5 Things We Learned: Chicago Fire vs. New York City FC

The Chicago Fire's trip to New York City this weekend didn't go exactly as they had hoped. After an excellent start, a Brian Gutiérrez red card lurched them into a hole, and Gregg Berhalter's team couldn't contain NYCFC's pressure. The game ended 3-1, snapping a four-match winning run for the Fire.

Here are five things we learned from the loss at Yankee Stadium.

1. Discipline remains a key concern

In truth, the Fire have been their own worst enemy this season. Yesterday's game showcased that, as a fine first half performance was completely undone when things turned ugly. Two red cards and a host of silly errors created the ideal conditions for an NYCFC comeback, and preventable mistakes were ultimately the cause of an unpreventable collapse.

Specifically, Gutiérrez's 32nd minute sending-off was really the turning point. The Fire had been in firm control of the game at that point, even if NYCFC had created chances and Chris Brady had been forced into some important saves. Berhalter told media after the game that the action "put (the) whole team in jeopardy" and that anything that happened after the red card was "almost a moot point." The foul that Guti was awarded the red card for was a needless one, coming off the ball and without any clear motive.

The second red card, where Djé D'Avilla was confoundingly sent off late for a tackle on Alonso Martínez, put the nail in the coffin on the result. Berhalter also noted postgame that the Fire had been in a positive moment and had been putting pressure on NYC when the referee made that decision to send off D'Avilla, so it's clear that he viewed both red cards as points that abruptly halted Fire momentum. If they can remove these lapses and recurring defensive errors from their game, the Fire will be much more well-positioned to make good on their encouraging signs.

2. Brian Gutiérrez has growing to do

Last week's performance in Charlotte showed the world exactly what Gutiérrez is capable of. Sunday's game at Yankee Stadium brought him back down to earth. The 21-year-old was superb in last week's win, notching two goals and an assist, but was the primary antagonist in the Fire's own downfall this time out.

His head coach was also not afraid to pin the loss mainly on him. Berhalter repeated numerous times in the postgame press conference that Guti's moment of madness had been the turning point in the match, stating that while the team should try to erase this game from their memory as soon as possible, the young attacking midfielder should view it as a "learning experience." It also wasn't the first time in 2025 that he's done something in this vein, as he was suspended for a similar offense in Columbus in the first game of the season.

"(Gutiérrez) needs to do some soul-searching," Berhalter said, "and he needs to figure out why this is recurring."

Now, Gutiérrez will miss next week's match in Orlando, and with two other midfielders now in position to also be unavailable for that one, that game will become a much more daunting task for the Fire to win. With personal ambitions of getting onto the USMNT and moving eventually to Europe, Guti simply needs to remove these lapses from his game. Otherwise, Mauricio Pochettino and potential employers will view indiscipline as a red flag.

3. Leo Barroso needs time

One positive from yesterday's game was the long-awaited return of Leo Barroso from injury. The Portuguese defender had not appeared in MLS since March 29th as he had suffered an injury that kept him out for almost two months, leaving the position to a rotation of Justin Reynolds, Omari Glasgow, and Jonathan Dean.

Barroso's return didn't go so well. Seconds after coming onto the pitch, NYC exposed the weakness on his side, tying the game. Justin Haak spun past him to set up the second goal for Hannes Wolf. Barroso also lost his balance defending Alonso Martínez seconds before D'Avilla fouled him for the third goal. In spite of all that, it's clear that these unfortunate moments were caused by a lack of match sharpness and should not be viewed as an indictment of his quality.

In addition, Barroso is still just 19 years old. The early indications of him in his first five Fire appearances are that he's going to be a very high-caliber right back in MLS, but he still has development in front of him. Once he's fully back to match fitness, the starting spot will certainly be his, but right now, he needs to get back up to speed if he is to be relied upon for 90 minutes.

4. Djé D'Avilla isn't ready for major minutes

It's too early to call Djé D'Avilla any sort of a bust despite his hefty $5 million price tag. It's also difficult to say that his sending-off was entirely his fault, as he clearly won the ball, VAR recommended that the referee overturn the call, and he still stuck with it. However, in his most prominent MLS appearance yet since arriving in Chicago in April, D'Avilla proved that he's still a very raw young player who needs to tidy up his game if he wants to meet his potential.

This time out, D'Avilla came on before halftime, replacing an injured Mauricio Pineda whose withdrawal appeared to be more than just precautionary. The Ivorian holding midfielder looked lackluster defensively and was already booked by the hour mark, meaning he played on a knife edge for the last half hour and eventually paid the price when a refereeing decision didn't go his way.

Sunday was the best demonstration yet that D'Avilla doesn't look entirely comfortable in MLS so far, and will also probably need time to build a rhythm if he's going to find success in this league. He's also adjusting to a jump up in level, having joined the club from the Portuguese second division mid-season. Nonetheless, if that progress doesn't happen soon, pressure will quickly ramp up on the Fire's sixth most expensive player of all time.

5. Kellyn Acosta needs to seize this opportunity

Ironically, the player who has possibly the most urgent and do-or-die takeaway from this game will be Kellyn Acosta, who didn't feature in the game at all and was an unused substitute. It's not the first time he's had that unwanted distinction this spring, as it was the fourth straight MLS game in which he did not appear for the Fire at all.

That's going to change next Saturday. Gutiérrez and D'Avilla are both suspended, while Pineda seemed poised to also miss out with injury barring a surprise. Almost by default, that means we'll see a midfield trio of Acosta, Rominigue Kouamé, and Sergio Oregel Jr., with Sam Williams being the only other first team option if no second team players (like Diego Konincks, Trip Fleming III, and Vitaliy Hlyut) are available.

Acosta simply must seize this opportunity. He came to the Fire with the expectation of being a key player and was the league's most sought-after free agent in 2024. Now, he's on the brink of falling out of Berhalter's plans entirely... and has to be at his best in Orlando to prevent that from happening.