Five Things We Learned: Chicago Fire 1, New York City 3

The Chicago Fire returned to Soldier Field for the first time since July looking to extend an undefeated run at home that extended past two months. The streak – built largely off of results at SeatGeek – saw the team finally claw its way to a winning record at home but ended Saturday night against New York City, the team immediately ahead of the Fire in the standings going into the match.

Just as in the reverse fixture back in May, the Fire went ahead but conceded twice before a late dagger en route to a 3-1 loss – this time, without being able to blame the result on playing down a man. Here’s five things we learned from a muggy night in Soldier Field.

1. The Fire couldn’t match NYCFC’s playoff-like “intensity”

In what was likely their final six-point match of the season (Inter Miami FC are one spot and four points ahead of the need to cash their games in hand into results and Columbus have been on a skid, almost allowing Atlanta to come back from a five-goal deficit, but the Fire are unlikely to be competing with either for position), the Fire were in a must-win game against New York City, a team that many had considered to be a playoff team from the season’s kickoff back in February.

That meant that the matchup, more than just an opportunity for points, was a test for a Fire team who want to prove that if they do make the postseason (and that is an if, even if it’s still far more likely than not even after the loss), they can look like a team that belongs there.

Instead, the Fire fell flat. While some of this can be blamed on tactics, the Fire also struggled to meet the moment on the pitch. In a physical game where the referee was clearly letting fouls go, Fire attackers were bullied in key moments, sending a clear signal to players like Hugo Cuypers and Philip Zinckernagel that they’d have to pay a toll if they wanted to attack.

After the loss, Gregg Berhalter blamed the energy level his team brought to the match, saying “I think after [our] goal, we dipped a little bit with our intensity. And there was that period where, you know, they weren't creating chances, but I don’t think we really took control of the game like we could have.”

As a result, the Fire head coach said “everyone seems to be one step late” as the Fire were pressing up the field, giving NYCFC time and space for their opening goal. Ultimately, “we didn't have the energy that we needed, we didn't have the precision that we needed to really create more high quality goal-scoring opportunities.”

Down the stretch, with teams jockeying for playoff position – or out of the postseason, with no pressure except to play spoiler – the Fire will likely meet playoff-like intensity in every match. When it happened this time, the team fell short.

2.  The Fire need to learn how to beat NYCFC

For four years now, the Fire’s matches against New York City have been pretty abysmal. The last Fire manager to manage a win over them was Raphaël Wicky, incidentally on the night he was fired and just weeks before the Pigeons won their only MLS Cup. But that 2-0 win in Bridgeview in September 2021 seems like a lifetime ago – the Fire are 0W-3D-5L against them since, managing just three points from eight meetings.

This season’s two meetings have been as frustrating as any. On both occasions, the Fire took an early lead through Philip Zinckernagel, and both times it slipped away into a 3-1 defeat. While in May, they were the architects of their own downfall, including two red cards, this time around, NYCFC just looked better prepared and organized defensively, frustrating the Fire’s front three for the better part of the 90 minutes.

The Fire need to figure out how to beat NYCFC – and soon. New York City are a likely playoff opponent if the Fire can secure a postseason berth in their final five matches.

Despite the loss, the Fire are currently still far more likely to make it there than not. If they do, they would almost certainly have a one-off wildcard game on October 22nd, for which NYCFC are one of three probable opponents (Orlando and Columbus are the other two).

There is an overwhelming chance that game would be away from home, and Yankee Stadium (and Citi Field, the other baseball stadium that sometimes serves as the Pigeon’s home, for that matter) is somewhere the Fire have never, ever won in their history.

To change that fact, the Fire will need to come up with some new ideas, because…

3. The Fire have become too predictable in the attack

Pascal Jensen, NYCFC’s head coach, clearly watched enough game tape on the Fire to understand his opponent’s strengths and their likely game plan – and figured a way to play against it.

The Pigeons were more than willing to allow the Fire to control the ball in the middle of the pitch but effectively marked the Fire’s most dangerous players out from the final third – particularly in the halfspaces and wide areas where the Fire have been so effective.

Philip Zinckernagel, the talisman who has been key to so much of the Fire’s potent offense, finished the night with 55 touches – fine – but almost all of those were deep in the midfield and in the center lane. In the final third, Zinckernagel was all but cut out from the game. In his second MLS start, André Franco was largely anonymous.

The same can be said of a number of other players. Djé D’Avilla put together a performance that, on paper, looked good statistically. He also led the Fire with passes into the final third, completing all five of his progressive passes on the night, and 97% of his 68 passes in total.

