CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2026

Gregg Berhalter

Press Conference

Chicago Fire FC 4, Colorado 2

GREGG BERHALTER: Really proud of the effort of the group today. The third game in a week at altitude, to have that type of performance physically I think was outstanding, not only that, it was an entire group effort. So it wasn't just the 11 players starting the game. It was all the solutions that came in and made an impact, made a difference.

And special mentioned to Andre Franco who, you know, this is the end of a long road for him in terms of his recovery and he finally got back on the field and what a wonderful moment it was for the entire team tonight to see him back on the field. Happy with the win and happy with the performance and happy with the effort of the team.

Q. What was the message to the solutions to the subs around the 63rd minute when you brought on Robert and Anzor that pushed those two goals to fruition?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think it was more of the pregame, the plan. We knew that we had short rest. We knew we were at altitude and we know that they are a very aggressive team that cover some top league in distances, high-intensity distance and sprint distance. We knew it was going to be an effort and we knew it was going to be a push for the guys. It was about two as hard as you can for as long as you can and we'll get the guys on that can complete the performance. That's what Robert ask Anzor did and later on Andre and Andrew and Puso.

Q. Robert came often bench today. What was that rational and how important was it for him to score after going eight games without doing so?

GREGG BERHALTER: I think it's great he scored and great he embraced his role. We described what type of game it was going to be and how he could make an impact, and that's exactly what he did. Three games in eight days, is difficult with the travel, with the altitude. We had to be smart. We knew he would make an impact, and we knew there would be a moment when the opponent got tired and started to fade, and that's when we put him in.

Q. Bamba, three goals in two games, you have the best version of him right now. What's been your messaging to him the last couple weeks?

GREGG BERHALTER: With Joe, it's really simple. Just keep doing what he's doing. He has the skill. He has the technical ability. So for him, it's about how does he continue to get in good attacking positions and then when he is, how does he finish them off? His goals are a great example of that.

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about what it means that this group has battled back from games twice in a row to get a result on Wednesday and now to get the win this time?

GREGG BERHALTER: Oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that. It's good. We've done that before where we give up a goal. Still not happy with the goal we conceded. Still not happy with the pressure. I thought it went from outstanding to poor over the course of the game in terms of the varying degrees of it. But I think the consistency and the effort was there in terms of the effort and that was always important. We didn't do the best job at times pressing, so that opened up spaces, and that's how they scored their first goal.

It's good that the guys clawed back into the game. We had a chance before that to score with Noah. I think our XG was over 3 today, very high, compared to theirs is 1.2, 1.3. So we are doing a good job in that category.

Q. How important is it for Puso, he talked about how he hated playing in the cold, comes in, scores that goal?

GREGG BERHALTER: Great finish for him. We need him to make an impact. We need him to keep firing on all cylinders. We need him to be the best version of himself and it's difficult when you don't get that much playing time and all you can do is things that he did is coming in and make an impact. Really pleased at his impact that he made tonight.

Q. How closely are you going to be watching Miami and New England tomorrow with potentially big implications?

GREGG BERHALTER: You know, all we can do is control what we can control. And unfortunately we left it out of our hands a little bit, so we have to hope. We'll watch the game with hope and that's what we can do.