The Fire’s final game of the season comes at Soldier Field and marks the last time that Head Coach Frank Klopas will be in the dugout for the team. Incoming Head Coach and Director of Football Gregg Berhalter will be in the building, marking a ceremonial changing of the guard as two already-eliminated teams try to end their season on a positive note.

Series History

All time: 1W-2D-3LLast Match: September 18, 2024: Fire 0-1 Nashville at GEODIS Park, Nashville, TNLast Away Match: July 8, 2023: Fire 1-0 Nashville at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill

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Nashville SC

After their 1-0 victory against the Fire on September 18th, Nashville hosted Cincinnati and played to a 2-2 draw, marking their first undefeated streak under new head Coach BJ Callaghan, but any hopes of a push into the playoffs were dashed following three losses to the New England Revolution, D.C. United and New York City FC.

Fire

The Fire were last in action on October 2nd in Charlotte, where they lost 4-3, one of too many matches this season where the Fire came close but ultimately were unable to secure points. Prior to that, the team drew Toronto FC 1-1 in Bridgeview. Their most recent victory came in their last match at Soldier Field, a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls on September 14th.

The Storyline

From a narrow perspective, this game doesn’t matter: Both the Fire and Nashville are out of the postseason picture for 2024, a disappointing year falling short of expectations.

And yet from another perspective, the match matters a great deal. It is the last game of Fire Head Coach Frank Klopas’s time in the dugout, with the original 1998 Fire player transitioning to a front office role and making way for incoming Director of Football and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter. It is also the last game when the roster designed by outgoing Sporting Director Georg Heitz will take to the field for the Fire.

With Klopas already calling this “the most crucial offseason in the club’s history,” it seems likely that this will be the last game for many of the players in a Fire uniform, as this current chapter of the team’s history comes to a close and as we are beginning to get a preview of what the next chapter – largely under the authorship of Gregg Berhalter – may look like.

Nashville has long represented something of a yardstick for the Fire: They began play in 2020, the first Fire under now-outgoing Sporting Director Georg Heitz, and have featured former Fire players including Dax McCarty and CJ Sapong. While Nashville have yet to win a trophy, they were, before this year, a consistent playoff team and made the Leagues Cup final a year ago, while the Fire failed to make the postseason over that span.

This year, both teams are out of the playoffs but Nashville turned the page a bit earlier than the Fire, bringing in former interim U.S. manager BJ Callaghan as the team’s second-ever head coach. With former U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter coming for the Fire, the team is likely to continue to be a yardstick.

Can they get their second-ever victory over Nashville, in Frank Klopas’s last game in the dugout for the Fire?

Nashville Players to Watch

Walker Zimmerman: With rumors swirling that Gregg Berhalter might entice U.S. Men’s National Team players to the Fire, whether from within MLS or abroad, Walker Zimmerman shows one template for how that might play out. The 31-year-old Georgia native has had a strong career in MLS and was initially brought in to national team camp just before Berhalter’s arrival. Zimmerman has become one of the best center-backs in the league in recent years, and was a stabilizing force in both Nashville and Los Angeles FC starting in their expansion years.Hany Mukhtar: Mukhtar’s 2024 campaign may not measure up to his Golden Boot-winning years but he remains Nashville’s standout player and the only high-profile attacking signing that has really worked out as planned since the team joined the league in 2020.

Fire Keys to Victory

• For Frank: The results haven’t been there under Klopas’s current tenure with the club, but the Fire’s coach has always defended the squad and the work they put in. When asked about his tenure, he was quick to credit the “hours we put in – its not just me, it’s the people that I’ve been able to bring on board,” calling it an “honor” to be coach, saying “I want nothing more than for our fans to at least the last game of this season to finish on a positive note, but I’m proud of the work that we’ve put forth with the group here. We’ve worked extremely hard. I know it’s not evident with the results, but that’s just one part of it.”
• For the future: Whether or not players have contracts that are up, every player has to fight for their future, whether that be for their preferred role with the Fire, or for the best-possible landing spot elsewhere. Few, if any, players are untouchable and while Berhalter and his sporting staff will undoubtedly look at how players perform in training, nothing is as important as what happens on the pitch. Make a statement. Show what you can do.

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Fabian Herbers will score.

Prediction: Fire 2-1 Nashville

Jiggly Carollo

Soquet scores. Another from Barlow.

Prediction: Fire 4-1 Nashville

Tim Hotze

Georgios Koutsias gets a goal.

Prediction: Fire 2-0 Nashville

Matt Shabelman

Prediction: Fire 2-0 Nashville

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, October 19nd, 2024, 5:00 PM CTLocation: Soldier Field, Chicago, IllTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass