Chicago Fire 5-1 Atlanta United
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–There was a fireworks show scheduled for after the match, but the fireworks started early and often in the first half for the Chicago Fire as they shocked Atlanta United, 5-1, at SeatGeek Stadium.
The first boom occurred in the fourth minute as Francisco Calvo headed in a corner from Nico Gaitan. Three minutes later, Gaitan sent a long diagonal that Leonardo Gonzalez-Pirez misplayed right to CJ Sapong for an easy finish.
If Atlanta, who rested Josef Martinez after his run at Copa America, weren’t shell shocked by being 2-0 down after seven minutes, they would be triple whammied six minutes later. VAR saw a handball by LGP deny Aleksandar Katai a goal scoring opportunity which resulted in a penalty for the Fire and a red card for the Atlanta defender. Gaitan would cooly convert the spot kick to make it 3-0.
Sapong added a second in the 37th after taking a backheel from Gaitan and getting in behind the Atlanta defense and beating Brad Guzan. Fabian Herbers would add the fifth after collecting a long ball from Calvo.
The five goals is a record for a single half for the Fire and a record for goals allowed in an MLS match for the Five Stripes. Gatian’s three assists tied a club record with Patrick Doody.
The second half was mostly anti-climax—a consolation penalty for Brandon Vazquez not withstanding. It also saw the Fire looking for more goals, but some of the same non-finishing that occurred in previous matches. Still, that doesn’t spoil what turned out to be a great night for a Fire team that sorely needed it.
It was that second half that Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic pointed out as room for improvement after a big win.
“I cannot say there’s anything else that this team didn’t show in the past or in the last games except execution, which in the first half was almost perfect and with that said, I have nothing else to add,” said Paunovic. “There is nothing. This team was always consistent in style, always consistent in creating opportunities and producing a lot in attack. There are things that are repeating and this time we were very clinical in front of the goal.
“I’m not satisfied with the second half. Even with a good result, we could have done much better and I think we didn’t have the same edge and same desire like in the first half, which I understand. We emphasized in halftime we have to appreciate this result in order to play and create more and stay consistent with a clean sheet. Unfortunately, in the second half, we didn’t achieve our goals and that’s something that I’m not happy about.
“We all know that even though we had a good result today here, we all know we have to get better. There are many things to improve. It’s a very important step forward for the team. Again, moving forward, winning games helps the confidence, but we know that we have to improve. We have to stay consistent. So right after this game, we’re turning our focus on our next game Saturday and we got to prepare. We’re all competitors here and we want to win. We want to play immediately next game. So, we are motivated as I said, it was a good game for our confidence.”
As for Atlanta coach Frank de Boer, it was another slow start for his team. The only difference was everything about it was bad.
“Yeah, it’s not explainable,” said de Boer. “Every aspect of the game, we weren’t there. Of course I have to blame myself first because I have to prepare them. We have to be ashamed for those 45 minutes, for our fans. We come here and we were really embarrassing today, especially the first half of course. Yeah, explanations are always difficult to say but we weren’t there the first half, it was clear.”
The Fire have a quick turnaround and visit Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at 7:30pm CT on ESPN+. Atlanta will look to recover Sunday with a home date with New York Red Bulls at 1pm CT on FOX.
It’s a win for the Fire. It does not cure all ills, but at least for one night, the actual goals appeared to match if not exceed the expected goals.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Francisco Calvo (Gaitan) 4
CHI-CJ Sapong (Gaitan) 7
CHI-Nico Gaitan (penalty kick) 13
CHI-CJ Sapong (Gaitan) 37
CHI-Fabian Herbers (Calvo) 44
ATL-Brandon Vazquez (penalty kick) 58
BOOKING SUMMARY:
ATL-Leonardo Gonzalez-Pirez (sent off, denial of goal scoring opportunity) 11
CHI-Przemyslaw Frankowski (caution, tactical foul) 57
ATL-Miles Robinson (caution, tactical foul) 69
CHI-Jeremiah Gutjahr (caution, reckless foul) 87
CHI-Nemanja Nikolic (caution, tactical foul) 90+2
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #27-Kenneth Kronholm; #13-Brandt Bronico, #5-Francisco Calvo, #31-Bastian Schweinsteiger, #25-Jorge Corrales (#33-Jeremiah Gutjahr 46); #20-Nico Gaitan, #6-Dax McCarty; #11-Przemyslaw Frankowski, #21-Fabian Herbers (#12-Amando Moreno 71), #10-Aleksandar Katai; #9-CJ Sapong (#23-Nemanja Nikolic 59)
Subs not used: #45-Richard Sanchez, #2-Marcelo, #15-Grant Lillard, #17-Diego Campos
ATLANTA UNITED FC (4-2-3-1): #1-Brad Guzan; #2-Franco Escobar, #12-Miles Robinson, #5-Leonardo Gonzalez-Pirez, #3-Michael Parkhurst; #18-Jeff Larentowicz, #6-Darlington Nagbe (#22-Mikey Ambrose 62); #24-Julian Gressel (#20-Brek Shea 62), #10-Gonzalo Martinez (#4-Florentin Pogba 18), #28-Dion Pereira; #19-Brandon Vazquez
Subs not used: #25-Alec Kann, #14-Justin Meram, #11-Eric Remedi, #30-Andrew Carleton
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 24-3 ATL
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 10-1 ATL
FOULS: CHI 14-7 ATL
OFFSIDES: CHI 1-1 ATL
CORNER KICKS: CHI 6-1 ATL
SAVES: CHI 0-5 ATL
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Assistant Referees: Oscar-Mitchell Carvalho, Richard Gamache
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Allen Chapman
Weather: Clear and 83º
Attendance: 13,476
Man of the Match: Nico Gaitan (CHI)
