Level Up: Chicago Fire II vs. Forward Madison U.S. Open Cup Preview
The Fire II’s Quest for the Cup continues as they host Forward Madison at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview on Wednesday. Their opponent for this round is a fully professional team in USL League 1, nominally the same level of the American soccer pyramid as MLS Next Pro.
Although Forward Madison and Fire II have met before – three times, all in preseason friendlies, Wednesday’s game is the first competitive match between a MLS Next Pro team and a USL League 1 team (the Colorado Rapids 2 host USL1’s Northern Colorado Hailstorm, with kickoff 90 minutes after the Fire II match, the only other USL1-MLS Next Pro matchup this round).
In addition to the preseason history, Forward Madison has historic links to the Fire organization: Peter Wilt was the first general manager of both organizations, and Madison was once the Fire’s affiliate, giving early professional experience to players like current Fire starting goalkeeper Chris Brady. There’s an overlap in the fanbases: More than one or two Wisconsinites count themselves as fans of both their state’s pro soccer team as well as the Chicago Fire as their MLS team.
Pride, both individually and collectively, is on the line: This is the first meaningful matchup between USL League 1 and MLS Next Pro, which many League 1 fans consider to be an upstart league living off of MLS’s wealthy coattails. All of Forward’s players have dreamed of playing top-flight soccer, and many players on Madison’s roster have trialed for MLS teams – Bernd Schipman, Forward’s likely starting goalkeeper, spent time with the Fire two years ago and was not offered a deal.
The Fire II will want to prove that they are capable of competing – and winning – against an older, more veteran-laden team and that they can live up to the name, not the number, on their crest as they compete for the Cup.
How will both teams line up?
Chicago Fire II
Fire II hosted the Philadelphia Union II in their home opener last Thursday, finishing regulation in a 1-1 draw, and for the second league match in a row, getting the extra point in PKs. It was a tale of two halves for the Fire II, who looked like the stronger team early and like a team that were holding on for dear life towards the end.
The difference?
In the first half, the Fire II’s squad was bolstered by two experienced first-team players in Arnaud Souquet and Federico Navarro, both of whom came out at half.
Both are eligible to play in the U.S. Open Cup match, as are strikers Tom Barlow and Georgios Koutsias as well as defenders Andrew Gutman and Wyatt Omsberg – assuming, of course, that the latter two are healthy enough to play. On top of those players who have often earned time with the Fire first team, a number of other players technically on first team contracts are eligible for the match, including Javier Casas, Bryan Dowd, Jeff Gal and Sergio Oregel Jr.
The Fire II can have up to seven of those eight players in the lineup, but realistically, roughly half of that number.
Souquet and Navarro’s appearance might have been to prepare them for first-team duty against Atlanta last Sunday, but given that neither made an appearance in the match, it may have instead been to help acclimate them to the squad for the Open Cup. It wouldn’t be unsurprising to see Omsberg or even Gutman make an appearance to better prepare them for MLS duty as they come back from injury, but if they do expect it to be a limited number of minutes.
Regardless of which first-team players make an appearance, the squad should be older than the one that took to the field against Chicago City: A number of the younger players from that match are currently in Florida participating in the Generation Adidas Cup with the academy team. Striker Omari Glasgow, one of the standouts on Head Coach Ludovic Taillandier’s young squad, is available for selection after being out in the first round due to being called up to international duty with the Guyanese national team.
As before, expect the team to play out of a 4-3-3 that shifts to a 3-4-3 in possession, using speed and a higher press than we’ve normally seen from the first team (though that may be starting to shift this season, as the have started to Fire press higher in recent games), playing a
Regardless of who is playing, Tallandier’s squad plays a high-tempo style of soccer. Most often, they nominally line up in a 4-3-3 but in possession, it often becomes a 3-4-3. They’re fast in transition; they counterattack quickly. There’s talent throughout the roster, but both Glasgow and Harold Osorio are players that can spin chances – and goals – out of almost nothing.
Forward Madison
Much like the Fire II, Forward Head Coach Matt Galeser likes lining his team up with three center backs in either a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 with dual strikers. The former is more likely in this match – Christian Chaney, one of the team’s starting strikers left just 13 minutes in to their match on Friday with an apparent injury.
If he’s unable to play, it’ll be a significant loss to Forward: The 29-year-old has scored double digit goals each of the past two seasons in USL League 1. At 6’2”, he’s also a significant physical presence in the box and a big target for balls from the midfield.
Last year, Madison was defensively sound, giving up the third-fewest goals in their league and though they scored fewer goals than any other playoff-bound team, it was an area of investment for the squad in the offseason.
Forward is undefeated this year, having drawn their first two matches and won last Thursday, as they started their season with a three game road trip.
What to Expect
Expect this match to be much closer than the Fire’s opening match. The Fire II have a number of young, highly talented players and the squad’s talent ceiling is undoubtedly higher than that of Forward Madison, but Madison’s squad is an experienced group of professionals.
The average age of Forward Madison’s starting XI (at 27 years) in their most recent match is more than five years older than that of the Fire’s XI that started last Friday in Bridgeview – a difference that was shrunk by the additions of 32-year-old Arnoud Souquet and even 24-year-old Federico Navarro from the first team.
Put another way: First-team loanees Souqet and Navarro along with defender Jaylen Shannon and midfielder BIlly Hency, substituted on at half, were the only players aged 24 or older to play for the Fire II that match. The only players aged 24 or younger to appear for Forward Madison in their last match were 24-year-old Michael Chilaka and 23 year-olds John Murphy and Wolfgang Prentice.
USL League One can be a tough, physical place to play a game of soccer, but don’t fall into the easy trap of thinking that that means that there aren’t quality, skilled players or that the teams aren’t organized. They are, and Madison will be eager to prove that they can advance in the tournament and test themselves against higher-division opponents in future rounds after an early exit last year.
With the possible exception of first-team loanees making cameos on their way back to the top squad, both teams can leave it all out on the field in single elimination match, as neither team has another match for at least a week.
Should the game be unable to be decided in 90 minutes in a game that will be chilly and could well see rain – or even snow – showers, the teams will play through 30 minutes of extra time and, if necessary, go to penalty kicks after that.
