WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 7, 2025) – Chicago Fire FC (7-5-4, 25 points) capped off a five-game road trip with a 7-1 win against D.C. United (4-8-6, 18 points) Saturday night at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. Forward Tom Barlow recorded his first hat trick in his first start of 2025, while midfielder Philip Zinckernagel recorded a goal and an assist for his seventh consecutive road match with a goal contribution. Midfielders Maren Haile-Selassie, Jonathan Bamba and Brian Gutiérrez also recorded a goal to help Chicago earn a league-leading road sixth victory of the season.
Chicago jumped to a 1-0 lead before the 10-minute mark in the match. Midfielder Rominigue Kouamé recovered a ball following a tackle to Bamba, playing out to wide to Jonathan Dean. The right back crossed into an open space in the box, where Haile-Selassie finished cleanly to tally his first goal of the season.
The hosts tried to push forward for the ball, but the visitors took advantage with the counter. Barlow won a header that fell to Zinckernagel, who played a ball into open space for Bamba to sprint to. The Ivorian winger dribbled and beat the goalkeeper far-post to double the lead for the Fire.
Barlow would punish D.C. for its high line again. Left back Andrew Gutman received a ball in his own half, lifting his head to see Barlow take off on a run behind the defense. Gutman lofted the ball behind the defense to Barlow, who slotted the ball off the far post to give Chicago a 3-0 lead at the half hour mark.
The St. Louis native would get on the board again just before the end of the first half. Zinckernagel again initiated a counter attack, playing to an open Bamba on the left wing. The winger dribbled to the middle before playing out wide to Haile-Selassie, who crossed to Barlow in the box to finish for a brace and a 4-0 lead for Chicago.
The attack continued in the second half, as Zinckernagel won back a ball he initially lost before playing out to Gutman. The left back played it back to Zinckernagel immediately, who finished from the edge of the box to increase the lead to five in the 56th minute.
D.C. United finally answered at the hour mark with Dominique Badji’s first goal of the season. But Barlow would erase any chance of a comeback five minutes later, collecting a rebound from Leonardo Barroso’s blocked cross to complete the first hat trick of his career.
Coming into the match for Barlow in his Major League Soccer debut, forward Jason Shokalook got on the end of the breakaway following a D.C. corner kick in the first minute of stoppage time. He broke a tackle before laying off to a wide-open Gutiérrez to wrap up the scoring in a Club record-tying 7-1 victory for Chicago.
NEXT MATCH: Chicago returns to the lakefront to begin a three-game homestand with a rematch against Nashville SC on Saturday, June 14. The second leg of a doubleheader co-hosted with Chicago Stars FC will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the doubleheader at Soldier Field can be purchased HERE via Ticketmaster or by calling 888-MLS-FIRE. The match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and transmitted locally on WLS 890 AM (English) and Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).
Notes:
- In his first start of 2025, Tom Barlow scored for the first time this season on his way to recording the first hat trick of his Major League Soccer career. The forward previously had only one multi-goal performance in his career, a brace with the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 27, 2020.
- Barlow recorded the first hat trick by a Fire player since Nemanja Nikolić in a 3-2 home victory over the Philadelphia Union on October 15, 2017.
- Maren Haile-Selassie scored his first MLS goal of 2025 – and 12th all-time for Chicago – on Saturday in his first start of the year. The midfielder has now appeared in 12 matches this season, in addition to two 90-minute performances in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, where he has one goal and two assists.
- Jonathan Bamba doubled the lead for Chicago in the 23rd minute with his third goal of the season. The Ivorian winger only played one half, but made it count with the goal and his seventh assist of the year. Bamba recorded his third match with two goal contributions this season, his first since tallying a goal and an assist against Cincinnati on April 19.
- Philip Zinckernagel started a match in the midfield for the first time this season, notching a goal and an assist for his second straight game with multiple goal contributions and fourth such match this season. The winger leads the Fire with 12 goal contributions this season, breaking a tie with Hugo Cuypers (10).
