Two Eastern Conference teams with playoff dreams face off on Saturday afternoon as the Chicago Fire hosts Atlanta United at Soldier Field.
Chicago are one of the most in-form sides in the league at the moment, which would have seemed unbelievable a few months ago. They went from being winless in ten to winning five out of eight, with the team currently riding a three-game winning streak. The defense has shored back up, and the offense is grabbing goals at the right moments. It’s proven to be a formula for success, and fans will hope that the Fire can do more of the same on this occasion.
Things haven’t been as sunshine and rainbows for Atlanta, though. They’ve only secured one victory from their last seven matches, and the poor run of form has certainly worried the fanbase. They need to bounce back, and they need to do so soon if they want their season to not completely collapse beneath their feet. The Five Stripes certainly have the talent, they just need to put it together on the pitch.
The two sides are both just outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, so this result will absolutely be a big one no matter what happens.
Team news
Chicago’s availability report is mostly the same, as the likes of Jhon Espinoza, Stanislav Ivanov, Wyatt Omsberg, and Sergio Oregel Jr are all still out. However, Gastón Giménez’s status has been upgraded, with the midfielder now seen as questionable.
Atlanta, meanwhile, are in the midst of an injury crisis. Ozzie Alonso, Dylan Castanheira, Brad Guzan, Miles Robinson, Ronald Hernández , Brooks Lennon, and Emerson Hyndman are unavailable for selection, and Andrew Gutman is a doubt as well.
Predicted lineups
Chicago Fire: Slonina, Sekulić, Terán, Czichos, M.Navarro, F. Navarro, Pineda, Torres, Shaqiri, Mueller, Durán
Atlanta UnIted: Gudiño, Purata, Franco, Gutman, McFadden, Sejdić, Almada, Rossetto, Wiley, Araújo, Martínez
Ones to watch
Rafael Czichos
There’s a chance that Rafael Czichos is legitimately a miracle worker.
He’s scored three goals in his last four games, which is a pretty impressive number until you realize he’s a centerback for crying out loud. With that in mind, it’s a stunning return. The last two have been gamewinners as well, and the other very well could have been if Chicago didn’t collapse defensively against the Columbus Crew.
Either way, Czichos has been otherworldly as of late. He’s been great ever since joining the club this past offseason, but he’s really turned it up a notch these past few weeks.
There’s the aforementioned goalscoring, which has really helped the team going forward. Despite not having the most remarkable frame for a defender at 6’2”, he’s been such an aerial threat for the Fire, with all three of his recent goals being headers. He knows how to be at the right place at the right time, and then when the ball does come his way, he’s able to head it home with precision and power. He can even leap into the air like a salmon if need be, demonstrated by his winner versus the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Then, at the back, the number 5 has continued to deliver. He often takes care of business himself, winning challenge after challenge after challenge. That’s not all, though, as he also commands the rest of the backline, making sure everyone else is alert and ready to respond to any potential danger. He’s a true captain, and his leadership has gotten the best out of whoever is alongside him, especially the young Carlos Terán.
These performances have led to the Fire’s upturn in results, and now Czichos will look to keep dragging the team higher and higher up the standings. He might have a tough test ahead of him (which we’ll get to in a moment), but considering just how good the centerback has been as of late, there’s little reason to believe he won’t be just fine.
Josef Martínez
Atlanta really needs the old Josef Martínez to show up this weekend.
It’s been way too long since he has been at his best. One of the greatest strikers in MLS history when healthy, Martínez just hasn’t been able to stay on the field for an extended period of time.
The injury issues started back in 2020 when he missed the entire year with an ACL tear. That issue somewhat carried into the start of the following season, as he was forced to settle for cameos off the bench in order to build up match fitness. Just as he was starting to get going again, he was called up to the Venezuelan national team for that summer’s Copa América. That led to him being away for about a month, and when he came back, the longest stretch of starts he had was four before the campaign was done.
Martínez was able to begin this year fresh, which really helped him out as he scored twice and provided two assists in his opening five games. The good times didn’t last long, though, as a knee injury then ruled him out for six weeks. He was back fighting for fitness, and a stretch of three goals in four looked promising, but he’s still not quite been the player we all know he can be.
Atlanta’s dreadful form hasn’t helped. They’ve not been playing well, and even though the numerous injuries to important players has been a key reason for that, there’s still a lot of concern and toxicity surrounding the club. Martínez has been even been benched recently despite being healthy. The explanation was due to load management, but the whole situation has served as an indictment on the club’s current status.
However, all of that could fly out the window if the striker is able to find his top form again. Goals change games, and they can change seasons too. A goalscoring streak from Martínez could send Atlanta back into a playoff position, and that might all start here in one of the team’s most important games of the campaign.
After all, big time players make big time players.
Last time out
The most recent contest between these two sides took place at the start of May, but it wasn’t really much of a contest.
Atlanta, who were the hosts on the afternoon, took the lead after just two minutes. Some lovely build up play led to Ronaldo Cisneros being played through on goal, and even though his first touch wasn’t great, his finish was as he slammed the ball off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net.
Chicago responded well, to be fair, equalizing less than 10 minutes later. A corner wasn’t cleared properly, and the ball came back out to Xherdan Shaqiri out wide. He drilled a low cross into the area, and it rolled all the way to the back post to Chinonso Offor, who converted from just a few yards out.
It would be all Atlanta from that point on, though. Cisneros scored twice before the break, securing a remarkable first half hat-trick in the process. Both goals were quite easy, as the first was a close range tap-in from a rebound while the second came on a counter where he simply ran straight before rounding the keeper and passing the ball into an empty net.
The second half was quite the bore since the Five Stripes pragmatically killed off the game, but they did add one more goal to their tally before the day was done. A loose ball fell kindly to Brooks Lennon in the area, and he made the most of the lucky break, curling a shot into the top corner.
That was the end of the action, wrapping up a dream day for Atlanta in fitting fashion.
How to watch
The match kicks off at 4:00 p.m. CDT, and it will air live on WGN TV and chicagofirefc.com for fans in Chicago and Bally Sports South for fans in Atlanta. Anyone else in the United States will be able to watch the action unfold on ESPN+.