5 Things We Learned: Chicago Fire at Philadelphia Union

Riding a five-game undefeated streak into Chester, Pa., the Chicago Fire had hopes that they could pull off a win over the Philadelphia Union. They had some reason for hope, having lost 1-0 off a penalty kick to the Supporters Shield contenders at home in June. Instead, the team was thoroughly dominated from kickoff, losing 4-0 in the most dispiriting game for the Fire since their 7-2 decking in Nashville.

1. The Fire need to get locked in

The Fire woke up on Saturday morning in a postseason spot. They were out of one by the time they went to bed, although the team remains level on points with the New York Red Bulls in ninth place.

The hope would be that the team would be able to play at a playoff-like intensity for the last eight matches of the campaign, earning a spot in the second seasons for the first time since 2017 and showing up ready to make noise in the playoffs, even against a top-caliber opponent.

Instead, the opposite happened: The Fire came out flat-footed, and were seeming utterly unprepared for their opponent: A step – or three – off from the Union at every phase, the team was failing to deal with the Union’s attacking speed and their press on the occasions when the FIre did have the ball. There was simply no part of the game in which the Fire were equal to their hosts on the evening.

Look: Lots of teams have lost to the Union, currently atop the Supporters Shield standings with the league’s best record, this year. But none of them, including the lower-division Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the U.S. Open Cup, have given the Union a four goal win this year.

It might be true – in fact, it probably is true – that the Union have the better squad, top to bottom. The team has one of the in MLS this decade, and are bouncing back from a rare off-year in 2024 with a vengeance. Maybe the Union were always going to win that game, but for the Fire to let their opponents dominate them like that? It was out of character for what we’ve seen from the team, particularly in recent months.

If it was shocking to you to see the Fire look that bad in Chester, well, you weren’t alone. “It's just surprising to me that, with the stage set like it is and what's on the line, for us to have a performance like that,” Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said after the match. “It is the most disappointing we've been with the group this year. We're having to talk about things like competing at this stage of the year, and that's an issue.”

2. The Fire are still way off the East’s top five

Over the course of 2025, a gap has emerged in the Eastern Conference between the top five teams and everybody else. The Fire have been the the team that have perhaps best exemplified that throughout the year, and it was once again fully on display in Chester on Saturday.

In a league where the East is significantly stronger than the West, it also makes things significantly tougher for the Fire, who have been much more competitive with each of the top four Western Conference teams – Vancouver, Minnesota, San Diego, and LAFC – all of whom they’ve played this year despite the unbalanced inter-conference schedule.

Against the clear top five teams in their own conference – Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Nashville, Miami, and Columbus – the Fire haven’t recorded a single win, and all they have to show for their efforts against those teams is a point against Inter Miami in a goalless draw. They’ve been outclassed in all other matches against those teams, including 7-2 and 2-0 losses to Nashville, losses home and away to Cincinnati, and now consecutive losses against the Union. The Fire have also arguably not gotten results that match their performances against many of the other teams in the conference, including frustrating losses to playoff rival New York Red Bulls and New York City FC, and now sitond position outside of the playoffs on goal difference.

Against Philadelphia, it was quite clear that the Fire’s inability to compete with the top teams in the East – something Berhalter has mentioned on numerous occasions this summer – has not changed. The team is still early in its process, and while the Union did make major changes on and off the field this season, they had a much more established sporting setup to build upon. The Union’s new players like Milan Iloski seemingly fit right in and knew their role without needing much time for adjustment.

The fortunate thing is that there are just two of these big tests left this season, so the Fire hypothetically should be able to use an advantageous schedule to jump ahead of both New York clubs and potentially Charlotte. They’ll face Columbus – who suffered a shock home loss to New England last night – in late September at Soldier Field in a game that surely must be a golden opportunity to get a first big conference win of the season, and two days later travel to Miami.

3. Defensive reinforcements can’t come soon enough

The Fire’s biggest objective in the summer transfer window was to strengthen the back line, and while they did add two reinforcements in the last week, neither was available to play yet against Philadelphia. Any time a team concedes four goals in a game, the defense is going to be a talking point, and inevitably, these two things work hand in hand.

Defensively, the Fire looked weak and off the pace from quite literally the opening whistle. Mere seconds into the game, Jack Elliott – playing his first game back in Philadelphia since leaving the Union after last season – carelessly gave the ball away and it took a truly staggering Tai Baribo miss for the home team to not take a first minute lead. It was a sign of things to come for the captain, who unfortunately had his worst performance of the season and was largely at fault for many of the Union’s biggest opportunities.

Full backs Leo Barroso and Andrew Gutman also struggled mightily in this game and showed signs that after starting practically every game they’ve been available for, some additional rest might help prepare them for some of these big games against top opponents. Gutman has started every single game this season in all competitions and gone 90 minutes in most of them, while Barroso has started each of the last five. The addition of Serbian defender Viktor Radojević at left back will ease some of that burden on Gutman, so that’s one big summer signing that will make a subtle difference in the long run.

