and thankfully it went in.”
On playing deeper in the midfield…
“Yeah, I was told that I was playing the eight this week, and I just tried to maximize the opportunity and try to learn as much as I could. It was a deep role, which (means) you get the ball more and you have more space to play forward. I just tried to help the team and be a good teammate and tried to play my best.”