Chicago Fire vs Atlanta United Soldier Field, Chicago Saturday, Apr. 11, 8:30 PM Apple TV MLS Match Preview AJC's United coverage ATLUTD.com Soccer with Doug Substack Fire home page Player Availability Injury lists here. No suspensions, save Coach Tata. Team Form ATL (1-1-4) ATL 1-3 CLB ATL 0-0 DCU ATL 3-1 PHI CHI (3-1-2) CHI 1-0 NSC PHI 1-2 CHI CHI 1-2 DCU ~ The Fire seem an enigma. Chicago has a much better record than Atlanta, and especially deserve plaudits for their win over Nashville, but two of their wins came against teams below Atlanta in the table. Through six matches they have scored three more goals than Atlanta, but the biggest difference is on the defensive end: Whereas Atlanta has surrendered 11 goals thus far, Chicago has only let slip 5. They appear to have found a formula that has allowed them both consistency and stability. (3 of their back 4 have started all six matches, thus far.) Belgian international Hugo Cuypers leads their attack with 4 goals, but it's their midfield that is pulling the strings more effectively this season. Robin Lod, Maren Haile-Selassie and Anton Saletros are playing able MLS football at the moment. Based on the two matches I've seen, they're simply not making many mistakes. Not overly aggressive in the press, but doing well to keep opposing teams from driving down the middle or finding large, open spaces. Haven't heard whether Galarza's visa issue has been resolved. Let's see how the lads react to a change of scenery. Vamos Atlanta!
He's listed on the availability reports as out, so I assume that means he's still in Paraguay. Which is not great, since he seems to be Atlanta's most important player, without whom the midfield becomes nonfunctional. Which, yeah, a loan player from River Plate who the fans were happy to see leave being your best player doesn't usually set up a team for success, but here we are.
Just warning that I'm in dour spirits after Arsenal's totally s*** display this morning, so I'm in prime grumpy mode. Saba in for Alexy, with ESPN implying Saba will be on the right. Alexy apparently hobbling so he's not dressed. Lucas Hoyos Enea Mihaj Stian Gregersen Elías Baez Tomás Jacob Tristan Muyumba Matías Galarza Cooper Sanchez Emmanuel Latte Lath Miguel Almirón Saba Lobjanidze Former Stripe Gutman starting for Chicago.
No Miranchuk, no Tata. And the announcers are gushing about Chicago's defense. So this should be amazing.
8' sees Atlanta already take their third corner of the night. Which is taken short, ultimately producing nothing but a yellow on a Chicago player for their cynical tackle.
Defense allows themselves to get outnumbered in the build up, with Baez ending up outside his defender. Jacob drops into the middle to cover but does poor in marking his man, who lays it off for an easy goal.
That one was also nearly a Jacob assist. Dude needs to calm down. A yellow, a really bad goal against, and then that. Of course, he hit the post on the offensive end, too, so that's good.
The audio mix on Apple TV is pretty bad for this game. I switched over to the Chicago radio. So far, they've been really good. They don't know the Atlanta players, but that's OK.
31' and Lath can't contort his body enough to finish a short cross by Baez, who did a nice 1-2 with Galarza.