Chicago Fire FC Falls 4-1 to Atlanta United FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

CHICAGO (May 7, 2022) – Chicago Fire FC (2-3-4, 10 points) fell 4-1 to Atlanta United FC (4-4-3, 14 points) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday evening.

Two Chicago-area players played their first minutes with the Fire tonight, as Schaumburg native Chris Mueller came in for midfielder Brian Gutiérrez at halftime, earning his debut for the Chicago Fire after joining the team on Thursday. Additionally, Homegrown forward Victor Bezerra made his MLS debut in tonight’s match, coming on for forward Chinonso Offor in the second half.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with Atlanta opening the scoring in the third minute with a goal from Ronaldo Cisneros. Chicago answered with a goal from Chinonso Offor just seven minutes later, with the Nigerian striker scoring his first of the season. Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri sent in a ball from the left side after a miscleared corner kick, and Offor timed his run to one-time his shot past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

Cisneros scored two more goals before halftime, finding the back of the net in the 27th and 36th minutes. Brooks Lennon added the final goal for Atlanta in stoppage time of the second half.

NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to Soldier Field to face FC Cincinnati on Saturday, May 14. The Fire will celebrate Polish Heritage Night, featuring the National Anthem performance by The Voice Kids Poland finalist Natalia Kawalec. Beginning at 7:00 p.m. CT, the match will be broadcast live on WGN-TV, CF97 Live and transmitted locally in Spanish on Univision Radio.

Notes:

• Chicago Fire Homegrown player Victor Bezerra made his Major League Soccer debut, coming on for Chinonso Offor in the 81st minute.
• Chinonso Offor’s 11th minute goal was his first for the Fire in 2022.
• Atlanta United leads the series in 2022 with the win after the two clubs split the season series in 2021 with Chicago winning 3-0 at home and losing 3-1 on the road.

Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC 1:4 Atlanta United FC

Goals:
ATL - Cisneros (2) (Araújo 1, Moreno 3) 3’
CHI - Offor (1) (Shaqiri 3) 11’
ATL - Cisneros (3) 27’
ATL - Cisneros (4) (Almada 1) 36’
CHI - Lennon (2) 90+1’

Discipline:
CHI - M. Navarro (Yellow Card) 30’
ATL - Araújo (Yellow Card) 45+4’
CHI - Mueller (Yellow Card) 72’

Chicago Fire FC: GK Slonina, D Sekulić, D Omsberg, D Terán, D M. Navarro (D Espinoza, 90+2’), M Pineda, M Shaqiri ©, M F. Navarro, M Gutiérrez (Mueller, 46’), M Ivanov (Herbers, 63’), F Offor (Bezerra, 81’)

Subs not used: GK Brady, D Bornstein, D Burks, M Oregel Jr., M Casas Jr.

Atlanta United FC: GK Shuttleworth, D Franco, D Lennon, D Robinson © (De John, 17’), D Ibarra (Sosa, 81’), D Gutman (Wiley, 67’, Hernandez, 81’), M Almada, M Rossetto, F Moreno (Hyndman, 67’), F Araújo, F Cisneros

Subs not used: GK Rios-Novo, M Sejdic, F Dwyer, F Wolff

Stats Summary: CHI / ATL
Shots: 14 / 16
Shots on Goal: 2 / 7
Passing Accuracy: 83.4% / 90.4%
Saves: 3 / 1
Corners: 4 / 3
Fouls: 7 / 8
Offsides: 1 / 1
Possession: 38.8% / 61.2%

Attendance: 42,547

Referee: Ramy Touchan
Assistant Referees: Matthew Nelson, Brian Dunn
Fourth Official: Elvis Omsanovic
VAR: Daniel Radford, Jeffrey Greeson