After spending the better part of a month residing in Tampa and Bradenton, Fla., the Fire are set to wrap up the off-site portion of their preseason training camp Saturday with a closed-door friendly at Orlando City SC. The game will kick off at 10:30 a.m. CT.
As one of only three teams that will be idle on MLS Opening Weekend (March 3-4), the Fire enter the friendly still very much with a preseason mentality, while on the other side Jason Kreis' new-look Lions squad is just seven days out from facing D.C. United in their regular-season opener. Chicago largely divvied up the minutes in their midweek friendly against Nashville SC, when Bastian Schweinsteiger impressed in his first game action of the preseason.
As he has throughout the preseason, Veljko Paunovic will again be balancing a variety of objectives -- managing workload, evaluating trialists, experimenting with lineup combinations, and taking the next steps toward game fitness and sharpness -- when constructing his squad to face Orlando City SC. Whatever the lineup, the Men In Red are likely to encounter a skilled home side that is focused on building cohesion after coming together over the last seven months, a group that includes MLS veterans like Dom Dwyer, Justin Meram and Sacha Kljestan as well as international Designated Players Josué Colmán and Yoshi Yotun.
One Fire newcomer, defender Rafael Ramos, is poised to enter the match with plenty of familiarity with his opponents on the other side. The 23-year-old appeared in 39 MLS games over the last three seasons spent with Orlando City, and recently has been earning the lion's share of minutes at right back for Chicago while Matt Polster manages his preseason workload after spending January in U.S. Men's National Team camp.
The recently acquired Aleksandar Katai made his arrival into camp on Thursday, but his availability for selection on Saturday remains to be seen and may be more likely to see his first game action on Saturday, March 3, when the Fire host Tulsa Roughnecks FC in the club's preseason finale.
The Fire, who took four points from two meetings against Orlando last season, will be back at Orlando City Stadium in three months time (May 26) for the year's first regular season fixture in the series. The Lions are then due to visit Toyota Park on Saturday, September 16.
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