Back at It: Chicago Fire vs. Philadelphia Union MLS Matchday 1

MLS is back, and the Fire have traveled to Chester, Pennsylvania to take on the Philadelphia Union in their first match of the 2024 campaign. The Fire’s revamped squad – including a new team-record signing in striker Hugo Cuypers, alongside midfielder Kellyn Acosta, one of the most high-profile free agent signings of the offseason, and a revamped back line – faces a tough challenge in their opening match: No team has more points over the past four seasons than the Union, and the Fire have not won in Philadelphia since 2013 or won their season opener since 2009.

The Fire have a changed lineup. Will that yield a changed result, allowing the Fire to break that duck?

Series History

All time: 10W-8D-16LLast Match: April 15 2023: Chicago Fire 2 -2  Philadelphia Union at Soldier Field

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Philadelphia Union

The Union bested Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa 3-2 in their opening CONCACAF Champions Cup match in San Juan, Costa Rica on Tuesday, in a match where they played most of their starters.

Fire

The Fire finished their preseason, notching a 4-0 victory over Minnesota on Valentine’s Day before a 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers in their final pre-season tuneup on February 17.  Prior to that, they suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of LAFC and notched a 1-0 victory over Austin, all at the Coachella Valley Invitational.

The Storyline

The Fire enter the 2024 campaign with a sense of optimism – buoyed by a team-record signing for an in-prime striker (and reigning Golden Boot winner) from one of the better leagues in Europe in the form of Hugo Cuypers, one of the better defensive midfielders in the league over the past few seasons in Kellyn Acosta, and having made numerous changes to the defensive line, replacing gaffe-prone Miguel Ángel Navarro with academy product Andrew Gutman, who will now play his first game in a Fire first-team uniform, and adding Tobias Salquist to the center back corps and Allan Arigoni to the right back position.

That optimism will be tested early, as the Fire meet a team that has consistently been amongst the top of the East. The match is just the first of an opening month of MLS play that sees the Fire run the gauntlet of many of the best teams in the league.

The Union are coached by Philadelphia-area native and former Fire player Jim Curtin, back in his 10th season as full-time head coach, having served a season prior with an “interim” tag next to his title. That’s something he has in common with Frank Klopas, who is starting his second tenure as full-time head coach of the Fire.

The Fire enter the game with all of their offseason signings available, though just – on Tuesday, Brian Gutiérrez told gathered media that he hadn’t yet had time to meet Hugo Cuypers, and though Kellyn Acosta was with the team in training towards the end of preseason, he was not able to feature in any of the team’s preseason matches.

The Fire do go into the match with advantages – Philadelphia traveled across the continent for a midweek match featuring a starting lineup, and rust was showing – but not as many as they’d thought: Kai Wagner, one of the league’s top defenders, was suspended for three matches for racist comments against the New England Revolution’s Bobby Wood, but a revamped policy – combined with his apparent contrition– was enough to convince the MLS headquarters to commute his sentence, making him available for the match.

Hopefully, despite the brevity of his sentence, Wagner has learned to become a better human being, but regardless, he’s one more factor the Fire will have to deal with.

Despite the fact that the Union have finished towards the top of the conference standings over the past few years while the Fire have finished towards the opposite pole, the Men In Red have often pushed the Union to the limit, ultimately losing by 1-0 off of a 90th minute goal during their last visit to the Keystone State despite playing a third of the match down a man, and going down by two men in stoppage time.

Availability Report

Philadelphia Union

Out: Leon Flach

Questionable: Andre Blake

Chicago Fire

Out: Carlos Terán, Bryan Dowd

Fire Keys to Victory

• Say hi to the new guys: Fire head coach Frank Klopas has been cautious in introducing new additions to the matchday squad, but in this case, Hugo Cuypers and Kellyn Acosta improve the squad to such a degree that really, they need to start. Cuypers is a target striker – and he’s not short – his job is the same on any team he’ll be on – and Acosta had some time with the team in preseason. Both make the Fire better. Both need to be on the pitch.
• Beware on the right: The Union’s left side on the attack is the strongest in the league. Be careful there – though on the point above, see how Arigoni does – and if not, just make it clear – there’s times the right back needs to be a right wingback and add to the attack. This is not the time to push that. Don’t hit when someone can hit back harder.
• Make Blake (or whoever) overcommit: The next two sentences are from a preview almost a year ago: Andre Blake has been one of the best showstoppers in the league for years. His positioning is typically excellent and he’s athletic. The first sentence is true. The second – mostly true but there’s questions about whether he is still performing that ability, and on Saturday, there's questions about whether he'll be available at all. He'll likely still go if able, but regardless, if it's Blake, one of his weaknesses is that he can be lured out of position at times.

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Philly is a tough place to play and the Fire haven't won there in a long time. However, a variety of factors, such as CONCACAF hangover and the excitement of the Cuypers and Acosta signings will push the Fire to earn an unlikely draw behind a strong Xherdan Shaqiri showing.

Prediction: Philadelphia 1-1 Fire

Jiggly Carollo

"Think things move pretty fast down here/But just wait, my dear, 'til we get up there"I think that for once in the Fire's recent history, they'll be the ones to pull back from being down 2-1. A late scoring explosion after putting on Cuypers or even Barlow. Just someone new with fresh legs compared to an opponent who already played this week.Prediction: Philadelphia 2-4 Fire

Colin Chough

On the road against Philly will always be a tough match, but I’m remaining semi-positive that our new signings will help the Fire not come away empty-handed.

Prediction: Philadelphia 2-2 Fire

Christian Hirschboeck

Basing this off of all MLS teams I have watched so far, everyone is still slowly coming out of preseason, and thus both teams will not be at their best. I expect a good battle, but I think the Fire will fall just short in the end.

Prediction: Philadelphia 2-1 Fire

Max Sanchéz Josa

Although the defenses will be looking to start the season strong and be as solid as possible, something tells me this is going to be a high scoring game with just a one goal difference in the end. Cuypers getting his first goal on his debut seems pretty realistic while Carranza could get a few for Philly. An unexpected goal scorer (or assist) could be Arigoni.

Prediction: Philadelphia 3-2 Fire

Tim Hotze

The Fire have often brought it to the Union. The team hasn’t had time to gel and the Union are a well-oiled machine (having made few changes in the offseason), but I think that we see a repeat of their last visit - minus the cards.

Prediction: Philadelphia 1-1 Fire

Matt Shabelman

Cause Fireeeeeeeeeee

Prediction: Philadelphia 1-2 Fire

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, February 24, 2024, 6:30 p.m. CTLocation: Subaru Park, Chester, Pa.Forecast: 34’ expected at kick off, with 36% humidity, winds NNW at 10mph, and 11% cloud cover with no chance of precipitation. TV: Apple TV - MLS Season Pass