Atlanta United at Chicago Fire: Intelligence Report

The Pope loves what Philip Zinckernagel brings to the table

It’s only a few hours before kickoff—Atlanta is in the 2:30 slot today—and we don’t have time for a full in-depth preview. Frankly, I’m going to guess you don’t even really want one. The full in-depth previews will return when morale improves (and when they boil down to more than “I think the team should try and stop being bad at soccer). We’ll keep this brief.

Atlanta United

• No idea what Ronny Deila will come up with to try and fix [gestures broadly] all this today. There weren’t any real clues given in training yesterday either. We’re in real “you’re opponent can’t expect your next move if you don’t even know your next move” territory.

• Atlanta will get a potential boost from Tristan Muyumba's return. He’s fully cleared to return to the lineup today. My gut call is that they’ll ease him back with an appearance off the bench before he returns to the starting XI at some point in the future. But who knows at this point? Desperate times and all that.

• Unfortunately, they may be without Pedro Amador for this one. Amador picked up an ankle injury in training on Tuesday and is day-to-day. They’re probably making a call on his availability right about now.

• If Amador can’t go…well, that’s obviously not ideal, especially with Stian Gregersen still missing from the back line. Matt Edwards, Luis Abram and Ronald Hernandez are all options at left back. Edwards seems like the obvious choice, but, seriously, who knows?

• Keep an eye on Atlanta’s line of confrontation from start to finish. At training yesterday, Deila and Derrick Williams seemed dispirited by how quickly and thoroughly the team retreated against Nashville (see below). We’ll see if they were just talking or if the team actually made steps to correct the issue this week.

Chicago Fire FC

• Gregg Berhalter is the manager and chief soccer officer now. Just in case you missed that.

• His first offseason in charge of one of MLS’ highest-spending, least-successful clubs involved shipping out a ton of dead weight and bringing in DP attacker Jonathan Bamba from Celta de Vigo, signing highly touted free agent center back Jack Elliot (formerly of the Union), and adding winger Philip Zinckernagel from Club Brugge.

• These were all good moves! And for a while there, it seemed like Chicago might finally be getting it together. But…it’s Chicago…

• I actually have a chart for how Chicago Fire FC seasons go that I use in their Power Rankings section on The Mothership almost every week.

I can see it → Oh, no → Oh, yikes, no → Well, maybe → Nope → But let’s just… → Oh, ok immediate no on that → But what if they tweak this → This looks better! → OH NO. THEY GOT ME AGAIN → No. → I’m not falling for that → No, forever. → Offseason → I can see it.

• We’re officially at “Oh, yikes, no.” The “I can see it” section of the year continued through matchday five. They won three of their first five games. Since March 22, they’ve gone winless. That includes a 7-2 throttling from Nashville a couple of weeks ago.

• Yes, three wins is still more than Atlanta United have. Chicago are ahead of Atlanta in the standings.

• They’ve been trending downward with a quickness, though. And the underlying numbers aren’t coming to save them. It’s not a good soccer team right now.

• That’s especially true defensively. They’re averaging 2.0 xG allowed per game, the highest mark in the league.

• Unconincedentally, you might recognize Andrew Gutman starting at left back today.

• You also might notice someone new in goal. Their starting keeper, rising star Chris Brady, picked up a red card last week in a 0-0 draw against Orlando.

• Basically, there won’t be a better time for Atlanta’s attack to get their life together.

• Chicago will typically generate plenty of chances of their own, too. They’re fifth in MLS in xG created.

• Chicago will set up in a 4-3-3 and do Berhaltery positional play things. There won’t be a ton of surprises here.

• Keep an eye on Bamba and Zinckernagel on the wing, Brian Gutiérrez as their No. 10, Gutman as a “defense is for ugly people” left back, and Hugo Cuypers as their No. 9.

• Cuypers is thriving right now. He has seven goals and is tied for the Golden Boot lead.

And more

• Official kickoff is listed as 2:30 but it’s probably closer to 2:39.

• This one is at Soldier Field.

• Looks like 60 degrees and sunny at kickoff.

• They had children draw the Chicago players for a social media thing and I can’t stop laughing/being horrified at this: