Three days after the teams were midweek trade partners, the Chicago Fire and Montreal Impact will square off for an Eastern Conference clash on Saturday night at SeatGeek Stadium. Ahead of kickoff at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN+, head coach Veljko PaunoviÄ has released his Starting XI and bench presented by AT&T.
Get the details on tonight's lineup:
- Zero changes were made to the starting lineup that took down the Houston Dynamo 1-0 on the road last Saturday.
- Fire leading-scorer CJ Sapong gets the starting nod tonight, marking his 200th career MLS regular season start since entering the league in 2011 as a first-round MLS SuperDraft pick for Sporting Kansas City. Sapong has scored 65 regular season goals across nine seasons spent in Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and will look to add to his 2019 tally of nine goals this evening.
- Part of Wednesday's trade with Montreal, midfielder Micheal Azira begins tonight's match available for selection on the bench against his former team.
- After being included in last week's MLS Team of the Week for his performance in last Saturday's road win over Houston, midfielder NicolĂĄs GaitĂĄn will patrol the Fire midfield looking to break into double figures in the assist category in his debut season in Chicago. The Argentine maestro currently leads the team with nine.
- Nemanja NikoliÄ gets his fourth-straight start after breaking the deadlock in first half stoppage time last weekend against Houston with his game-winning seventh goal of the season.
- Goalkeeper Kenneth Kronholm gets his 13th start for the Fire after picking up Man of the Match honors last weekend with his second-consecutive clean sheet performance.
- Also on milestone watch is midfielder Brandt Bronico, who is two matches shy of his 50th career regular season appearance while making his 48th tonight.
- Forward Fabian Herbers (shoulder) is listed as OUT for tonight's match. For the complete MLS injury report, click here.
View the full Starting XI and bench for both sides in the graphics below as they're available:
