CHICAGO (Oct. 7, 2024) – Chicago Fire FC today announced that three players were called to represent their respective national teams during the FIFA international match window in October. Forward Georgios Koutsias travels to join the Greece U-21 National Team, winger Ariel Lassiter joins the Costa Rica National Team and midfielder Sergio Oregel Jr. joins the U.S. U-20 Men’s Youth National Team.
Koutsias most recently joined the Greece U-21 National Team in September, when the young squad defeated the Faroe Islands 4-0 in UEFA EURO U-21 qualifying. The Fire forward scored the team’s third goal in the encounter. Greece, who was placed in Group G of the qualifying tournament, next faces Croatia at 11:00 a.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Gradski Stadion Ivan Kušek Apaš in Koprivnica, Croatia. Greece currently sits in second place in Group G behind Portugal, and ahead of Croatia, Faroe Islands, Belarus and Andorra.
Lassiter and Costa Rica continue their run in the Concacaf Nations League when they travel to face Suriname at 5:00 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 11 at Flora Stadium in Paramaribo, Suriname. The Ticos will then host Guatemala at 7:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. Lassiter opened his participation in the Nations League by scoring Costa Rica’s second goal in the 3-0 win against Guadeloupe on Thursday, Sept. 5 in Matchday 1 of the competition.
Oregel Jr. was called up by head coach Marko Mitrović for an international training camp from Oct. 7-15 in Santiago, Chile. The U-20 USMYNT will play friendly matches on Oct. 12 and Oct. 15 in its first camp since the team qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Oregel Jr. is one of only six players on the 22-man roster to have appeared in all four training camps for the 2005 birth year so far in 2024.
Chicago will close out the 2024 MLS regular season on Decision Day when the Fire hosts Nashville SC at 5:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Soldier Field. The match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass and transmitted locally in in English (WLS 890 AM) and in Spanish (WRTO 1200 AM).
