5 Things We Learned: Chicago Fire vs. LAFC

Bridgeview, Illinois, was the setting for Major League Soccer’s biggest spectacle this weekend as Korean superstar Son Heung-min made his LAFC debut. But there was still a regular season soccer game to be played, and it was quite a thriller, as the Chicago Fire settled for a 2-2 draw with Steve Cherundolo’s MLS Cup hopefuls.

Here are five things we learned about the Fire on Saturday.

1. The Fire still aren’t ready to beat the top teams... but they're getting closer

An underlying theme in 2025 has been the Fire’s struggles against MLS’s elite. Despite respectable performances, Gregg Berhalter’s team has fallen flat against the likes of the Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati, Nashville SC, and the Philadelphia Union this season and struggled to get any sort of results against those teams, home or away.

In year one of the Berhalter project, the head coach has preached patience and says the team isn’t quite there yet to compete with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. It’s a fair claim, and with a near-total squad overhaul this season and more than a dozen new signings, the Fire were never expected to be a contender in 2025. Saturday’s clash with LAFC proved this point, as the stacked Western Conference favorites demonstrated their quality even with a rotated attacking lineup.

The good news for Fire fans is that this game did indicate that they’re getting closer. The Fire were the better team for the first 20 minutes and the bulk of the second half prior to Dénis Bouanga’s late equalizer, and generally showed quality on both sides of the ball over the course of the night. Had it not been for a matter of millimeters on two occasions, LAFC might not have scored at all, and we could be discussing a Fire team that had cruised to victory. However, the Men in Red’s shortcomings in those crucial moments – Hugo Cuypers’ failed goal line clearance and Carlos Terán’s last-ditch tackle on Son – are what decided the game, and ultimately, coming up just short in key moments has been what has cost the Fire the most in 2025.

Though the Fire host regional rival St. Louis CITY next week in what should be a simple, routine, must-win match, they have two gargantuan tests coming up on the road in Philadelphia and Miami. Getting three points in either of those games would flip this narrative and serve as the Fire’s first real signature win over a top domestic opponent in the Berhalter era.

2. Terán loves the big occasion

Center back has been a major talking point among Fire fans this season, and rightfully so. It’s been a rotating door at the position throughout the year, and with expected starter Terán missing four months through injury and revelatory teenager Christopher Cupps missing two, center back has been wrought by inconsistency.

However, as the calendar flips into August, that’s all changing. Terán and Cupps are both back, meaning that for the first time since April, the Fire have all of their central defensive options available. While Terán isn’t the most obvious fit for Berhalter’s style, and one of the very few holdovers from the early Georg Heitz/Raphaël Wicky days, he demonstrated in his last two appearances that he’ll likely be good enough to hold down the position for the rest of the year.

Like his top-notch performance against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami earlier this season, Terán seemed to relish the opportunity to play in front of a full house and with extra eyeballs on the match because of Son. His header to open the scoring in the 11th minute was spectacular, as was his one-on-one denial of Son’s first big chance in MLS. The elephant in the room is that he did give away the decisive penalty that handed LAFC a point in the final stages, but considering he was going head-to-head with a world class forward getting in behind and doing specifically what he does best, it’s fair to give the Colombian a pass on it.

While Cupps is going to be the man sooner rather than later – the injury has merely put his lightning-quick ascent on hold rather than derailed it – Terán probably has the rest of 2025 to make a statement and show Fire fans the best version of himself… and he seems to be on track to do so.

3. Bamba also seems to prefer the spotlight

It isn’t just Terán who has excelled in the games with extra eyeballs. Star Designated Player winger Jonathan Bamba had, by far, his best night yet in a Fire uniform, and scored a belter of a goal to give his side the lead mere minutes after Son was introduced for the opposition. Aside from the goal, he looked confident and creative, causing all sorts of problems for LAFC’s back line.

The Frenchman, who spent his entire career in Europe’s top five leagues prior to joining MLS, seems to relish the big games here. The opening day spectacle in Columbus saw Bamba record two primary assists, and he also looked incredibly dangerous when facing Miami before a sold-out Soldier Field. Though he didn’t get on the scoresheet, Bamba also starred in the Fire’s all-important 1-0 win over the New York Red Bulls in their previous match, contributing to arguably the team’s most key win of the year in terms of head-to-head opponents in the playoff race.

It’s no secret that Bamba has not hit the ground running in MLS since his blockbuster winter arrival. While he’s been quite good and effective and made the Fire a much better team, he hasn’t had the quantity of big moments or top-line statistics. But if the last few weeks are anything to go by, the star DP is really rolling into top form in time for the home stretch of the season, and that’s exactly what Berhalter and co. would have hoped for.

4. Get used to Djé D’Avilla

Djé D’Avilla is officially a Chicago Fire starting midfielder. Not only has Berhalter indicated to his nearly $5 million investment that he views him as the future at the #6, but he’s backed up his words by starting the Ivorian in three of the Fire’s last four MLS matches – and D’Avilla has repaid his faith so far.

It would have been easy for Berhalter to use his fallback option for holding midfield, Mauricio Pineda, for a game of this magnitude against LAFC. Pineda has been the Fire’s starter there for the vast majority of 2025 and has been a part of the all-homegrown, all-American midfield trio with Sergio Oregel and Brian Gutiérrez that has sparked so much conversation in the city this season. Instead, Berhalter made it clear that D’Avilla is the #6 of the future by trusting him with the nod against LAFC’s exceptionally talented midfield, and the 22-year-old was largely able to contain the likes of Timothy Tillman, Marky Delgado, and Mathieu Choinière.

D’Avilla also showed a new dimension to his game that has been lacking in some moments so far since his April arrival; the midfielder looks much cleaner in possession, and is clearly gaining confidence now that he has Berhalter’s trust. D’Avilla went five-for-five on long balls and completed an impressive seven passes into the final third. It’s exactly what you want from one of the most expensive signings in team history, and after a difficult start to life in Chicago, an indicator that things are moving in the right direction for him in MLS.

5. The new stadium is going to be top

Saturday night was simply a perfect one for soccer. Warm weather, clear skies, an incredible atmosphere from both sets of supporters, a sea of red in the stands, and thrilling, end-to-end football on the pitch. And all of that managed to come to fruition in the run-down, outdated, suburban venue that is SeatGeek Stadium.

The match against LAFC rolled back the years to the prime of Bridgeview, when stars like Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Bastian Schweinsteiger sold out the building and drew eyeballs around the league. Sure, the debut of Son was a significant factor in ensuring every seat was filled, but the home support made up the majority of the crowd and the noise. SeatGeek Stadium is a dramatically different venue from Soldier Field, and while the raw numbers for this game might have been nearly double in the Fire’s primary home, Bridgeview brought a unique soccer-specific charm that would not have been possible in an NFL venue.

All of this goes to say that the upcoming downtown stadium is an incredible reason for Fire fans to get excited for 2028. The remarkable atmosphere produced on Saturday will pale in comparison to what’s possible in the state-of-the-art venue that Joe Mansueto and the Fire are planning for the end of this decade. While the Bridgeview matches are currently something that Chicago fans, staff, and players alike dread, they give a taste of what’s to come once the incredible 78 development is recognized just a few short years from now.