For the second time this week, the Fire are headed to the East Coast. Returning victorious from Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup match against the New England Revolution in Rhode Island, the Fire spent several days training in Chicago before heading to face New York City FC. This match – held at Yankee Stadium, one of two baseball venues that the team utilizes – will once again put the Fire’s undefeated run through May to the test.

It will be a stern test: The Fire have never won in the five boroughs, and never won away against New York City, even in the matches the team has played across the river in the then-Red Bull Arena.

That doesn’t faze Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter, however. “I think it shows NYC's dominance against us, and potentially struggling on the pitch or whatever it is,” he said. “But it's not our concern. Very few of us were around for that series, and we have confidence and I think most importantly, it's just about what we're willing to put into this game. We know it's going to be a difficult game. We know they are a good team, I like a lot of their players, watching them can be fun.  So for us, it's going to be difficult and we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and put on a good performance if we want to get something out of the game.”

Series History

All time: 3W-8D-11L Last match: August 24, 2024: New York City 2-2 Chicago Fire at Citi Field, Queens, NY

What to Expect

New York City FC

Of the players that can be fun to watch, one at the top of the list has to be Santi Rodríguez. His seven goals are just one shy of the Fire’s leading scorer, Hugo Cuypers. But if you asked NYCFC fans? A lot would probably answer Maxi Moralez, the club’s all-time leader with 197 regular-season appearances and 238 appearances in all competitions.

Moralez left the club briefly after the 2023 season before returning that summer. His time back has been frustrating, however, with the midfielder missing substantial time with an ACL injury before finally working his way back to health. His performance last week picked up when the team flipped it’s midfield, moving from a 4-2-3-1 where the club legend was the playing as the lone attacking midfielder in front of a double pivot, to more of a 4-3-3 shape. In the new formation, Morales and Andrés Perea played higher up the pitch, which improved the links between the midfield and attack and, if we’re being honest, relieved the 38-year-old Moralez from having to cover as much ground in the midfield. That focus may have been what contributed to his goal against local rivals Red Bulls last week.

The shift was enabled by having Aiden O’Neill play at the base of the midfield in a more defensive role.  The Australian international came over from Standard Liège, where his time briefly overlapped with Cuypers, and was the biggest offseason acquisition for NYCFC.

That’s an issue, because they shipped away star midfielder Santi Rodríguez and didn’t effectively replace his production. That limits what new head coach Pascal Jensen can do to play the style of attacking football he wants.

Instead, team has found a way to results by being smart on both sides of the ball. As John pointed out on our podcast, the Pigeons have scored more than two goals once this season, and allowed more than two goals once. Both of those happened in a 4-3 loss to Atlanta on March 29th.  Still, the team has lost just one time in the previous five matches, and have been finding their way to results.

The team’s twelfth man at home has been their pitch. At a listed 110 yards long and 70 yards wide, it tied with Snapdragon stadium for the smallest in the league, nine feet less than the next narrowest venue in the league. “Yeah, I think it's important to communicate, to inform the players about the pitch,” Berhalter said ahead of the match “We talked about it today, the dimensions. I think some of the angles at Yankee Stadium can be tricky, and then finally the sod over the infield. So certainly, challenges, but,” he added, “it will be challenges for both teams. Both teams will have to deal with it, and you know, it's part of playing in NYC.”

Chicago Fire

Last week, Chicago Fire had their most complete game of the season in their 4-1 victory over Charlotte. It was the 4.3 xG the team had was the third highest ever for a team in an away game in American Soccer Analysis’s database. Midweek, they showed they could win dirty, in less-than-ideal pitch conditions, something that they’ll face again this weekend in a match where having more talent didn’t translate to having more chances until well into the second half.

That’s a good lesson for the Fire, because if you want results you have to be able to get them in multiple forms. Pretty, ugly, and everything in between.

Part of that comes from finding unlikely contributors. Omari Glasgow, in his first year with the first team, was expected to play mostly off the bench in the attack, similar to the role that he played effectively in MLS Next Pro and which he’s used to parlay to becoming the Guyanese national team’s most prolific scorer at just 21 years old.

Instead, he’s now playing as a wingback – and earning the praise of his coach. “What Omari does is find a way to get on the field,” Berhalter said. “That's what we know. Started out as a winger. Converted into a fullback, and he just does his job. He needs to improve. I think he knows he needs to improve but he works at it. You know, he's a delight to coach. I'm really happy with his progress so far.”

That has earned him another callup to the Guyanese national team for their crucial World Cup Qualifiers in June, with a third round berth on the line, according to Berhalter, who said “We'll be missing him for a little bit about two games. He'll be back in with us after the 10th.”

Speaking to reporters minutes earlier, Glasgow was coy about – or unaware of – the callup, saying “The final squad is not out just yet. I don't know if I'm going, but as you said I’m on the preliminary roster. But if I go, I'm glad to represent my country and to go see if we can qualify for the next World Cup. Guyana, as a country, we've never qualified for that round, we would be pushing to get into the 2026 World Cup in the U.S. next year.”

Making it to the next round – with an eye towards qualification – would be a big step up for a program that, like the Fire, are on an upwards trajectory. Some of that comes down to the squad’s growth internally – including Glasgow’s.

Speaking about what he’s learned form teammate Maren Haile-Selassie, five years his senior, Glasgow said “he's been teaching me a lot of things – to become poised, body positioning – things that you see in practice that I could do better. After practice, he would pull me to the side and be like, you know, in this situation I should have done this in order to make my game better.”

That’s the kind of growth we’ve seen throughout the roster as the wingback-né-winger’s growth on the defensive end has mirrored teammate Brian Gutiérrez.

The Fire hope that that growth will propel the team to a first-ever away victory against NYCFC.

Projected Starting XI

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Sunday, May 25th 2025, 2:00 PM CT Forecast: Temperatures in upper 60s with a chance of rain Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York TV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass