2024 Chicago Fire Roster Preview Part 3: Midfielders
MIR is previewing the team’s roster ahead of the Fire’s 2024 season opener on Saturday, February 24. We’ll introduce you to each player, including how they joined the Fire, review their 2023 season, and go over expectations and hopes for the upcoming season.
With the Fire capturing the signature of USMNT midfielder Kellyn Acosta, Frank Klopas’ engine room looks to be properly fueled for the start of the 2024 campaign. With Ousmane Doumbia’s loan having expired at the end of the 2023 season, Acosta will slide nicely into a starting spot in central midfield alongside the likes of either Federico Navarro or Gastón Giménez. Mauricio Pineda has also proven to be a solid player in this more defensive-minded midfield role for the Fire throughout the years.
Either Xherdan Shaqiri or 2023 season MVP, Brian Gutiérrez, will play in the number ten role in front of the two more defensively disciplined midfielders. With only space for one central attacking midfielder in Klopas’ system, either Shaq or Guti will be pushed out to the wing. With the pending return of Chris Mueller to the left wing and Guti’s 2023 production that saw him rack up two goals and nine assists, it is more likely to see Shaqiri pushed out to the right wing to compete with Maren Haile-Salassie for minutes.
With great depth in both defensive and attacking midfield, Fire fans will have to wait until February 24 to see where Klopas’ trust truly lies.
Kellyn Acosta
Key Stats
Height: 5’10” DOB: 7-24-1995 (28) Foot: Right
2023 Stats:
GP: 24 Starts: 18 Mins: 1501
G: 0 A: 0 YC: 5 RC: 0
Acosta is the star addition to the Fire's midfield this offseason, joining as a free agent after his LAFC contract expired last December. Acosta is a longtime U.S. international, with an established career as one of the top midfielders in MLS and North America as a whole. He chose to join the Fire ahead of other suitors around the league, most notably Sporting Kansas City and the Colorado Rapids.
History with the Fire: Acosta joined the Fire as a big-name free agency signing this February.
Key Questions for 2024: Can Acosta regain his form from 2021 to 2022 and re-enter the USMNT picture? Acosta has not played in a competitive match for the national team since the last World Cup, having fallen behind Johnny Cardoso, Lennard Maloney, and James Sands on the depth chart. Can he emerge as a realistic depth piece in midfield, especially given the inconsistent form of Luca de la Torre and the persistent injuries to Tyler Adams?
Javier Casas
Key Stats
Height: 5’4” DOB: 5-14-2003 (20)
2023 Stats:
GP: 3 Starts: 0 Mins: 52
G: 0 A: 1 YC: 0 RC: 0
A product of the Fire’s academy, Javi Casas made his debut with the team in 2021 and split his time between the Fire and Fire II in MLS Next Pro last season. However, during his time with the first team last campaign, he only made three appearances from the 14 times he was included on the bench during the regular season. Casas did however manage to record his first career MLS assist last campaign.
History with the Fire: A native of suburban Melrose Park, Casas signed a homegrown player deal with the Fire in 2020. After spending some time with Forward Madison in 2021, Casas joined the Fire and earned his first minutes with the team that season.
Key Question: Can Casas establish himself as a reliable option for Frank Klopas off of the bench? Having spent significant time with Fire II last season after a 2022 campaign that was spent primarily with the first team, Casas will be looking to gain the trust of Frank Klopas as a first team bench player.
Gastón Giménez
Key Stats
Height: 6’2” DOB: 7-27-1991 (32) Foot: Left
2023 Stats:
GP: 31 Starts: 27 Mins: 2210
G: 1 A: 2 YC: 9 RC: 1
With 31 games under his belt from the 2023 MLS campaign, it was Giménez’s most capped season as a Fire player. Despite being a key player for the Fire, injuries to players such as Federico Navarro and Jairo Torres certainly contributed to the role that Gaston played last season. The return of these two and the introduction of Kellyn Acosta will certainly push Gaston if he wants to record 30+ MLS appearances for two straight seasons. Not only is Gaston a very solid facilitator and a good passer of the ball, but is also certainly an enforcer in the middle of the park. The 32-year-old Paraguay international led the team in both yellow (9) and red (1) cards last season.
History with the Fire: One of the first crop of designated player contracts under Technical Director Georg Heitz, Giménez joined the Fire just after the start of the 2020 season.
Key Questions for 2024: Can Giménez feature in as many games as he did last season, especially with the return of Federico Navarro and the arrival of Kellyn Acosta? With Fede being the Fire’s go-to destroyer and Acosta possessing greater attacking abilities, Gaston could easily be debunked as a starter depending on what profile of a defensive midfielder pair Frank Klopas is looking for.
