5 Things We Learned: Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls

HARRISON, N.J. — The Chicago Fire’s five-game unbeaten run is over, but energy is still high around the Men in Red. Berhalter’s team suffered an unfortunate 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Arena despite a strong performance for the bulk of the 90 minutes, and now drop to 7th in the East before a big game against Inter Miami next week.

Here are five things we learned from the game last night in New Jersey.

1. Fire must eliminate “black outs”

Across the board, it wasn’t a bad performance from the Fire in admittedly difficult conditions. They largely had the game under control in the first half, and were dominant in the second half, with two goals in the 41st and 47th minutes undoing their hard work right at the end of the first half. Head Coach Gregg Berhalter admitted as such, noting postgame that outside of a “five-minute blackout period,” he was very impressed with the overall performance.

It’s not the first time this season that has happened for the Fire. On opening day in Columbus, three of the Crew’s four goals came in quick succession during a 12-minute window around halftime, undoing what was otherwise a solid road performance. Against CF Montréal last week, the Fire never really looked like conceding outside of a five minute spell at the start of the second half in which Dante Sealy found his team’s lone goal.

Last night, even after falling behind right before the break, the Fire were extremely solid throughout the second half. Despite being forced into some unorthodox moves – like fielding Omari Glasgow at right back and Maren Haile-Selassie at left back, testing the team’s depth and versatility – the Fire always looked confident and were very much in control both in and out of possession.

Though Glasgow especially took time to grow into the game, once he was rolling he created numerous opportunities, and had it not been for some excellent goalkeeping from Carlos Coronel, he likely would have notched at least one assist at the end. Both fullbacks were aggressive and regular participants in the attack in the final half-hour, and at no point did it look like Berhalter’s gamble wasn’t going to work; unfortunately, his forwards just couldn’t put the ball over the line to earn a point or more.

2. A confident Bamba is a game-changer

It took seven games, but Jonathan Bamba finally has his first Major League Soccer goal. However, the goal alone was just the highlight of a very solid all-around performance from the Fire’s marquee Designated Player, who was the star of the show in the attack. In fact, both on and off the ball, it was one of his best performances so far, and its clear that confidence is high for the 29-year-old.

Indeed, it was particularly encouraging to see such a dominant attacking performance after an unbelievably frustrating outing last week. Though Bamba was spectacularly involved in the Fire’s opening goal against Montréal, he overall has a pretty anonymous and ineffective game, and walked straight down the tunnel when he was substituted late on. His response against Red Bull – coming out all guns blazing with a first half goal – was refreshing.

While he couldn’t notch another goal involvement in the second half, he was still heavily involved in the attack, and made Coronel work on numerous occasions. Two hopeful shots from outside the penalty area were saved by the New York keeper, but demonstrated his confidence after opening his MLS account.

After seven games, Bamba now has one goal and is second in the league in assists with four. Those are numbers that most Fire fans would have happily taken heading into opening day, but the opening of his goalscorer account could also enable the floodgates to open for the Frenchman in the final third.

3. The midfield lacks creativity without a playmaker

It’s no secret that a three-man midfield with three nominal sixes isn’t exactly a recipe for creative success, but that was reiterated again last night. With a Rominigue Kouamé, Sergio Oregel, and a half-fit Kellyn Acosta comprising the starting midfield trio against Red Bull, Berhalter opted for three players who can best be defined as either holding midfielders or, at most, box to box connectors.

The absence of Brian Gutiérrez – due to an injury sustained on international duty with the U.S. Men’s National Team – has been felt. When he’s played this season, he’s been at the heart of everything in the attack, either finding space to connect with the front three or arrive in the final third himself. With Oregel being the most technically proficient of the midfielders, while solid, the team just doesn’t have that same playmaking starpower in the center.

For now, this is an unavoidable problem. Even the two bench midfielders last night, Mauricio Pineda and Sam Williams, are also quite defensive midfielders, and the Fire ran into the same problems last week when those two started over Acosta and Kouamé. There’s no easy fix for this, either, so Berhalter must hope that Gutiérrez returns soon, or that Oregel can bring the level of his playmaking up to the standard of his ball progression in midfield to somewhat replicate the contributions of Guti.

4. Acosta still isn’t back to his best

A talking point simmering under the Fire’s season has been the relative underperformance of Kellyn Acosta over the last few months, especially considering he’s one of the most high-profile players on the roster. This season, he’s missed a few weeks with injury, so it’s perhaps unfair to pin too much responsibility on him, but it was a rough game last night.

At his best, Acosta is one of the top midfielders in MLS, as demonstrated by the level he maintained in 2021 and 2022. He looked a shadow of that player at Red Bull, with the low point being his concession of a first half penalty of a lazy challenge on New York’s Dylan Nealis that gave the hosts their 2-1 lead.

On the ball, however, Acosta was fine. He didn’t give the ball away too many times, completing almost all of his passes, though none of his involvements were incisive. Nonetheless, Oregel looked like the more adventurous and dangerous ball carrier, while Kouamé picked up a chunk of the defensive burden with his aggressive and hard-working approach. Acosta’s position probably isn’t in any sort of jeopardy despite the deep competition at the six, however if he can get back to a higher level, which he’s entirely capable of, it will greatly amplify the strength of the Fire’s midfield.

5. Center back depth is going to be tested

Injuries have taken a toll on the Fire this season, and after ravaging the team’s midfield for the first month of the season, they have now chosen center back as their next victim. Jack Elliott suffered an injury in recent days that kept him out of the New York trip, and he is now expected to spend some time on the sidelines; Sam Rogers, who started the game next to Carlos Terán, was then subsequently forced off with injury toward the end of the first half. Rogers had started despite having taken a knock in training earlier this week.

Omar González – the Fire’s fourth-choice center back who came off the bench – didn’t exactly cover himself in glory against Red Bull. It was a difficult circumstance to come in to, but nonetheless, New York almost instantly scored because the 36-year-old lost his mark on forward Serge Ngoma. He responded fine after that, but wasn’t asked to do much defensively as the Fire largely controlled possession in the second half.

In the coming days, it will become clear if Rogers’ injury is something to be worried about or if he’ll be able to bounce back instantly. For now, the Fire are left with just three healthy first team center backs ahead of next Sunday’s clash with Inter Miami, being González, Terán, and top talent Christopher Cupps. A González-Terán partnership against Messi and Miami is not preferable but could be a reality with Elliott and Rogers both now injured.

If there’s a silver lining from this new injury streak at the heart of defense, it could mean there’s an opportunity for the 16-year-old Cupps to make his MLS debut soon. The Fire’s top prospect was the talk of the preseason, impressive in every appearance he made, and has been a star for the U.S. U-17 National Team as well. Soon enough, he’ll get the chance to step on the field in a high-stakes league game and could even compete for legitimate minutes this season.