Chicago traveled to face Eastern Conference foe New York Red Bulls along the Hudson as both teams sit on 34 points and are in a direct battle for a playoff spot. The match against the Red Bulls kicks off a busy week for Coach Frank Klopas, whose team will play three games in eight days beginning with the match tonight.
Heading into the Big Apple, the Fire will face the Red Bulls for the 67th time since Chicago’s inaugural season in 1998. Since their inception in MLS, the Fire have an all-time regular season record of 30-21-15 against their Eastern Conference foe. Saturday marks the second and final contest between the two sides in the 2023 regular season. The last time the two Clubs met was on April 29, when the match resulted in a 1-1 draw at Soldier Field. Striker Kei Kamara scored the lone goal and his fourth of the season off a beautiful feed into the box from defender Arnaud Souquet.
Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m CT and will be broadcast live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. The match will also be streamed in English on wlsam.com and transmitted locally in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.
- Head Coach Frank Klopas made two changes to the lineup that faced the New England Revolution last Saturday at Soldier Field.
- Goalkeeper Chris Brady makes his 27th start of the 2023 MLS regular season and his 29th start overall in 2023.
- The backline remains unchanged from the previous match, and will be led by centerbacks Carlos Terán and Wyatt Omsberg, flanked by Jonathan Dean and Miguel Navarro.
- Ousmane Doumbia and Gastón Giménez line up together in the midfield for the fourth-straight match, and the fifth time overall. Joining them in the midfield again are Fabian Herbers, Jairo Torres and Xherdan Shaqiri, who will wear the captain’s armband against the Red Bulls.
- With the start, Herbers makes his 100th MLS start since he made his MLS debut with the Philadelphia Union in 2016.
- Greek forward Georgios Koutsias will lead the attack from the outset, making his 10th start of the season.
- Available off the bench for Klopas are goalkeeper Spencer Richey, defenders Alonso Aceves, Rafael Czichos and Arnaud Souquet, midfielders Javier Casas Jr., Brian Gutiérrez and Maren Haile-Selassie, and forwards Kei Kamara and Kacper Przybyłko.
- Defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda (right lower leg), midfielders Chris Mueller (right upper leg) and Federico Navarro (left upper leg), and forward Victor Bezerra (right lower leg) will not be available for tonight’s match.
