It wasn't supposed to be this way. Robert Lewandowski's first game with the Chicago Fire won't come in front of a friendly home crowd at Soldier Field, but instead, in Miami. And Hugo Cuypers, expected to be the other half of the Fire's potent duo up top, is gone.
The Fire's first game at Miami's glistening new stadium ‒ yes, helpfully called "Nu Stadium" ‒ will be strange in other ways, too: It will be Miami, yes, but without Rodrigo De Paul or Lionel Messi, two stars who featured in the World Cup final on Sunday, and the midweek game comes at an odd time: A handful of days after the World Cup break ends.
The action we saw last week, including a number of marquee matchups was, frankly, also strange, with surprising results and games that it seemed that no one ever really bothered playing (Montréal and Toronto FC allegedly played a game – but Toronto failed to register a shot on target and the hosts scarcely did much better).
Still: It will be Lewandowski's debut, and on this night in Miami, he will be the biggest star on the pitch. The last time the Fire made it down to Florida, they made history, clinching the team's first postseason birth since 2017, largely off the production of unlikely goal scorers.
This time, can it be the most likely goal scorer who makes history of his own in his MLS debut?
Inter Miami
On The Bonfire, when the discussion finally moved on from the departure of MLS's Golden Boot leader to Monterrey on to the game happening midweek, one theme that teams around the league were essentially coming out of a second preseason. MLS has switched to the European schedule – they just did it by dividing a season in first.
As with the first games of the year, the soccer's often rough and seldom predictable as teams work through varying degrees of rust. It isn't about tactics – sometimes, it's not even about skill – it's just about grind.
While all that's true for the Fire, it's particularly true for Inter Miami. On top of Messi and De Paul, they will be without: Tadeo Allende, David Ayala, Maximiliano Falcon, Gonzalo Lujan, Santi Morales and Alex Shaw.
That's eight players, including two DPs, out of a 30 player MLS roster. Miami might be less dangerous without Messi – but the absences and situation make them – and the Fire's response to them – less predictable.
Chicago Fire
Last week, the line was that Lewandowski will play (he didn't; then again, neither did anyone else), but not start.
This week, he's all but certainly a starter: There certainly won't be many other options. Jason Shokalook is the striker behind him on the depth chart – and although he's likely in line for more minutes, so far, he's been trusted with just 52 of them in league play. How long will he go? Berhalter told media on Monday that "we are going to see on Wednesday how long can he play."
On top of that, it looks like Mbekezeli Mbokazi might be injured and unavailable for this one.
Starting a new signing hardly over jetlag and being out the team's most dynamic center back this year is hardly how the Fire wanted to be walking into what would otherwise be a great chance to get six points against a conference rival.
But don't let that fool you: Between rust coming off from both sides and Lewandowski's debut, this game will be won by the team that wants it more.
The last time those were the stakes in South Florida, the Fire walked away with three points.
Lineup and Match Information
