Fire’s winless streak reaches six with rout

ATLANTA — The Fire lost their third consecutive MLS game and their winless streak reached six with a 4-1 defeat Saturday against Atlanta United.

Ronaldo Cisneros had a hat trick for United (4-4-2). He opened the scoring in the third minute, but the Fire (2-4-4) answered seven minutes later when Chinonso Offor scored his first goal of the season.

Cisneros scored in the 27th and 36th minutes, and Brooks Lennon tallied the final goal in second-half stoppage time.

“I thought the immediate reaction was really good, tying the game up like that,” Fire coach Ezra Hendrickson said. “But after that, we were just a step slow to everything. We were late to everything, including the first goal. We weren’t shifted over, and that hurt us.”

The Fire faced former teammate Bobby Shuttleworth, who saved two of the three shots he faced. Gabriel Slonina saved three of seven shots. United outshot the Fire 12-7 overall.

Two Chicago-area players played their first minutes with the Fire. Schaumburg native Chris Mueller came in for midfielder Brian Gutierrez at halftime after joining the team Thursday.

“We just wanted to make sure we get him some minutes because he’s been playing but he hasn’t had a 90-minute game in a while,” Hendrickson said. “So we wanted to be careful and bring him in slowly. I thought he did well tonight. That was a bright spot.”

Also, Homegrown forward Victor Bezerra made his MLS debut, coming on for Offor in the second half.

United lost defender Miles Robinson to an injured left leg. Robinson, who was removed on a stretcher, collapsed with the non-contact injury in the 16th minute. It could cost him a roster spot for the World Cup after he started 10 of 14 qualifiers for the U.S.

Read More