The Fire head to Vancouver for the third and final game of their road trip to take on the Whitecaps, the last MLS team with a perfect 4-0-0 record to start their 2025 campaign. The Fire are the only other MLS team that has an unblemished record in Canada in 2025, given the defeats Vancouver has dealt to opponents at home and the Fire’s victory over Toronto last week.

The game will also be a father and son battle, marking the first time that Gregg Berhalter is facing off against his son Sebastian in a competitive match. It will continue a journey that started, the senior Berhalter said, at the start of each of their careers in their current lines of work. “My first coaching job, I think, was actually a U-10 club team in California when I was playing for the Galaxy. I ended up coaching him in his first experience in club soccer.”  Berhalter family members will also be in attendance for the match, with plans for dinner after the game. The Fire coach told us after the press conference that the winner of Saturday’s match would ultimately pick the restaurant – and he quipped that the loser would pay.

Playing over the international break, both teams face absences – with Brian Gutiérrez (USA) and Omari Glasgow (Guyana) called away from Fire duty (and Fire II midfielder Harold Osorio also in camp for El Salvador), while Vancouver will be missing Ali Ahmed (Canada), Andrés Cubas (Paraguay), Pedro Vite (Ecuador) and Brian White (USA) to international duty.

Asked about the challenges of having to deal with last-minute absences, Berhalter, who has experienced the issue from both the club and national team sides in his career, was frank. “To be honest, there should be no challenges because we shouldn't be playing in the FIFA window, right?” Berhalter said, continuing, “Ideally you would want that game to be played, they are undefeated, it would be nice if they had their whole group there and same thing for us. I don't agree with playing in the FIFA window. That's why they have FIFA windows, right, so teams don't play. Given some of the stadium challenges we have with dates, we have to do it. I'm not a big fan of it. I think it dilutes the talent on the field.”

The talent available will be further diluted by injuries to both squads. In the game against Toronto, the Fire’s Jonathan Dean suffered a punctured lung, and Kellyn Acosta remains out with a leg injury. On Vancouver’s side, Ryan Gauld, the engine behind much of Vancouver’s offense this season, is out for the Whitecaps.

Even down their biggest stars, Vancouver will be a tough test: Winning on the road in MLS is never easy. Winning three in a row on the road? That’s something the Fire haven’t accomplished since their 3-2 victory over the long-defunct Chivas USA on May 28th, 2008.

Series History

All time: 3W-3D-7LLast match: August 30, 2023: Fire 0-1 Vancouver at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.Last away match: July 23, 2022: Vancouver 1-3 Fire at BC Place, Vancouver, B.C.

What to Expect

Vancouver Whitecaps

On paper, the Vancouver Whitecaps seemed poised for a drop in 2025, with off-pitch drama – the team was put up for sale last fall – combining with the departure of head coach Vanni Sartini, the generally well-regarded – and quotably loquacious – Whitecaps manager as well as Fafà Picault and Stuart Armstrong – overshadowing the relatively modest additions to the squad.

The team remains one of the lowest-spending in the league, and although they’d established a fairly high floor under Sartini, they seemed content with a ceiling stuck fairly close to it. That led to the coach’s dismissal in the offseason, but it seemed unlikely that a new manager could get significantly more out of the budget-oriented squad.

To replace Sartini, Jesper Sorensen was brought in – a relatively unheralded coach who had previously only played and coached in his native Denmark, and it didn’t seem that he was the kind of floor-raising move the ‘Caps have needed for the past several seasons.

The Dane – and his new team – apparently didn’t get that memo. The Whitecaps have had a perfect 4-0-0 start in MLS this year, with the second-best expected goals against (xGA) and the fourth highest expected goals for (xG) in the league. Significantly, they’re the only team in the top five of both of those categories.

While it’s early, and single games can sway those rankings significantly (Vancouver played up a man for about 80 minutes in their season opener against Portland, helping them secure a 4-1 victory), by the eye test, Vancouver have been very good: Defensively sound and potent on offense, using possession to their advantage.

That’s by design, according to Sorensen, telling The Province that possession “is important … When you have the ball, you can control the game. When you don’t have the ball, you can affect the game, but you cannot control what’s going to happen. In this league, there’s a guy called Messi. You cannot control him when he has the ball, but you can try to affect him. But if you have the ball, you can … better the outcome of what’s going to happen.”

It’s a philosophy much like the one Berhalter has espoused with the Fire, who are only 0.4 xG behind the Whitecaps – but the team’s defensive performances have been better.

That isn’t just true in MLS play. By virtue of their Canadian Championship cup title last season, the Whitecaps are playing for the CONCACAF Champions Cup and they emerged victorious over CF Monterrey, one of the giants of the league with a wage bill that dwarfs any in MLS.

On a team that lacks true top-end talent – Brian White has often been called “the working man’s Designated Player” – the success has come through team play, with Vancouver’s nine goals so far this season coming off the boots of eight different players.

Still – MLS rosters are thin and Vancouver’s depth will be severely tested. Vancouver’s entire attacking trio from their 1-0 victory in Dallas last week has been called to international duty. Combined with Gauld’s absence, that will leave the Whitecaps with a real shortage of attacking talent and put more pressure on the midfield – including Sebastian Berhalter, who’s had a strong start of the season – and defense to control the game and give Vancouver’s attackers as many opportunities as possible while limiting chances going the other way.

Chicago Fire

On one hand, the Fire have shown grit as they’ve turned into something come-from-behind specialists: After opening scoring against Columbus in their season opener, the team has gone concede first in all three of their matches and gotten a result in all three – starting with a draw in D.C. and with two wins after.

On the other hand, the only way you can come from behind is by going behind, and that isn’t exactly anyone’s Plan A. That comes, more than anything else, from defensive miscues: The team is tied for third-worst in the league so far 7.6 xGA, behind only Orlando City and Real Salt Lake, both a hair above the Fire at 7.7 on the measure.

That’s a somewhat unusual position for a (Gregg) Berhalter-coached team, who have generally been defensively sound with a solid structure that adapts well to a variety of player types. Part of the issue is undoubtedly injuries, which have created a kind of revolving door of player availability.

When MIR97 Media put to Berhalter that it seems that as soon as a player becomes available – Sam Williams was signed to a first team deal, giving the team another option in the midfield for the season – another leaves – with Brian Gutiérrez’s last-minute call up to international duty. The Fire coach said “it kind of is what it is, and that's our attitude and mindset.”

More than just the midfield, the team also has a number of other confirmed or likely absences, with Berhalter saying that “Jonathan Dean has a punctured lung. Andrew Gutman has been sick for the last three days, so we don't know about him… So we are just rolling with it. That's all we can do at this stage. It's really next-man-up mentality, and that's what the team has been living by so far this season, and that's what we'll continue to do.”

One of the next men up might be making their MLS debut, with the Fire coach confirming that Rominigue Kouamé and Dylan Borso will “be with the squad,” although “they are both limited with minutes.” Kouamé, in particular, would be a welcome addition to the midfield: He looked sharp in the limited minutes he was able to play in preseason before going down with an injury. Berhalter called his game “elegant,” adding that he’s “a smooth dribbler. I think he’s able to dribble through lines. Good first touch. Good combination play. Able to defend 1v1.”

Despite the forced squad rotations, the Fire’s attack has been clicking in 2025, with Hugo Cuypers leading the way with four goals on the season. That puts the DP striker in second place in MLS’s Golden Boot race and is an about-face from the start of his debut season in MLS, when the Belgian got off to a slow start. Asked about how Berhalter’s system has helped, Cuypers said “I think his whole vision is about creating a lot of chances, being an offensive team, and I think it's what every striker wants: Creating not only as many chances as possible but the best quality of chances, as well. I think we have done a pretty good job so far.”

We’ve seen new elements to Cuypers’s game this season, in addition to the quality hold up play and finishing he showed for the Fire in 2024. Against Dallas and Toronto, in addition to being a target man, he was setting up crosses for other attackers. Still, Cuypers doesn’t think he’s being asked to do much differently than he was last year. Although “every once in a while, I might drop lower or be on the outside,” he said, “I think the biggest difference is that we operate more in our positions than last year, and we are less of a counter-attacking team than we were last year.”

Projected Starting XI

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Vancouver 1-1 Chicago Fire FC

DJ Hagenwald

Vancouver 2-1 Chicago Fire FC

Fire are struggling with injuries and national team callups, and this is a game on the opposite side of the continent, on turf, ending a three-game away streak, against the only perfect team left in the league (albeit one with several issues itself). I don't think the Fire leave this game with a result, though if they do it'll be amazing.

Tim Hotze

Vancouver 0-1 Chicago Fire FC

Vancouver have been very, very good but the Fire have been improving game-on-game and with all the absences, this just feels like a trap game for the home side.

Max Sánchez Josa

Vancouver 2-1 Chicago Fire FC

I don’t love giving predictions with a low score line, especially this season, but considering the international break and the injury list for both sides, it seems appropriate. Cuypers will most likely get on the scoresheet once again but it won’t be enough to beat a team that has won every game this season.

Alan Królikowksi

Vancouver 1-2 Chicago Fire FC

Memo Pizano

Vancouver 1-2 Chicago Fire FC

No Brian White No Party. We are hitting those Whitecaps in the knee cap.

Matt Shabelman

Vancouver 1-1 Chicago Fire FC

Winning three  away games in a row is tough for most teams in the lead…and the Fire haven’t done it in…ever? [Note: They have, but not since 2008] I know Gauld and White are out but let me be a realist for once.

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, March 22th 2025, 9:30 PM CTForecast: Indoors with a 100% chance of fake turfLocation: BC Place, Vancouver, BCTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+ (subscription)