The final member of the back four, Christopher Cupps, was much more difficult to evaluate than the other three. He was making his third career MLS start, and first since he was injured on international duty in early June. With his selection ahead of Sam Rogers and Omar González, Berhalter indicated that Cupps, who’s still just 17, is the team’s #3 center back, and while the arrival of Joel Waterman this week will likely demote him to the bench, there are going to be plenty of opportunities.

While we’re here, it’s safe to say that the 4-0 scoreline was in spite of Cupps, and certainly not because of him. The teenager looked like the Fire’s best defender on the day, and was incredibly reliable and solid even when his much more experienced counterpart was subject to a few uncharacteristic blunders. American Soccer Analysis’ Goals Added stat ranked Cupps as the Fire’s second-highest-performing player on the day (and one of two players with a positive contribution), despite being a center back on the wrong end of a four-goal defeat, and while the stat is not perfect its a credit to the fact that he did not have a poor game despite the Fire’s defensive implosions.

With that being said, Waterman will still likely get the nod going forward – he traveled with the team to Philadelphia but could not feature as his visa was still being processed. His experience will help fill the void left by Carlos Terán and add some more MLS-seasoned quality to the back line. But, Cupps will provide healthy competition and backup, and despite the heavy defeat, gave Fire fans something to be excited about for the very near future.

4. Kellyn Acosta has game in him

It’s Tim here kicking this one off: Earlier this week, Alex told me that this was a game that Kellyn Acosta needed to start.

I listened, but I didn't really believe him. Coming off the bench, however, Acosta showed his edge and what he can do in the midfield – on and off the ball – and while Gregg Berhalter rightly pointed out that game state was in his favor, I still think there’s a lot of good things to discuss from Acosta’s performance, and while I could do it, end of the day? Alex was right and I was wrong so I’m turning this one over to him:

Acosta has had lots of ups and downs in his career. And the highs have been very very high and the lows have sometimes been quite low. Sitting on the bench for the bulk of the MLS season certainly seems like one of those lows.

We’ve seen high points and low points from him before, and sometimes they flip like a switch. I’m thinking back to the end of the 2020 MLS season, when Acosta was close to two-years into a spell in Berhalter’s USMNT doghouse, where he was completely out of the picture but got a surprise call-up to a December friendly against El Salvador. He played 22 minutes in that game, but did well enough in that cameo to get a call back from Berhalter in 2021, balled out at the Gold Cup, was an every-game fixture in World Cup Qualifying, and ultimately went to Qatar with the United States.

Saturday’s game in Chester felt like maybe, just maybe, it could have been one of those turning points for his Chicago Fire career. Acosta came on late in the second half and provided a spark that arguably earned him an opportunity to get more minutes down the stretch. He added a new life to a tired team that was already down 3-0 and fading without hope or motivation.

On talent alone, Acosta is maybe the most gifted of the Fire’s central or defensive midfielders, and has many qualities driving the ball forward, in transition, and against possession that can make the team significantly better. That’s difficult to deny, and what’s unfortunate is he has not shown that this season and has slipped down the depth chart as a result. He played the best soccer of his career under Berhalter in 2021 and 2022, and has not been able to replicate it in 2025. But what the 30-year-old must hope now is that, like in years past, the 22-minute cameo in Chester can mark the beginning of a renaissance for his Fire career, which is currently set to be registered as a high-profile flop.

5. The Fire need this week off

The Chicago Fire got an unexpected week off when their match against Inter Miami was rescheduled from next Saturday. They can use it.

The team clearly needs some space to reset, and while there’s something to be said for washing away the bad taste of this performance by getting on the pitch as quickly as possible, there’s a case that letting the magnitude of this loss sink in for just a bit might have some benefits.

After this unexpected week off, the Fire are slated to play six of their final seven games of the regular season in less than a month, with games every Saturday joined by the rescheduled match against Miami midweek at the end of September. The goal for the Fire has to be to secure their fate before the league breaks for two weeks for the October international window ahead of Decision Day.

With 13 days until their next game, the team has the days to let the loss sink in – and still have plenty of time to prepare for those crucial matches.

There’s also more practical uses for the break: Asked about the timing of substitutions after the match, Berhalter revealed that new acquisition André Franco was only available to play 20 minutes with the team. Franco did not have preseason with Porto, and his last competitive appearance was back in June in Porto’s opening match of the Club World Cup. Two weeks might not be much time to get 90 minutes fit, but it’s a lot longer than they were planning on.

In his Fire debut, Franco showed promise – but also rust, with some bright ideas and skilled play marred by errant service – the kind of thing you hope a couple of weeks of training can shake off him. It also gives him time to integrate with the rest of the group. Playing on the pitch at the same time as Brian Gutiérrez, who had the Fire’s best performance in the game, you could see how the two might be able to play off each other, allowing Gutiérrez to unleash his strengths down the stretch.

It also gives time for center back Joel Waterman to get fully integrated with the squad and for left back Viktor Radojevć to receive visa clearance and join the team, possibly giving him one more game with the Fire this season than they’d planned on.

The Fire’s next game is a highly winnable match against the Revolution in their final game at SeatGeek this season. The team has the tools to win and the time to prepare for a radically different outcome than we saw under the bridge in Chester.