The Fire wrap up a three-match home stand on Saturday night as they get set for a rematch with the Philadelphia Union at Soldier Field.
These two sides recently met at Philadelphia's Subaru Park on March 11, a 1-0 win for the Union in which the hosts came away with a 90th minute match-winner against the 10-man Fire. Since that match, the Union are winless in four-straight in league play, but have advanced to the semifinals of the 2023 Concacaf Champions League on aggregate after a 2-2 draw against Liga MX side Atlas on Wednesday night. Philadelphia currently sits in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, while the Fire have ridden a four-game unbeaten run to sixth place entering tonight's match.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, with live broadcast coverage available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Get the details on how the Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson will deploy his side in the lineup notes below:
- The Fire will start with the same opening lineup that began in last weekend's 2-1 win against Minnesota United.
- Up top, forward Kei Kamara starts for a second-straight match after delivering a first half brace in last weekend's win. Kamara's pair of goals against Minnesota earned him a place in last weekend's MLS Team of the Matchday, and moved him further up the league's career scoring charts. Kamara, 38, has scored more goals than any active player in the league (142), and sits in third behind Landon Donovan (145) and Chris Wondolowski (171) among MLS goal-scorers all-time.
- 2023 newcomer Arnaud Souquet picked up his second assist of the season on the goal that proved to be the match-winner last weekend, and makes his sixth-straight start tonight. Souquet and fellow defensive starters Rafael Czichos - tonight's captain - and Carlos Terán are the only Fire players to start every match this season. Souquet will lineup opposite Miguel Navarro out wide, who rounds out tonight's back line.
- Midfielder Fabian Herbers also returns to the starting XI tonight to lineup alongside Gastón Giménez in the deep-lying spot. Herbers is closing in on an MLS milestone, as he makes his 149th career regular season appearance tonight.
- In front of them, the attacking trio of Chris Mueller, Brian Gutiérrez, and Maren Haile-Selassie start alongside one another for the fifth-straight outing.
- In net, 19-year-old Chris Brady starts his sixth-straight match, after a gutsy double-save in last weekend's match against Minnesota helped preserve the team's first win at Soldier Field of the 2023 season.
- Available to Hendrickson as substitutions tonight are goalkeeper Jeff Gal, defender Kendall Burks, defender Jonathan Dean, defender Wyatt Omsberg, defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda, midfielder Javier Casas Jr., midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, forward Georgios Koutsias, and forward Kacper Przybyłko.
- Midfielder Jairo Torres (right upper leg), midfielder Federico Navarro (left upper leg), and forward Victor Bezerra (left upper leg) are unavailable for selection due to injury tonight.
Take a look at how Philadelphia will start below as their lineup becomes available:
