Chicago is in the City of Brotherly Love to kick off the 2024 MLS Regular Season, playing the Philadelphia Union in their first road game of the season for the second year in a row. Bolstered with several new faces, including Designated Player Hugo Cuypers and U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Kellyn Acosta, the Fire aims to start the season on the right foot in the Club’s 33rd encounter against the Union.
Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT and the match will be broadcast live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. The match will also be transmitted locally in English on wlsam.com and in Spanish on WRTO 1200 AM.
- Entering tonight’s contest, the Fire have posted a 10-4-8 record in 33 League matches against the Union since 2010, including a 2-10-3 away record.
- Swiss midfielder and four-time FIFA World Cup veteran Xherdan Shaqiri was named team captain and will wear the armband for the 11th time as a member of the Chicago Fire.
- Designated Player Hugo Cuypers and defender Allan Arigoni will make their Club and Major League Soccer debut, along with earning their first career MLS start.
- Defender Andrew Gutman will make his Club debut, marking the first time the Chicagoland native has donned a Fire uniform since he was a member of the Club’s Academy in 2015. Saturday’s match against Philadelphia will be Gutman’s 90th MLS start.
- Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady will start in his first MLS season opener after missing the first match of the 2023 campaign due to injury.
- Midfielder Gastón Giménez will record his 97th appearance (87 starts) for the Chicago Fire. He will start alongside midfielder Fabian Herbers, who is the longest-tenured player on Klopas’ squad. Herbers has played 122 matches (81 starts) for the Fire since joining the team in 2019.
- Midfielders Maren Haile-Selassie and Brian Gutiérrez will earn their first start of the season. The duo started 17 matches together during the 2023 MLS regular season.
- Along with Gutman and Arigoni, the Chicago Fire backline is completed by veteran stalwarts Rafael Czichos and Mauricio Pineda. Czichos makes his 58th regular season appearance (54th start) for the Fire since joining the Club in 2022, while Pineda plays in his 104th match (91st start) since signing a Homegrown contract in 2020.
- Available off the bench for Klopas are goalkeeper Spencer Richey, defenders Jonathan Dean, Chase Gasper and Wyatt Omsberg, midfielders Kellyn Acosta, Chris Mueller and Federico Navarro, and forwards Tom Barlow and Georgios Koutsias.
- Goalkeeper Bryan Dowd (left lower leg), defender Carlos Terán (right upper leg), midfielder Javier Casas Jr. (left lower leg) and forward Victor Bezerra (right upper leg) will not be available for tonight’s match.
