SOCCER: Chicago Fire use early goal to extend Atlanta's road woes

Maren Haile-Selassie scored his first goal of the season just before the quarter-hour mark for the Chicago Fire, who defeated visiting Atlanta United 1-0 on Saturday night.

Philip Zinckernagel and Jonathan Bamba assisted on the goal for Chicago (4-2-1, 13 points), which won its third consecutive match to improve to 3-1-0 at Soldier Field.

Atlanta (1-5-1, 4 points), which dropped to 0-3-0 on the road this season, has lost back-to-back outings.

Haile-Selassie's goal came in the 13th minute. Zinckernagel ventured forward on the right side, entered the scoring area, and slid it to Bamba. Bamba's touch found Haile-Selassie, who struck it past a lunging Lucas Hoyos for a 1-0 lead.

Atlanta nearly leveled it right after the ensuing kickoff, but Tomas Jacob's attempt rang off the woodwork.

Later in the half, the Fire came close to breaching Atlanta's defense and doubling their lead. Andrew Gutman had an opportunity to make it 2-0 Fire in the 39th minute, but the former Atlanta defender shot it off the post. A minute later, Bamba struck the crossbar.

Haile-Selassie appeared to complete his brace to make it 2-0 in the 74th minute, but he was offside in the buildup.

Ultimately, Chicago's first-half goal ended up being the only one of the match as it played to a second straight 1-0 result. The Fire have allowed just five goals in 2026.

Chris Brady made four saves for his fourth clean sheet of the season. Hoyos was credited with a pair of saves for Atlanta.

Atlanta has lost its last six regular-season matches away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium and is 1-14-5 in its last 20 on the road. It also saw its winless streak in Chicago reach eight matches (0-5-3).

Atlanta United head coach Tata Martino served a one-match suspension after being shown a red card during a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Crew on April 4.

Alexey Miranchuk, Atlanta's leading scorer (four goals), missed Saturday's match because of a muscle injury.

-Field Level Media/Reuters