Atlanta United vs. Chicago Fire: Gameday Guide and How to Watch

There are plenty of storylines heading into the Chicago Fire’s match tonight against Atlanta United (7 p.m. CT, WGN-TV, CFFC Live). After a lengthy injury, Josef Martínez is back for Atlanta. Gastón Giménez is facing his old boss at Vélez Sarsfield, Gabriel Heinze. And, yes, the Fire are still dealing with a slew of injuries.

But the biggest storyline heading into the match has to be this: Can the Fire finally pick up a win on the road? The last time Chicago won a true road match—a 5-2 season ending win against Orlando City in 2019—Bastian Schweinsteiger was playing his last game as a pro.

Atlanta’s normally incredible crowd will be throttled to only 50 percent capacity because of the pandemic, but even so, that’s still an intimidating environment to break that winless streak. To do it, the Fire will need big performances from their midfield trio of Giménez, Álvaro Medrán, and Luka Stojanović.

“They are all three very, very good footballers,” Fire coach Raphael Wicky said of his midfielders. “They are obviously experienced guys and really good with the ball and they have shown that and there’s a lot of creativity between the three of them. They played some amazing, amazing football on Saturday. How much better can they get? They can all get more rhythm, more games, and throughout the season, I think even get better, yes. That’s what we expect; that we are getting better.”

Atlanta United vs. Chicago Fire

MLS Match #2 | Saturday, April 24 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. CT

TV: WGN-TV

Steaming: CFFC Live - free to watch at ChicagoFireFC.com and the Chicago Fire mobile app for fans living in the Chicago TV market

Out of Market Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: Latino Mix 93.5 FM

Live Twitter Updates: @HotTimeOldTown

Chicago Fire Injuries

• OUT: Fabian Herbers (right knee)
• OUT: Stanislav Ivanov (left knee)
• OUT: Kenneth Kronholm (right knee)
• OUT: Miguel Navarro (right ankle)
• QUESTIONABLE: Ignacio Aliseda (left thigh)
• QUESTIONABLE: Elliott Collier (left ankle)
• QUESTIONABLE: Carlos Teran (left thigh)

Atlanta United Injuries

• OUT: Mo Adams (sports hernia)
• OUT: Alec Kann (shoulder)
• OUT: Matheus Rossetto (health & safety protocols)
• QUESTIONABLE: Ben Lundgaard (lower body)

Next up for the Fire

Saturday, May 1 - New York Red Bulls vs. Chicago Fire at Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ (12 p.m. CT, WGN-TV and CFFC Live)