Chicago Fire

Hany Mukhtar recorded the fastest hat trick in MLS history and Nashville SC extended their home unbeaten streak to 11 games with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Fire on Saturday night.

Mukhtar tallied all three goals in the first 16 minutes.

Mukhtar, who entered with a team-leading four goals, took advantage of breakdowns on Chicago's back end to open the scoring in the 10th minute, and he came through again three minutes later.

The heat has arrived in the city of Chicago, and so has a much-needed victory. The Chicago Fire defeated Inter Miami at home by a score of 1-0 on Saturday at a lively Soldier Field, which had a crowd of 10,844 in attendance for the game, beating their previous home match numbers against the Philadelphia Union by nearly double. 

The year that was 2020 disrupted a lot of the financial models for Major League Soccer and resulted in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement ratified back in February, but the 26th season of MLS is now underway while looking largely similar to previous editions, particularly with regards to the MLS Designated Players list 2021.

Ezequiel Barco and Emerson Hyndman each had goals to lead host Atlanta United to a 3-1 victory over Chicago Fire FC on Saturday night.

After not scoring in its MLS opener last week against Orlando City and mustering only two goals in three matches overall, Atlanta United (1-0-1, 4 points) found its offensive spark in front of a 50-percent capacity crowd in its home opener.

The 2021 MLS season marks the return of fans to stadiums across the league and, God willing, the death of fake crowd noise. Beginning with the start of the regular season on Friday, April 16, teams across the country will welcome back supporters at grounds with capacity generally limited to somewhere between 10 and 50 percent.