Chicago Fire FC winger Philip Zinckernagel was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday for Matchday 21 following his performance in Saturday’s 3-2 win against Charlotte FC at Soldier Field.
Zinckernagel earned his third weekly league honor of the season after recording one goal and one assist on Saturday. The Danish winger opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, when he received a pass from defender Jonathan Dean at midfield. He then sprinted into the Charlotte box, shedding defenders before rifling a shot past the foot of goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina for the 1-0 lead.
Just two minutes later, Zinckernagel combined with midfielder Brian Gutiérrez on a series of touches in the Charlotte box that left the Homegrown midfielder alone in the box. Gutiérrez then hit a one-time shot off a defender’s foot to beat Kahlina and double the lead. In that stretch of time, the winger became the fastest player to reach the eight goals, eight assists benchmark in Club history, reaching the mark in five fewer matches than Polish international Roman Kosecki did in the 1998 season.
The weekly honor is Zinckernagel’s third after appearing on the MLS Team of the Matchday Starting XI in Matchday 5 and the bench in Matchday 17. In his last appearance, he also recorded one goal and one assist in the Fire’s 3-1 victory over Orlando City SC on May 31 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Fla. His contributions this season earned him a spot on the 2025 MLS All-Star Team as a Coach’s Selection by All-Star head coach Nico Estévez ahead of their match against the Liga MX All-Stars on Wednesday, July 23.
Chicago will head to the banks of the Ohio River to face FC Cincinnati on Saturday, July 5. The Eastern Conference rematch will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and transmitted locally on www.wlsam.com (English) and Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).
