CHICAGO (March 18, 2025) – Chicago Fire FC and U.S. Soccer Federation today announced that Homegrown Player Brian Gutiérrez was called up to the U.S. Men’s National Team for the upcoming 2024-25 Concacaf Nations League Finals.
The U.S. will face Panama in the first semifinal on March 20 at 6 p.m. CT (4 p.m. PT) at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The match will be shown live on Paramount+ and Univision. The other semifinal match features Mexico and Canada, with the winners set to square off March 23 for the championship.
It is the second call up for Gutiérrez under head coach Mauricio Pochettino, as he also joined the team for U.S. Soccer’s annual January Camp. The Chicago native earned his first two USMNT caps and starts in January, going 73 minutes against Venezuela in the 3-1 victory on Jan. 18 at Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and playing 45 minutes in the 3-0 win against Costa Rica on Jan. 22 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
Gutiérrez, 21, was one of five Homegrown Players promoted from the Chicago Fire Academy at the start of the 2020 MLS season, signing his first professional contract at 16 years old. Gutiérrez has played in 123 matches (83 starts) since 2020, and in 2024 he became the second Homegrown Player in Club history to appear in 100 or more matches. Gutiérrez was named to the 2024 MLS 22 Under 22 class for the second consecutive year, coming in at No. 4 on the list to rank in the top five for the second straight time.
Gutiérrez scored six goals for the Fire in 2024, marking a career-high in a single season for the Chicago native. So far in 2025, Gutiérrez is tied for second on the team with two goals, having tallied twice in Chicago’s opening match against Columbus.
Created to maximize the quality, quantity and frequency of competitive matches for all of Concacaf’s 41 Member Associations, the 2024-25 Concacaf Nations League, which commenced last September, has a revamped format to include more direct elimination matches that will qualify teams to continental summer competitions.
The 2024-25 CNL continues to be played in a three-League format (A, B, and C), with the region’s 41 men’s senior national teams distributed into the Leagues according to the results of the 2023-24CNL. The USA competed in League A, which was expanded to include 16 teams (up from 12) and a new quarterfinal round has been created to deliver more direct elimination matches.