- Zinckernagel has now recorded a goal contribution in seven consecutive road matches in 2025, a Club record and three games short of the MLS record held by Josef MartÃnez.
- Andrew Gutman recorded assists on Barlow and Zinckernagel’s first goal of the evening. The left back recorded his first match with two assists for Chicago, doing so for the first time since May 20, 2023, facing the Fire as a member of Atlanta United.
- With his third assist of the season on Haile-Selassie’s opening goal, defender Jonathan Dean surpassed his career-high in assists. Dean played 45 minutes from the start at right back before checking out at halftime for Leonardo Barroso.
- Goalkeeper Jeff Gal made his second start in three appearances for the Fire on Saturday, recording two saves in the second win of his career.
- Jason Shokalook made his Major League Soccer debut on Saturday, checking in for Barlow in the 76th minute of play. The Chicago Fire FC II forward went on to record his first goal contribution in MLS seconds into stoppage time, assisting Brian Gutiérrez’s fifth goal of 2025.
- Chicago Fire FC tied its Club record of goals scored in a single match on Saturday. The Fire matched the goal output of a 7-0 victory at Arrowhead Stadium on July 4, 2001. The match was one Fire goal away from tying the MLS record for goals scored by a visiting team set by LA Galaxy in an 8-1 victory at the Dallas Burn on July 4, 1998.
- Goalkeeper Chris Brady, defender Christopher Cupps and midfielder Sergio Oregel Jr. were unavailable due to international duty with various levels of the U.S. Men’s National Team. Winger Omari Glasgow was also out due to national team duty with Guyana.
- Defender Carlos Terán (Lower Body; midfielders Chris Mueller (Not Due to Injury), Mauricio Pineda (Yellow Card Accumulation), David Poreba (Lower Body) and Dje D’Avilla (Not Due to Injury); and forward Hugo Cuypers (Lower Body) were unavailable for selection today.
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Box Score:
D.C. United 1:7 Chicago Fire FC
Goals:
CHI - Haile-Selassie (1) (Dean 3, Kouamé 1) (WATCH) 8’
CHI - Bamba (2) (Zinckernagel 7) (WATCH) 24’
CHI - Barlow (1) (Gutman 5) (WATCH) 30’
CHI - Barlow (2) (Haile-Selassie 3, Bamba 7) (WATCH) 44’
CHI - Zinckernagel (7) (Gutman 6) (WATCH) 56’
DC - Badji (1) (WATCH) 60’
CHI - Barlow (3) (WATCH) 65’
CHI - Gutiérrez (5) (Shokalook 1) (WATCH) 90+1’
Discipline:
DC - Tubbs (Yellow Card) 8’
CHI - Bamba (Yellow Card) 45+1’
CHI - Acosta (Yellow Card) 72’
CHI - Zinckernagel (Yellow Card) 85’
Chicago Fire FC: GK Gal, D Dean (Barroso, 46’), D González, D Elliott (capt.) (Rogers, 59’), D Gutman, M Acosta, M Kouamé (Williams, 12’), M Zinckernagel, F Haile-Selassie, F Barlow (Shokalook, 76’), F Bamba (Gutiérrez, 46’)
Subs not used: GK Dowd, D Gasper, M Hlyut
D.C. United: GK Barraza, D Bartlett (capt.), D Antley (Dodson, 80’), D Tubbs, M Stroud (Turner, 66’), M Servania, M Zouhir (Leal, 46’), M Schnegg, F Pirani (Barajas, 80’), F Murrell (Badji, 57’), F Kijima
Subs not used: GK Farr
Stats Summary: DC / CHI
Shots: 14 / 15
Shots on Goal: 3 / 11
Saves: 4 / 2
Passing Accuracy: 83.3% / 80.9%
Corners: 9 / 7
Fouls: 5 / 7
Offsides: 1 / 0
Possession: 57% / 43%
Attendance: 16,715
Referee: Lorenzo Hernandez
Assistant Referees: Matthew Nelson, Kevin Linger
Fourth Official: Sergii Boiko
VAR: Greg Dopka
AVAR: John Krill