Brian Gutiérrez
Key Stats
Height: 5’10” DOB: 6-17-2003 (20) Foot: Right
2023 Stats:
GP: 32 Starts: 28 Mins: 2511
G: 2 A: 9 YC: 2 RC: 0
The Fire’s 2023 season MVP, Brian Gutiérrez, had yet another bright season playing both as a number ten and as a winger. Guti led the Fire in assists with nine and was the Fire’s most consistent creative player throughout all of last season. In matches where the Fire looked lacking in attacking inspiration or creativity, Guti’s penetrating passing and dynamic dribbling seemed to always provide the Fire an escape in many matches where they were second best.
History with the Fire: A Berwyn native, Brian Gutiérrez was signed to a homegrown deal on March 9th, 2020, and has been with the Fire academy since 2015.
Key Questions: Will Guti be able to take his game to the next level by establishing himself as not just a creator, but also as a goal scorer? The youngster only managed to score two MLS goals last season and will certainly be looking to elevate that tally as he only continues to improve his game with each season. This also brings to light the question on whether Guti will establish himself as the Fire’s go to number ten for this campaign. If he can improve his goal scoring and maintain his assist output, it certainly seems so.
Sergio Oregel Jr.
Key Stats
Height: 5’9” DOB: 5-16-2005 (18)
2023 Stats:
GP: 0 Starts: 0 Mins: 0
G: 0 A: 0 YC: 0 RC: 0
The 18 year old spent the entirety of last season with the Fire II apart from the U.S. Open Cup match against the Chicago House where he played a full 45 minutes. Oregel has continued to show great potential with Fire II and will be looking to grow his game as he continues to work towards getting minutes with the first team.
History with the Fire: Evergreen Park native and homegrown product of the Fire Academy, Oregel made his professional debut with the Fire II during the 2022 season and made 1 MLS senior appearance that same season.
Key Question: Can he prove himself with Fire II and gain Klopas’ trust to carry him on the bench for some matches?
Federico Navarro
Key Stats
Height: 5’8” DOB: 3-9-2000 (23) Foot: Right
2023 Stats :
GP: 16 Starts: 15 Mins: 1104
G: 0 A: 0 YC: 2 RC: 1
Federico Navarro, one of the Fire’s most important players, experienced an unfortunate 2023 campaign that was riddled by injury. Most notably, Fede went down just 14 minutes into the Fire’s opening home match of last season. The young midfield destroyer was only fit to feature in 16 MLS matches last season, and his tenacious and energetic playstyle was dearly missed by both players and fans. Fire supporters all around can only hope that he can remain healthy and provide the team with a much needed presence and desire in the middle of the park this season.
History with the Fire: Federico Navarro was signed from Argentinian club CA Talleres in 2021, his home club since 2013.
Key Questions: Can Fede remain healthy and prove himself to yet again be one of the Fire’s most important players? Will he be able to form a formidable partnership in midfield with Kellyn Acosta and will this new midfield signing change Fede’s game (in comparison to when he plays alongside Gaston, a player who does not have the motor and attacking tenacity of Acosta)?
Xherdan Shaqiri
Key Stats
Height: 5’7” DOB: 10-10-1991 (33) Foot: Both
2022 Stats:
GP: 28 Starts: 22 Mins: 2052
G: 6 A: 5 YC: 3 RC: 1
With both the biggest contract and the most widely-recognizable surname on the team, Xherdan Shaqiri is looking to embark on his third MLS campaign. Lots of the criticism directed towards Shaq and his lack of consistency and effort at times is often attributed to his massive paycheck. However, when Shaqiri is on his game, his years of Champions League, Premier League, and World Cup experience come to show as he is able to take the games that he does play well in by the scruff of the neck. Consistency and stringing together batches of solid performances will be critical to Shaq building on his 2023 MLS season where he recorded an output of six goals and five assists. If he is able to find this consistency, he easily has the potential to be one of the best players in the league.
History with the Fire: Signed from Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais prior to the start of the 2022 season
Key Questions: There are really two central questions surrounding the Fire’s big money man. As I mentioned, when he is on his game, he has shown glimpses of being a Champions League veteran, but can he really step it up this season and produce these moments game in and game out? Can he finally justify his massive contract? The second question is where Shaq is going to play as Brian Gutiérrez looks to only be getting better and better. Will we see Shaq deployed off the right, through the middle, or off of the bench? Only time will tell.
