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The Chicago Fire stretch of tough opponents began when they made a trip to New Jersey to face the defending Eastern Conference champs, New York Red Bull. Red Bull haven’t played their best ball yet this season, so this was a good test for them to face a hot Fire team, unbeaten in their last 5 games.
Rainy night didn’t help things on the pitch. The fire were once again missing several starters, among them Brian Gutierrez, Jonathan Dean and defensive stalwart Jack Elliott. Making his return to the lineup was Kellyn Acosta, who had a slippery night, more on that in a bit.
Slow paced early on, until the Fire’s Jonathan Bamba blows by defenders and gets a one-on-one with the goalie and puts it away. Bamba finally gets on the score sheet with his first goal in the MLS. It was only a matter of time, Bamba has been the team’s most dynamic and dangerous player. The assists were there, but the goals will be coming.
Red Bulls Serge Ngoma wouldn’t allow NY to trail for much. Ngoma equalizes after a fantastic ball from Omar Valencia from the left side into the box. It’s 1-1. As the game was deep in first half stoppage time, Acosta committed an unnecessary foul in the box, he fell on top of Dylan Nealis. Bad positioning by Acosta, a move a veteran with his experience should know better about.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting stepped up to take a confident soft penalty right up the middle for a 2-1 lead. The game went into halftime right after. Fire squandered a lead and gave life back to the Red Bulls.
Lack of composure and sloppy defense to allow 2 goals in less than 10 minutes heading into the half.
The Fire played a much better second half. More urgency, created multiple scoring opportunities. Just some unfortunate luck, most of it being a second late to the ball on multiple occasions. They did show fight, but it wasn’t enough. Fire fall 2-1 on the night.
It was a much better effort from the Fire than a week prior in a draw with Montreal. The stats would conclude that at minimum the Fire earned a point or 3, but it wasn’t the case. That was the game to pick up some points, as the next one will be a tough one.
Next Match:
The Chicago Fire return to the lakefront for a Soccer Sunday for a highly anticipated match against Inter Miami CF on April 13 at Soldier Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CT and the match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Notes:
- Ivorian winger Jonathan Bamba scored his first goal of the season, and first goal with the Fire, in the 32nd minute. Bamba went into Matchday 7 with a six-way tie for first in the league in assists, but was on the receiving end of Zinckernagel’s assist in the 32nd minute instead.
- Rominigue Kouamé made his first start for Chicago in his third appearance for the Club in a row. The midfielder played 62 minutes in the match, coming off the field for Mauricio Pineda in the second half.
- Homegrown defender Justin Reynolds started the match in place of Leonardo Barroso (Lower Body) at right back for the first time in 2025, the second start of his career. In his 10th appearance for the Fire first team, the Chicago native played 62 minutes in a strong defensive effort before coming off the field for Maren Haile-Selassie.
- The loss marked the first time the Red Bulls beat the Fire at home since May 1, 2021. Chicago was previously unbeaten in its last four at Sports Illustrated Stadium, with a 2-0-2 record in that span, and now sports a 32-22-16 record overall against New York in 70 matches.
- Defenders Leonardo Barroso (Lower Body), Jonathan Dean (Torso), Jack Elliott (Lower Body) and Chase Gasper (Lower Body); and midfielders Brian Gutiérrez (Lower Body), David Poreba (Lower Body) and Chris Mueller (Not Due to Injury) were not available for selection tonight.
