Chicago Fire and Atlanta United face each other in Toyota Park, in a match for the 0 th day of MLS. Atlanta United won at home (2-0) the last time they met in this edition of the league, on 06-01-2019. The record of direct confrontations of the last 3 years is favorable to the visiting team, which in the last 6 matches won 4 and lost 2. Particular attention is required for the home / away condition, since both teams present significantly different results at home and outside.
On Wednesday, Chicago Fire and Atlanta United meet in another match for Major League Soccer. Both teams are from the Eastern conference, the difference is that the locals are out of the qualifying zone for the playoffs and the visiting team are within that zone. The main goal of the Chicago team is to enter the qualifying phase, so they will go with what is best in their team for the confrontation. Atlanta is looking to stay in the qualifying zone and climb even more places in the table.
Chicago Fire:
The home team reaches this phase of the MLS (Regular Season) after having eliminated the New York RB, after a loss by (3-1) in the previous round. This is a team that usually makes good use of the home advantage, stronger with the help of its supporters, since in the last 30 matches they register 1 win, 4 draws and 10 losses in away matches; against 6 victories, 6 draws and 3 defeats in their stadium. In the last 9 home league matches Chicago Fire has a record of 4 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss, so they have won 16 points out of 27 possible.
For this competition, they have not lost any of the last 7 home matches. In their home league matches the most frequent final score was 1-1 (4 out of 9 matches). The team has conceded goals in 7 of the last 10 matches, so it has not presented great defensive solidity, but their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In their home matches there is a tendency for few goals, since 6 of the last 9 matches for this competition have ended with Under 2,5 goals. In 18 matches in this tournament, he suffered the first goal 9 times and never got the comeback.
The Chicago team is not very good on the leaderboard. If this phase ends now, it will not qualify for the next phases of the competition. In this confrontation he will act before his domains and will be able to use the local factor in his favor. In his last 11 matches he won only 3. He has not presented convincing football until now and the coach will have to change that if he wants to fight for something positive within the competition.
The coach of the team, Veljko Paunović, needs to find a solution to the problems of the team and nothing better than a game against the fans to correct the mistakes and find the way of victories. Therefore, the coach must place a fairly competitive team in the field. You will have to build a solid defense, because your opponent is strong and goes to play to win. In their last match, they drew by the 1×1 score. Must have Johan Kappelhof as his only absence.
Atlanta United:
The visiting team reaches this phase of the MLS (Regular Season) after a home win by (2-1) with the Montreal Impact. This is a team that usually makes good use of the home advantage, stronger with the help of its supporters, since in the last 30 matches they register 6 wins, 1 draw and 8 losses in away matches; against 10 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss at their stadium. For the league, Atlanta United won 9 points out of 24 possible points, after 3 wins and 5 losses in the last 8 away matches. In their home league matches the most frequent result at half-time was the 0-1 (3 out of 8 matches). Their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 9 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In their away matches there is a tendency for few goals, since 5 of the last 8 matches for this competition have ended with Under 2,5 goals. In 17 matches in this tournament, he suffered the first goal 7 times and never got the comeback.
The Atlanta United team will play in this match outside their domains. However, this is not a problem, because the Atlanta team is in a good phase in the competition, since in its last eleven matches it was defeated in only three and tied one. Despite having been defeated in their last match by the 3×2 score by Toronto, that does not influence the good phase of the team. Having suffered a defeat outside their domains in the last game, the team coach is aware that he needs to win to continue fighting at the top of the table.