Gutiérrez also put up strong numbers, but as with D’Avilla, it’s an illusion: New York’s game plan was to allow the Fire to have possession in key areas, trusting that they could limit the Fire to chances from distance (which they trusted that Matt Freese could handle), so long as they kept the team away from the areas where the Fire have been potent this season.

When the Fire did penetrate NYCFC’s box – something that happened a lot in the last half hour – NYCFC’s press meant that the entry was slowed and contained, and by the time a Fire attacker was able to look for a pass (or a shot on goal), the Pigeon’s defense was set.

As a result, although the Fire had nine shots in the second half, including seven from the 75th minute or later, almost all of them were blocked, including three of the Fire’s four shots in stoppage time.

Fortunately for the Fire, few teams in MLS have the kind of defense that NYCFC do, but the fact is, Jensen clearly read the book on the Fire – and while Jensen may have read it cover to cover, other teams will clearly be taking notes from this one before facing the team.

The Fire need to come up with a Plan B (although in-game adjustments have never been viewed as one of Berhalter’s strengths) or execute Plan A with 100% intensity and full precision – and even that may not be enough against top teams.

That’s hard to do, however, when you’re coming close to running the legs off of one of your key players, which takes us to…

3. Andrew Gutman needs a break

No Fire player has played more minutes in 2025 than Andrew Gutman, who, with well over 2,500 minutes under his belt, has already smashed his career-high for a season. While the 29-year-old has been among the Fire’s top players throughout the year and has earned every one of those minutes, his heavy workload is clearly beginning to take a toll, and Saturday’s meeting with New York City indicated that.

A key facet of Gutman’s role for the Fire this season has been his ability as a two-way player, something Frank Klopas failed to make the most of last year. Berhalter’s use of Gutman as an attacking full back, at times inverting into the midfield and at others, bombing down the left wing in possession, has made him a central figure for the team. However, it is also a very demanding role, and Gutman has started every single game for the Fire in all competitions this year and played 93% of available minutes.

Gutman’s fatigue was evident on all three goals. On the first, NYCFC pounced on a transition sequence, quickly carrying the ball from their own half to the Fire’s goal – Gutman has been very high up the field supporting the attack and was very, very slow to recover after the change in possession. At the end of the sequence, Nicolás Fernández was free and unmarked at the far post to tap in a simple finish. Gutman’s heavy legs were also displayed on the third goal, 93 minutes into the game, when he reacted slowly to Agustín Ojeda receiving the ball, and the game was 3-1 a few seconds later.

Fortunately, help is on the way. Summer signing Viktor Radojević has arrived in Chicago and was unveiled to the fans on Saturday – the Serbian youth international defender is a defensively solid full back who was signed to provide depth for Gutman on the left side of the back four. He is one for the future and is not necessarily thought of as someone who will play a major role in 2025, especially given that there are only five regular season games left to play. However, it will benefit Gutman exponentially going forward to have an extra capable body on his side to relieve the workload.

5. This might not be your dad’s Fire team (unless your dad started watching recently)

A week ago, our producer titled the recap of the Fire’s win over the Revs on The Bonfire ‘This is your father’s fire” after John quipped that “this might not be your father’s Fire team,” referring to the team’s different form compared to recent seasons – before talking it out, and realizing that that might actually make it “your father’s” era Fire, if they became a fan during the team’s first decade when they were constantly competing for - and often winning - trophies.

At Soldier Field against NYCFC, however, the Fire looked like the teams of a decidedly more recent vintage. Going ahead then conceding two – and eventually three goals in a row? Painfully familiar to fans who’ve been watching the team over the previous few seasons. Getting 13 shots on target – outshooting their opponent – but managing just 1.2 expected goals (xG) off of those chances? Yeah, that also rings a fairly unpleasant bell.

But it’s the Pigeon’s go-ahead goal that really brings the unfortunate taste of déjà-vu to the palate. A lobbed ball from a NYCFC corner made it to the far post where Alonso Martínez – the team’s leading scorer – was left completely unmarked, allowing the Costa Rican striker to bag his 15th goal of the season (that puts him just one behind Hugo Cuypers’ tally) on a half-volley.

Blame it on whatever you want – a lack of intensity from the Fire, the relative inexperience of Djé D’Avilla (the nearest man who came close but couldn’t close the distance to Martínez in time), the fact that it was Joel Waterman’s first game for the team, giving the Fire their umpteenth different starting center back pairing on the year, heck, blame it on the phase of the moon –  but it feels painfully, painfully familiar to anyone who’s watched this team over the several most recent seasons.

With just five games left in the regular season, and the real possibility that there or in the postseason, if the Fire qualify, the trajectory – and possibly fate – of the Fire’s season could be decided by an individual moment. It would be a real shame if that moment was an all-too-familiar lapse that this edition of the team has worked hard to move past.