A win and a new signing had Atlanta United interim coach Stephen Glass in a positive move heading into Sunday's match at Chicago Fire.
It has been a tough season for the 2018 champions, who lost star striker Josef Martinez to injury early on, sacked Frank de Boer after a dismal run and then sold Pity Martinez.
But the arrival of Martinez's Designated Player replacement was confirmed on Friday as Atlanta brought in Marcelino Moreno from Lanus, the same club from which Miguel Almiron – their former playmaker – was signed.
Moreno's transfer followed in the wake of an encouraging 1-0 victory over FC Dallas, too.
The performance as well as the three points were cause for optimism for Glass.
"There's a lot of strange things going on this year," he told 92.9 The Game. "But what we have is a group of players who have got a determination to do better than what we've been doing. We saw that the other night. There's been a lot for the boys to cope with, but it felt the other night like the tide is ready to turn."
But Atlanta face a side also suddenly looking up the table after Chicago thrashed Houston Dynamo 4-0 in midweek.
"Results always give confidence to players," said Fire coach Raphael Wicky. "But I also liked that the team didn't lose confidence from the last results that didn't go all our way. That was a positive.
"The players have to enjoy this. They should enjoy this. But then we prepare the next game."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chicago Fire – Fabian Herbers
Herbers is a man in form all of a sudden. He has two goals and an assist in his past three appearances and looks determined to net again on Sunday. "We have just got to keep it going now in the next game against Atlanta," he said.
Atlanta United – Franco Escobar
An exciting right-back, Escobar was brilliant as Atlanta won the title two years ago but has struggled to find the same rhythm since. If results can continue to improve, the defender and his boundless energy could again come to the fore.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- Chicago have won two of their three home matches against Atlanta United, including a 5-1 victory in Bridgeview last season. The Fire tied an MLS record in that match by scoring five times in the first half. They had scored just four times total in their first five MLS meetings with the Five Stripes.
- The Fire snapped a five-match winless run (0-3-2) with a 4-0 victory over Houston on Wednesday. Only Los Angeles FC (eight) have more wins by four or more goals than Chicago (four) since the start of the 2019 season, despite the fact the Fire have just 13 wins in that time, only more than FC Cincinnati (nine) among teams who played both campaigns.
- Atlanta have lost 10 of their past 16 away matches (4-10-2) dating back to May 2019 after losing just 13 of their first 39 (17-13-9) on the road in MLS. The Five Stripes have managed to keep scoring away from home, netting in 15 straight away matches.
- Robert Beric scored in Chicago's 4-0 win over Houston on Wednesday, netting for the third straight league match. It is Beric's first three-game league scoring run since May and July 2015 and he has scored in four straight league matches just once in his career, both times with Rapid Vienna in the Austrian Bundesliga.
- Jeff Larentowicz has scored twice in his past three MLS matches and is now Atlanta's joint-leading scorer this season. Larentowicz had scored just three goals in his previous 143 MLS matches (including playoffs) in the five years prior to this run.
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