After a disappointing draw at home against CF Montréal, the Fire are back on the road – this time to Harrison, New Jersey to take on the New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium (née Red Bull Arena).

Head Coach Gregg Berhalter’s side will be facing the MLS Cup finalists looking to tie the team’s single-season all-time record of winning four games in a row on the road, set back in 2008. In that stretch, however, the team had two losses at home and a victory at home in between them. This time, the team’s away victories have come as part of a five game undefeated streak.

The Fire are also looking to extend their overall undefeated streak past five games for the first time since 2017, when the team went undefeated for 11 straight matches from May 6th through July 5th – though in that stretch, notably, the Fire went 1W-3D-0L on the road. That long undefeated stretch, which came shortly after Bastian Schweinsteiger joined the squad, rocketed the team to the top of the standings, becoming part of the Supporters Shield conversation, and was the bedrock that pushed the team into the playoffs just one year after winning the Wooden Spoon given to the team with the worst record in the league.

The Red Bulls won’t make extending the undefeated streak easy, however. Even though both teams are missing key players due to injury – New York, in particular, will be missing Lewis Morgan, who’s been the engine of much of their attack under Head Coach Sandro Schwarz – the Red Bulls are still dogged defenders with true offensive game-changers in Emil Forsberg and now, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Series History

All time: 34W-16D-23LLast match: September 14, 2024: Chicago 2-1 New York at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.Last away match: April 13, 2024: Chicago 0-0 New York at Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ

What to Expect

New York Red Bulls

For years, the Red Bulls have been synonymous with a particular style of play: High-pressing, quick-on-counters soccer, called, either derisively or accurately depending on your point of view, “energy drink football.”

When Schwarz came to New York (well, New Jersey) last season, he evolved the model. While the changes were more of an improv-style “yes, and” than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The high pressing (mostly) remained, and the team used a lot of higher-speed, direct attacks, but the team became less afraid of playing with the ball. Longer passing sequences – once the kind of stuff that might make you have to put a dollar bill into a jar the next time you walked into the training facility – became a part of the attack as well.

A key piece of all of that has been Emil Forsberg, the former RB Leipzig attacker who came in as a Designated Player for the team last year. He’s back, this year, and in form. Gone, however, are Dante Vanzier – who never lived up to his DP tag – as well as John Tolkin, Andres Reyes and Elias Manoel. The loss of Tolkin is probably the toughest one of these departures to swallow. Even if the reported $3 million they earned from Holstein Kiel probably soothes the loss somewhat, Tolkin was a talented left back who, much like Andrew Gutman, showed an ability to add significantly to the attack in the right circumstances.

Replacing Vanzier is Coupo-Moting, who has played at the pinnacle of the sport in some of Europe’s biggest clubs – but the German-born Cameroon international is now closer to 40 than he is to 30 – not exactly the kind of player that you think will be well-suited to playing 90 minutes of Red Bull soccer. Still, that’s what he’s done, being one of just three players on the squad, alongside defenders Noah Eile (22 years old) and Sean Nealis (28), to have played every minute so far of New York’s campaign.

For his time on the pitch, Choupo-Moting has two goals to his credit – one from open play, one from the spot – but has generally been the most dangerous-looking player on the field for the Red Bulls, with Forsberg playing more of a playmaking role and stepping forward at times. The two DPs account for five of the Red Bulls seven goals so far this year.

Averaging just over a goal a game works out decently, however, when you’re only conceding a goal a game. Even if the Red Bulls attack, particularly with the absence of Morgan, hasn’t looked like one of the best in the league, the defense has still been top-notch. That’s also Berhalters assessment, saying “Red Bull, I really admired what they did last year, especially with their compactness and their pressure on the ball. And it always presents an interesting challenge. They move together as a block. They adapt into man versus man situations. And they reduce the space between the lines.”

Chicago Fire

The advantage to that compactness is that means there’s space somewhere else on the pitch. In their first game of the seasons gainst the Crew, Jonathan Bamba was given acres of space to himself, which he exploited to help create the Fire’s first two goals of the season.

Teams haven’t really given him as much space since – a “fool me twice” situation – but by picking the right moments, the Fire’s attack can get forward. That’s a sentiment shared by Andrew Gutman, who noted he played for the team in 2021 and said “the way we play, there will be spaces for me to get forward and exploit,” while noting that that has to be balanced with his defensive responsibilities given the Red Bull’s aggressive press. “So,” he continued, “I do have to be smart when I'm getting forward, but I think if we're good on the ball and we execute our game plan, I think there's good job a lot of chances for maybe not only me, Jo[nathan Bamba], Hugo [Cuypers], to get into the attack and create chances.”

One advantage that the Fire won’t have going forward is the play of Brian Gutiérrez, who Berhalter confirmed will be out again on Saturday due to the injury he picked up while with the U.S. Men’s National Team. That denies the team a potent offensive weapon, but still, reinforcements are on their way – eventually, in the form of new U-22 Initiative signing Dje D’Avilla, but this week, in the form of a more familiar face, with Berhalter confirming that “Kellyn [Acosta] will be back,” though “we have to see how many minutes he can go.”

That sounds like a start with a substitution off when needed, and if that happens, it may well be alongside Rominigue Kouamé’s first start in MLS after two appearances off the bench. Berhalter noted that the two midfielders give the Fire “the ability to cover ground,” but “offensively, Kellyn [Acosta], between his line-breaking passes, longer passing, Kouamé with his dribbling, it can be very dangerous, the position he takes up, his shot from distance.”

Still, the Fire want to be more, according to the Fire coach. “We want to be an offensive team,” Berhalter said, “We want to be a team that sets the tone in games, and you know, we have players like Sergio Oregel who are so good at doing that.” The fact that Oregel has worked his way into that conversation says a lot about the homegrown midfielder’s progress that has become fully evident this year.

Combined with the increasing defensive cohesion that the team has shown, that could well be enough to get a result in Harrison, NJ, a place where the Fire have often been able to get results in recent years.

Projected Starting XI

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

New York Red Bulls 0-0 Chicago Fire

Perhaps the memory of last year’s bore-draw took over here, but I can foresee another pretty uneventful snoozefest on the road. If nothing else, the Fire get their first clean sheet of 2025.

Tim Hotze

New York Red Bulls 1-2 Chicago Fire

This won’t be a high-scoring game but after the Montréal loss, the team was clearly disappointed with both the result and the performance. Does this team have it in them to bounce back? I think so.

Alan Królikowksi

New York Red Bulls 1-2 Chicago Fire

Memo Pizano

New York Red Bulls 2-3 Chicago Fire

The Fire will have a tough time against a Red Bulls side looking to continue their undefeated home streak. But, they’ve spoiled Vancouver’s party. Time for New Jersey’s turn.

Max Sánchez Josa

New York Red Bulls 1-2 Chicago Fire

The Fire will win a hard match at Red Bulls with a close score line. It will be a long 90 minutes, with the team dominating the majority of the time and conceding their routine first half goal. Bamba could score his first goal for the team this Saturday with Cuypers netting one as well.

Matt Shabelman

New York Red Bulls 1-1 Chicago Fire

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, April 5th 2025, 6:30 PM CTForecast: Temperatures in mid-40s with a 2% chance of light precipitationLocation: Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, NJTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass