In their first match of the season, the Fire face one of the top teams of the East over the past several seasons in a stadium where they haven't found victory in over a decade. Despite the poor record, the Fire have often taken the Union to the limit, controlling long stretches of games and only conceding in the final minutes – in the case of last season, the Fire spent a significant portion of the final half hour of the match down a man in a draw, standing toe-to-toe with the Union before the game was finally put away in the dying minutes.

Here's an overview of each team's strengths, challenges, likely tactics and starting XI as they both open their MLS seasons.

Philadelphia Union

Overview

2023 Results: 15W-10D-90L, 55 pts, 4th in Eastern Conference, 57 GF, 41 GA (+16 GD)

Key Offseason Signings: None

No team has more points over the past four seasons than the Philadelphia Union’s tally of 223, and no team’s goal differential is better than the Union’s +99 over that same span (and it’s not even remotely close: second place is Los Angeles FC at +53).

That comes despite the fact that the Union have largely eschewed signing high-end talent or top names, relying instead on production from homegrowns coming up from one of the league’s best academies, and Moneyball-like signings from abroad. That’s certainly the case going into 2024: The key moves Union GM Ernst Tanner made were bringing back team captain Alejandro Bedoya and LB Kai Wagner despite both having been out of contract following last season and seemingly likely to depart.

In terms of actual squad additions, the changes have been small - 19 year old midfielder Sanders Ngabo was brought in from the Danish Superliga, forward Markus Anderson was brought in from the Spanish third division, and defender Jamir Berdecio was brought in on loan from Bolivian club Oriente Petrolero. (I did warn you that they were “Moneyball”-style signings.)

Will it be enough? Bedoya, the longtime team captain, is now 36 years old, attacking midfielders Dániel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre’s production notably dropped off in 2023 vs their prior year. So far, despite racking up points and making it to the MLS Cup final in 2022, the team has been good but have yet to bring back much silverware despite their regular season dominance.

While Kai Wagner may be unexpectedly available, with his suspension by the league lifted, the Fire may likely be facing an untested goalie, as longtime starter Andre Blake – long considered one of the league's top shot stoppers – is currently considered a "game time decision." Whether he starts or not may be academic: Facing a goalie with a nagging injury whose age may have finally caught up with him or an untested goalie whose sole match with the first team was in a U.S. Open Cup game against a lower-division opponent last May seems like a win-win situation for the Fire.

Overall, though, optimists would say that the team has continued to be good and they just need another shot: Ownership isn’t cheap, they’d argue, they just spend the money they need to to win, and the Union have come close often enough that there’s no reason for worry. Pessimists – and there’s more than several amongst the Union fanbase – would say that despite the team’s strengths, the lack of absolute top-end talent has meant that they lack the tools to land a final blow and win trophies.

Tactics & Formation

Regardless, Union Head Coach Jim Curtin’s squad will almost certainly play the same style it has for the entirety of the decade that that the former Fire player has been bench boss in Chester: The team loves playing against the ball (they had the 3rd least possession of all teams in the league last season at 46.1%), their players will be quick efficient with the ball at their feet (they also had the third fewest touches of any team in the league).

The Union’s goal scoring relies on their speed in transition and ability to unbalance defenses more than on individual prowess: Curtin’s squad was dead last in take-ons attempted (that is, they will not approach a defender when they have the ball); they had the least distance carrying the ball in MLS last year.

The team typically defends in a high press, with an aim of forcing opponents to cough up the ball in their defensive end (which helps explain why Union players don’t often have to carry the ball or take on defenders), but depending on game state, the team will also defend in a mid-block, with defensive midfielder José Martínez capable of destroying most incoming attacks without apparent strain.

Formationally, the team most frequently plays out of a 4-4-2 diamond (sometimes listed as a 4-1-2-1-2), though they sometimes play out of a 3-4-1-2.  The left side, featuring Julian Carranza and Wagner, is one of the strongest in the league and is responsible for a lot of the team’s offense. Centrally, Gazdag, playing the #10 central attacking midfield role, can come crashing in and play almost like an additional forward if given the opportunity.

Gazdag and Carranza co-lead the team 14 goals a piece last season, with the former adding one more assist for a total of 20 goal contributions.

The Union did play midweek in continental play, in a match in Costa Rica that was close though the Union ultimately prevailed. How ready will the aging corps be to start the MLS season at home after midweek travel, and how much will Curtin rotate the squad, knowing that his team will play the return leg again just three days after hosting the Fire?

Players to Watch

Julián Carranza: The Union’s co-leading scorer last year is in the last year of his deal and the 23-year-old has made no secret of his desire for a move to Europe. The Union reportedly tried, though Carranza was uninterested in the apparent suitors at the time. He’s got every reason to be motivated, either to get the attention of higher-profile (and deeper-pocketed) teams in Europe, or to earn a payday in MLS (he made just $950,000 in 2023).

Jack McGlynn: Will the 20-year-old homegrown midfielder become the next Union academy product to make a splash in MLS? He, along with the Fire’s Chris Brady and Brian Gutiérrez, is also Olympic hopeful for this summer and will likely have every opportunity to take a big step forward: The Union’s normal starter at his position on the left side of the Union’s defensive midfield, Leon Flach, is out for up to two more months having suffered an injury requiring surgery in preseason.

Chicago Fire

Overview

2023 Results: 10W-10D-14L, 40 pts, 13th in Eastern Conference, 41 GF, 54 GA (-13 GD)

Key Offseason Signings: Kellyn Acosta, Allan Arigoni, Tom Barlow, Hugo Cuypers, Chase Gasper, Andrew Gutman, Tobias Salquist

Last year, when Head Coach Frank Klopas took over, the team was already entering the middle third of the season. Over time, we did see some introduction of new ideas and tactics, but realistically, there’s only so much reconfiguring of a plane you can do while it’s already in the air.

This time around, he had the benefit of being in charge for a full preseason, and he’s got help: Paulo Nagamura, former Head Coach of the Houston Dynamo, and Carlos García, a former assistant with Serie A side Udinense Calcio, are now assistant coaches and Ryan Needs has been named the first set piece coach in team history.

What Klopas and his coaching staff did not have was all of his the new additions through preseason: Though the team managed to get all of the signings across the line before the start of the season – a major accomplishment -  midfielder Kellyn Acosta was not signed in time to participate in preseason matches and Gutiérrez told gathered reporters on Tuesday that he hadn’t yet had time to meet forward Hugo Cuypers.

Cuypers – the team’s record incoming signing and one of the most expensive incoming transfers in league history – fulfills a need the team had identified over a year ago. Though some commentators around the league have said that he’s more of a “finisher” than a “finisher and creator,” the fact is, his technical abilities -  he can score goals with both feet, with the outside of his boot, off headers, he can burst behind opposing lines - give the team an offensive threat that they’ve lacked, and simply having a dangerous center forward target on the pitch creates more space and more time for everyone else on the field.

Last year, without a dangerous finisher, too many teams were able to double team Shaqiri, closing him down before he was able to either create plays or score. Brian Gutiérrez often suffered a similar fate when Shaqiri was off. If Cuypers, the reigning Golden Boot winner from the Belgian Pro League, is even half as dangerous as billed, teams won’t be able to gang up on Fire attacking midfielders like that unless they want to get scored on.

Tactics and Formation

Klopas has said that he doesn’t like to focus on formations, noting that on the pitch, they’re fluid based on game state. Nominally, however, the Fire are likely to still line up in the 4-2-3-1 that Fire fans have become familiar with over the past few seasons.

That isn’t to say that it’s going to be the same tactics or the same team that we’ve seen previously. Behind Cuypers and the attacking midfield line, Kellyn Acosta gives the team a more versatile defensive midfielder than they’ve had in years. The USMNT player can handle responsibilities on both ends of the ball, something the Fire have all too often lacked over the past several seasons: Gastón Giménez – once again with a DP tag, albeit only for cap reasons – has never been able to cover much ground defensively, a trait that has certainly not improved with age – forcing his frequent partner in the d-mid, Federico Navarro, to stay in more of a defensive role (one of the reasons that we’ve seldom seen Fede’s name on the scoresheet in recent years). The addition of Acosta makes the team better in part because he can fulfill all of the duties expected of a defensive midfielder in a double pivot.

The defensive line has also improved upgrades - Fire academy product Andrew Gutman and FC Lugano loanee Allan Arigoni both have an offensive dimension that their predecessors (Miguel Ángel Navarro and Arnaud Souquet) have lacked. Their ability to join the attack makes the Fire a more dynamic team, and one harder to defend against.

Still, the question is when these additions will make it into the squad: Klopas has typically given players plenty of time to acclimate before granting them starting minutes. My hunch is that CB Tobias Salquist will be given more time to learn the system and develop chemistry with the defensive corps before starting, but Acosta and Cuypers are too big of upgrades to leave off the XI, and its likely that Gutman and Arigoni will start as well.

Brady is returning as a lock at starter – continuity in goal is not something the Fire have often enjoyed in recent years – as is Captain Rafael Czichos. That means the real questions are who starts behind Cuypers and next to Acosta. Brian Gutiérrez and Xherdan Shaqiri are the team’s most talented playmakers in the attacking midfield, and both should get the nod (though what their role is may have shifted somewhat from last year). That means that either Chris Mueller, returning from injury, or Maren Haile-Selassie, now a permanent part of the squad, will start 2024 on the bench. Smart money is that Klopas will give Mueller the opportunity, allowing the team’s leading scorer last season to provide a spark off the bench.

The three options to be paired alongside Acosta are Giménez, Navarro and Mauricio Pineda, with Fabian Herbers an option off the bench (though he can also play further up the pitch).  With Salquist likely being given time to integrate and Carlos Terán injured, expect Pineda to start next to Czichos, and Giménez given starting duties for now – though Navarro may push for minutes depending on performance.

The Union are a tough opponent for any MLS team, but this year's squad has a lot going for it. Will it be enough to give the team their first win at Philadelphia in over a decade and their first season-opening win since 2009? We will soon find out.