The Fire are back at home as they host D.C. United, a team that the Fire steamrolled in a memorable 7-1 victory in their last meeting.

That game was in the nation’s capital, however. Their last meeting in Chicago? The Fire hosted D.C. in their home opener and looked to be cruising on a path to Gregg Berhalter’s first victory as Chicago Fire head coach until a wild bicycle kick goal deep in stoppage time by D.C.’s Jacob Murrell – his second-ever goal in MLS – denied the Fire of their first win of the season.

Since the teams last met, D.C. has had significant turnover, from the front office to the coach to the squad – starting at the top, with the addition of a team-record signing in Louis Munteanu and bringing in striker Tai Baribo, who scored a brace for the Union against the Fire in the game that ended Chicago’s season last year.

Will the Fire be more successful in containing Baribo this time around? Will that late dagger make the Fire feel like they have unfinished business against D.C. at Soldier Field? And how much will the visitors be looking for revenge after the Fire beat them by a touchdown last time out?

What to Expect

D.C. United

Long before D.C. United won the Wooden Spoon last year, the “award” given to the team that finishes in last place, they knew it wasn’t going to be their year. As a result, they parted ways with head coach Troy Lesesne in his second season with the team and not long after, dismissed Ally Mackay, the team’s general manager.

While Mackay was still formally at the helm, they appointed Swiss coach Renè Weiler to the job permanently. In Weiler’s 11 games in charge, the team managed just one win and suffered their second six-goal defeat of the year as the Philadelphia Union beat them 6-0 at home in late September. 

Bigger changes to the squad were clearly on the way, Weiler has the profile of a coach that can succeed, having coached some giants of the game, including Egypt’s Al-Ahly as well as Belgian club Anderlecht, a mainstay in European competition.

The first part of D.C United's offseason overhaul with a notable departure: In late November, D.C. announced they were declining the club option on Christian Benteke, the 2024 MLS Golden Boot winner. To replace some of that production, they acquired striker Tai Baribo from Philadelphia and brought over Louis Munteanu from CFR Club in Romania in a team-record signing.

They also revamped their defense, acquiring center back Sean Nealis from Red Bull New York, left back Keisuke Kurokawa from Gamba Osaka in Japan and brought in a face familiar to Fire fans in net by signing Sean Johnson as a free agent.

Football. Heritage.

Back to the regularly scheduled programming: With a bad Toronto team last year, Milkman saved the most goals over expected in the league – including denying Sergio Oregel Jr. what would have been his first MLS goal a year ago in Toronto, in a play I’m sure Oregel is still mad at him for making. He will be a significant upgrade for them, and so far, it looks like the rest of the defensive signings are as well.

D.C. has been playing a system where they favor long balls and direct attacks. The midfield’s job hasn’t been so much to set the tempo as just to get the ball to the next man up - or slow it down going the other way. Weiler has been setting up his squad in a 4-4-2 (the ghost of Wayne Rooney still lingers there somewhere, I guess)

D.C. United’s roster is now designed like a mullet.

If that comes off as Weiler wants, it’ll be a good thing: Business in back with a much-upgraded defense, with the attacking corps – Baribo and Munteanu, as well as Gabriel Pirani, a 23-year-old attacking midfielder brought over from Santos in Brazil two years ago – bringing the party in front.

And if it doesn’t work? It’ll be a mullet, as in, the way someone wearing a mullet looks when you realize they had other options and still landed on that (apologies-not-apologies to Chris Brady, but he – or more likely someone in his life – seems to have worked through that).

After three games, the defense looks better, and D.C. more or less Phillied their way into a 1-0 win over the Union in their season opener (Baribo, of course, starting the revenge tour early). Last time out, they tried to play it safe against Inter Miami for the opening 30 minutes, got scored on twice, but then looked better once 1) D.C. decided to come out and actually play rather than just sit back and take it and 2) Miami decided to take it at about 70% or so.

Still: D.C. United came within a goal against Inter Miami and even though Miami were able to cut through their defense, the goals came off of “wow that was good” play from Miami rather than “wow that was bad” defending from D.C. D.C. may not be good, but they’re better than they were last year.

Chicago Fire

In Gregg Berhalter’s second year, the big question around the team isn’t so much how Gregg wants to play – it’s how those principles can be put into practice given the number of injuries that have decimated the Fire’s squad.

There is some positive news: On Thursday, Hugo Cuypers, Leo Barroso and Andrew Gutman were all out training with the squad. 

At Chicago Fire training Leo Barroso, Jonathan Dean and Hugo Cuypers were all participating with the squad #cf97 #VamosFire

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— Tim Hotze (@timhotze.com) Mar 12, 2026 at 11:29 AM

Not all will be available for Saturday, however. “From my understanding, Hugo [Cuypers] and Leo [Barroso[ are questionable. Gutman is out,” Berhalter said on Thursday. “ I think as we get more information tomorrow, we'll know more. But that's where we're at right now. Barroso appears to be back and doing well.”

While Gutman’s absence is a loss, getting Barroso back – even on a minutes restriction – and Dean’s return from suspension does significantly ease the Fire’s issues at fullback. If Leo can’t start, could we see the return of Dylan Borso?

That’s one of the wishes of Nate Bukaty, who will be serving as match analyst for this game on Apple TV. Bukaty mentioned wanting to see more of the impressive 19-year-old when he joined us on The Bonfire yesterday, and went as far as joining the Fire’s pre-match press conference via Zoom to ask about the possibility. 

Anton Salétros and nothing but good things to say about his teammate’s MLS debut. 

Striker, however, is a bigger concern: If Cuypers is healthy enough to start and go something close to 90 minutes – hopefully putting the game away for the Fire before he needs to come off –  great. But if he isn’t? 

The Fire’s lack of depth at striker in 2026 mirrors the team’s lack of depth at goalkeeper last year, when the team only had two first-team goalies available for most of the year. With Chris Mueller out with injury, the issue becomes even more acute. “I think, first of all, he's fearless,” the Swedish midfielder said. “He comes in and, yeah, does his own thing. I think he has great agility, good with both feet, and he has the capacity of getting up and down the line.  So, yeah, he’s kind of a complete player.”

The departure of Tom Barlow (who has three goals for FC Cincinnati in CONCACAF play to date, including one last night against Tigres) has meant the team doesn’t have a MLS-tested backup at the spot. Jason Shokalook has a total of 15 first-team minutes in two appearances for the Fire, and while he could step up to the plate and put on a big performance, that is putting a lot on untested shoulders.

The other option is to change the system to adapt to playing without a true striker. Starting Chris Mueller (nominally) up top, that’s what the Fire did that last week against Columbus, and although they eventually had chances, none of the Fire’s star attackers looked nearly as convincing playing out of unfamiliar as they did last year when the team had Cuypers or Barlow up top. 

If they did go that route, starting Robin Lod, or possibly even Philip Zinckernagel in a central role that, in practice, would play behind the two wingers who would serve more as the primary goal threats, would be an option. Asked about the trade-off of changing tactics and formation if a like-for-like replacement to the starting lineup isn’t available, Berhalter said “I think in terms of our identity, we try to do similar things no matter what formation we're playing, and we try not to get hung up on what formation we're playing.” 

Matchday Information and How To Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, March 14, 2026, 7:30 PM CT
Location: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL
Forecast: Around 35ºF at kickoff with possible rain or snow showers
TV: Apple TV
Radio: wlsam.com (English), Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish)