The Fire are headed south to take on Nashville SC as the Fire look to end a slide that has kept the team winless in their last four games. It’s a matchup that, on paper, suggests a close game but that belies the history of the matchup: The Fire’s only result in Nashville came in the teams’ first meeting back in 2020. The past three times the Fire traveled to Nashville, all three times have been losses, including a 5-1 drumming in 2021 where Hany Mukhtar scored what was then the fastest hat trick in league history.

On Saturday, however, the Fire are a different team under head coach Gregg Berhalter and there’s an added element of familiarity: Nashville’s head coach is B.J. Callaghan, who worked on Gregg Berhalter’s staff when he was head coach of the U.S. Men’s National for most of his tenure.

Callaghan took over head coaching duties in Nashville with 10 games to go in the 2024 season, and was in the dugout for the team’s 3-0 win over the Fire on Decision Day last year, but the team still failed to make the postseason for the first time in team history, finishing just six points ahead of the Fire.

On paper and in the standings, the two teams remain close, though both have substantially elevated their games over the previous season. The Fire are currently one point behind Nashville in the standings, having, as Berhalter noted, played similar opponents. “I don't know what the cadence is like but it seems like they have been playing all the teams they have been playing,” Berhalter said, noting “they played Red Bull, they played Cincinnati, they played Montréal. And it’s like we play them a week after, and so I call B.J., and find out about the teams we are going to play.”

Series History

All time: 1W-2D-4LLast match: October 19, 2024: Chicago 0-3 Nashville at Soldier Field, Chicago,Ill.Last away match: September 18, 2024: Nashville 1-0 Chicago at Geodis Park, Nashville, Tenn.

What to Expect

Nashville SC

Trusting B.J. Callaghan to help break down opponents is something Berhalter is too familiar with. Callaghan rose high enough to serve as interim head coach for the USMNT, but started in a much humbler position on the staff.

According to Berhalter, Callaghan “came in initially with the National Team as analyst, and I'll never forget that first camp. We wanted [analysis tool] Coach Paint and we wanted all this stuff and he was getting up to speed with it. And you know, we're working, you know, 24 hours a day, basically. That was in January of 2019. Nothing was too much for him. He took everything in stride and he learned very quickly.”

That was enough to get Berhalter’s attention. “What I saw from him is a tremendous work rate. Very good tactical understanding of the game. Willing to do anything to help out the team. And he eventually grew from an analyst to an assistant coach and eventually became head of the Technical Department. He was giving press conferences at the end, and just showed a tremendous potential for growth. And that's why it's not a surprise he's a head coach in the league right now because he's a very good man manager and has very good understanding of the game and is one of the hardest workers I know.”

And facing his former assistant? While Berhalter is “really excited for B.J., for his opportunity. But we still want to beat them.”

Well, since Gregg’s on a roll here, might as well let him round out this section. After getting the scouting report from Callaghan when the Fire are about to face an opponent Nashville has seen, after calling his former assistant, “then I watch them [Nashville]. They have been able to hurt opponents, they’ve been able to create a number of chances. They have been overloading the midfield with four players in the midfield, keeping two players high, creating a box in the midfield. But they have been very good on set pieces.”

Nashville do have a weakness, though, with Berhalter noting they “missed a number of penalty kicks. Overall it's a competitive team and I know they will be disciplined, I know they’ll be defending well in the penalty box and it will be a difficult team to score on.”

Brian Gutiérrez, though, believes the Fire’s best strategy is to stick to their guns, saying that the team should “not shy away from what we are doing and what we are bringing every day. I think if we play our game, and you know, overwhelm them with possession and create opportunities and movements and runners off the ball, I think we can bring those three points back home to Chicago.”

Chicago Fire

That would be a welcome change from the team’s previous luck in Nashville, but the Fire are looking and playing like a different team this year, despite the injuries which continue to plague the team.

Berhalter confirmed that Leonardo Barroso remains out this week. Also missing from the Fire’s back line will be center-back Carlos Terán, who the Fire coach said will be “out for the considerable future” with a “pretty serious injury… upper leg injury.” That isn’t surprising by the way that Terán exited the field.

While acknowledging that Terán’s absence is a “big loss, we know how good [he] is, but on the same side, we have Sam [Rogers], Jack [Elliott], Omar [González], Chris[topher] Cupps who can fill in, and we are confident in those guys. Sam has played in all of our wins so far on the year, and he's shown to be able to adapt and improve and we think that pairing will be fine.”

There aren’t as many obvious substitutes for Barroso in the left wingback spot: Jonathan Dean is the best defensive-minded option, but both he and Justin Reynolds are more defensively-minded than Barroso, and Berhalter’s system functions better when the fullbacks can go forward and contribute to the offense. Omari Glasgow has been adapting to the position and while he’s shown promise in his performances, he hasn’t been at the level that Barroso displayed in the limited minutes he’s played for the Fire this year.

In the midfield, however, the Fire went from being shorthanded earlier this season to having a plethora of options. The result has been competition in the spots, according to both Berhatler and Gutiérrez. As a result of that competition, the Fire have played a all-homegrown midfield of Gutiérrez, Sergio Oregel Jr. and Mauricio Pineda for the past two games, leaving Kellyn Acosta – who captained the team four times this year  – on the bench at kickoff.

Competition led to the change, with Berhalter saying that while he expects Acosta to “be playing more often than not,” he hasn’t been chosen to start the past few games. Berhalter said the midfielder “has done his role over the last two games and whether his role expands or not in the future, you know, just depends on the level of competition within the squad.”

That sure makes it sound like the Fire’s homegrown midfield trio has a chance at a third consecutive start together, the first time that that will have happened this season. Will the consistency in the lineup, with Terán’s absence likely forcing the only change, breed success and help the Fire to their first-ever win in the Music City?

Projected Starting XI

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Nashville SC 1-1 Chicago Fire

DJ Haggenwald

Nashville SC 2-1 Chicago Fire

Tim Hotze

Nashville SC 1-2 Chicago Fire

Max Sánchez Josa

Nashville SC 2-2 Chicago Fire

Matt Shabelman

Nashville SC 0-2 Chicago Fire

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, April 26th 2025, 7:30 PM CTForecast: Temperatures in upper-60s with a 10% chance of precipitationLocation: Geodis Park, Nashville, Tenn.TV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass