Chicago Fire FC 0-0 Atlanta United
CHICAGO, IL—Both teams came looking for three points in a Saturday matinee, but both teams ended with one despite numerous chances as the sides finished goalless. It is the third goalless draw for the Fire at Soldier Field this season, but they extend their unbeaten streak to four and will still be in the thick of the playoff chase pending results elsewhere.
Atlanta had the better of play in the first half and nearly scored before halftime, but Thiago Almada scuffed a golden chance from eight yards out wide.
The Fire were the better side in the second half and had numerous chances to score themselves. They thought that they did in the 54th minute through Xherdan Shaqiri, but VAR saw that Shaqiri was in an offside position as he received Miguel Navarro’s cross.
Chris Mueller also had a golden chance from close range, but pushed his effort over the bar.
It is still a clean sheet and a point, and Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson was pleased with the resolve and that they are still in the playoff hunt.
“You know, we didn’t get the full three points tonight like we wanted, but from four or five games ago, every game was a game that we’re gonna go out and play for three points for,” said Hendrickson. “This just means that now, we have to go on the road and pick up three points, but I think we’ve shown that we can do that. So we’re not worried about that. The big thing for me from this game is, you know, a month, two months ago, we lose that game tonight, you know, we find some way to lose that game and that didn’t happen tonight.”
The Fire travel to Charlotte next Saturday for their inaugural match against Charlotte FC. Kickoff is at 6pm on WGN-TV.
SCORING SUMMARY:
None
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Jhon Duran (caution, reckless foul) 41
CHI-Xherdan Shaqiri (caution, dissent) 63
ATL-Santiago Sosa (caution, reckless foul) 81
ATL-Dom Dwyer (caution, reckless foul) 90+5
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-Gaga Slonina; #2-Boris Sekulic, #23-Carlos Teran (#30-Gaston Gimenez 76), #5-Rafael Czichos, #6-Miguel Navarro; #31-Federico Navarro, #22-Mauricio Pineda; #8-Chris Mueller (#40-Brian Gutierrez 88), #10-Xherdan Shaqiri, #7-Jairo Torres (#21-Fabian Herbers 88); #26-Jhon Duran (#11-Kacper Przybylko 61)
Subs not used: #18-Spencer Richey, #30-Gaston Gimenez, #36-Andre Reynolds, #37-Javier Casas, #9-Chinoso Offor, #27-Kendall Burks
ATLANTA UNITED FC (3-4-1-2): #34-Rocco Rios Novo; #22-Juan Jose Purata, #6-Alan Franco, #32-George Campbell (#37-Aiden McFadden 46); #19-Luiz Araujo (#15-Andrew Gutman 74), #5-Santiago Sosa, #9-Matheus Rossetto (#14-Franco Ibarra 81), #26-Caleb Wiley (#10-Marcelino Moreno 81); #8-Thiago Almada; #7-Josef Martinez, #29-Ronaldo Cisneros (#4-Dom Dwyer 81)
Subs not used: #23-Raul Gudino, #30-Machop Chol, #3-Alex De John, #13-Amar Sejdic
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 15-13 ATL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 3-2 ATL
FOULS: CHI 7-18 ATL
OFFSIDES: CHI 2-2 ATL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 7-8 ATL
SAVES: CHI 2-3 ATL
Referee: Timothy Ford
Assistant Referees: Adam Wienckowski, Brian Poeschel
Fourth Official: Ricardo Fierro
VAR: Alex Chilowicz
Weather: Partly Sunny and 81º
Attendance: 23,951
Man of the Match: Federico Navarro (CHI)
