The Chicago Fire are back at Soldier Field after their midweek exit from the U.S. Open Cup at the hands of St. Louis City. Their opponent is a familiar one in FC Cincinnati, a team the Fire met just two weeks prior at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati.
In that matchup, the Fire had control of the game, taking a two-goal lead late into the game only to see it slip away and turn into a draw. The Fire's defeat in the draw in Cincinnati is the only blemish on the team's record in league play during their current five-game undefeated streak.
The loss of in the Open Cup still stings, however. Fresh off their first loss since the middle of March, the Fire are ready to go, despite being on short rest. Anton Salétros, asked moments after the defeat on Wednesday about what the whether the Fire felt that they had unfinished business with Cincinnati, the Swedish international didn't mince words, saying the team was "very very hungry," continuing, "we had the three points against Cincinnati and they slipped through our fingers. We are very eager to play at home again and to keep pushing. We’ve had a great couple of weeks, but we’re hungry for more.”
FC Cincinnati
After FC Cincinnati last met the Fire, they one-upped (literally) that match, playing New York City FC to a 4-4 draw at Yankee Stadium. In that one, the Pigeons held a two goal lead going into second-half stoppage time, but FC Cincinnati were able to salvage the draw off goals by Andrei Chirilă and Evander (on a penalty kick).
That Saturday, they beat the New York Red Bulls 2-0 at TQL Stadium, giving the team their first win in over a month.
The victory was made all the more impressive by their injury list: FC Cincinnati, who have been dedicated to playing with three center backs for the majority of the past few years, have five first-team center backs on their depth chart. Four of them were injured, as was Obinna Nwobodo.
Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati's head coach, brought up Chirilă from the reserve team in Next Pro, and got creative with the others, moving Samuel Gidi and Kyle Smith, both nominally midfielders, to the back line.
And the center back from Next Pro ended up scoring. Now: That worked against a Red Bull team that seemed to have no interest challenging anything FC Cincinnati did going forward, but I wouldn't bet it working against the Fire's back line.
FCC will have Kévin Denkey, the team's leading scorer, available for this one, however, after he missed the first game of the tie with a red card suspension.
Chicago Fire
Midweek, the Fire rotated some of their squad, putting on an inexperienced pair of fullbacks in Dylan Borso and Viktor Radojević. Both actually had pretty good games, as did Sergio Oregel Jr. and Mauricio Pineda.
What Berhalter didn't rotate was the attack, starting Hugo Cuypers, Philip Zinckernagel and Maren Haile-Selassie. Cuypers played two-thirds of the game, but Zinckernagel and Haile-Selassie both went the distance.
Jonathan Bamba has been back in training after missing this game and the Fire's previous two league games due to a personal matter that took him back to France, meaning they will have one set of fresh legs available in the attack.
Haile-Selassie has played well in recent weeks, and the best thing for the Fire would be to see him ready to start – maybe in a attacking midfield role? – on Saturday.
Here's the issue, though: Zinckernagel's backup on the depth chart is Haile-Selassie. Haile-Selassie played two full games without being substituted over the past week. Zinckernagel has only played about a quarter hour less.
Hopefully they're ready for lengthy performances on Saturday; if not, Robin Lod – who didn't cover himself in glory on Wednesday, even if he wasn't solely responsible for the giveaway that led to the opening goal for St. Louis – will likely get the nod, with Salétros playing in the more advanced role he did on Wednesday and either Pineda or Oregel taking up that spot deeper in the midfield.
Lineup and Match Information
