5 Things We Learned: Chicago Fire vs. Atlanta United

The Chicago Fire are still yet to win an MLS game in Atlanta, but were seconds away from doing so before Will Reilly nicked a last-gasp point on Wednesday night. The 2-2 draw at Mercedes-Benz Stadium extends the Fire’s winless run to four matches, even if it felt harsh after a dominant performance down south.

Here are five things we learned from the match.

1. Uncomfortable in the lead?

The Fire have scored first many times this season. Rarely has that ever resulted in a comfortable outing. Throughout the year so far, the Fire have looked better and more dangerous in games they’ve been chasing than games they’ve led, and last night was the perfect example.

Philip Zinckernagel gave the Fire an unlikely second minute lead from what can only be described as a flukish olimpico goal. Instead of taking control of the game and eventually pushing on for more, the Fire did not appear dominant for the rest of the first half. They had some chances, often with Brian Gutiérrez progressing the ball through the midfield by himself, but lacked end product. Atlanta grew into the game and equalized early in the second half.

In addition to seeing numerous leads slip away this year, many have been late in games, suggesting that the Fire have been unable to close out games. Between Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Atlanta and March’s 2-2 draw with D.C., the Fire have missed out on four points this year to 95th-minute goals against the 13th- and 14th-placed teams in the Eastern Conference. In a close playoff race or even in terms of postseason seeding, those four points could make all the difference.

2. D’Avilla is slowly progressing

Of the Fire’s 15 winter signings, D’Avilla has been among those under the most scrutiny. The young midfield arrived with a hefty pricetag and is the fifth most expensive player in team history, so that is natural, but despite a slow start he’s finally rounding into his own. The Ivorian made his first-ever MLS start last night, four months after signing with the Fire, and played fairly well throughout.

The 22-year-old got the nod ahead of Mauricio Pineda, who started nearly every game this season and benefited from a rest. D’Avilla was sound throughout his 81 minutes, completing 44 of 45 passes and winning the ball 11 times. He also had to play through a relatively early yellow card and was not impacted.

Nonetheless, D’Avilla still has a long way to go to live up to the more than $4 million fee that the Fire paid for him from Leiria. But Berhalter felt that he had earned the start with his performances in training and in the U.S. Open Cup, so clearly he’s moving in the right direction and that’s now being reflected in his play. The next step is cleaning up his game, making the starting spot ahead of Pineda his own, and becoming a tidy but dominant force in defensive midfield.

3. Zinckernagel is worthy of his All-Star status

When he signed for the Fire in January, nobody expected Zinckernagel to be the Fire’s main man in the attack, and the idea was that he would be the complement to Jonathan Bamba and Hugo Cuypers. It has been a real shock that he was the first Fire player selected to the MLS All-Star team since 2019 (excluding the Kei Kamara commissioner’s pick in 2023).

While it wasn’t Zinckernagel’s best performance in a Fire shirt or even close to it on Wednesday night, he did accomplish something that Lionel Messi and Xherdan Shaqiri both repeatedly tried and failed to do: scoring directly from a corner kick. He was a persistent threat on the right side of the attack and came close twice more with additional shots on target.

Though whether or not he meant it is certainly up for debate, Zinckernagel’s 2nd minute goal helped him earn two more distinctions for the season so far. It was his 10th goal in MLS this season, meaning the TAM winger has hit double digits not long after the season’s halfway point and he’s on track for 16 goals in MLS. It’s the first season since 2019 that the Fire have had two players with 10 or more goals. Additionally, it was his ninth successive road game with a goal, meaning he’s just one shy of the MLS record – he’ll be looking to make history in Montréal on Saturday.

4. Haile-Selassie is still a key force

For the first time in his Fire career, Maren Haile-Selassie has been almost exclusively a bench player this season. Bamba’s arrival and Zinckernagel’s ascent have kept the Swiss winger firmly rooted to the bench, only making two league starts. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have an important role to play, and he showed it by scoring a goal that should have been the game-winner on Wednesday night.

This week so far has demonstrated that, despite being a stellar “super sub”-type player in MLS, Haile-Selassie is knocking on the door of more significant minutes. It was his second game in four days with a goal contribution, as he provided the assist on the Fire’s lone goal on Saturday from Hugo Cuypers. Against Atlanta, Haile-Selassie looked dangerous with the ball at his feet and also completed three dribbles in his 23-minute appearance.

With Bamba’s quality and Zinckernagel’s form, it’s difficult to find a way to easily fit Haile-Selassie into the lineup. However, a road game at Montréal on Saturday seems like a game well-suited for Haile-Selassie, so it might be a fair time to rotate in the attack and keep the #7 rolling.

5. It only gets better from here

Since the famous 7-1 win at D.C. United in June, the Fire have just one win from seven matches. It’s a terrible run and not necessarily representative of the performances that they’ve put in, but the good news is that they’ll have ample opportunity to turn things around quickly, starting with last-placed Montréal.

In this recent run, they’ve also had to face several of the top teams in the league, and Berhalter has admitted that the group isn’t fully ready yet to compete with the very best teams in MLS. Philadelphia, Nashville, and Cincinnati are the top three teams in the East right now, and have been responsible for three of the five losses in that span. The other two came against Western Conference opposition – first-place San Diego and third-place Minnesota.

After the trip to Montréal, the Fire have a trio of home matches against the New York Red Bulls, LAFC, and St. Louis on the horizon. After their final two-game road trip of 2025 (to Philadelphia and Miami), pretty much the rest of their run-in to Decision Day is on home turf, with four winnable matches in September and October. Just a slight uptick in form would be enough to get over the line and reach the playoffs, but the two dropped points against Atlanta could still be crucial nonetheless.