Ray of Hope: Chicago Fire vs Orlando City Match 16 Preview

For the third match in a row, the Fire face a team with the series in near balance, this time at home against Orlando City, a team who came into 2024 with aspirations after a high-flying 2023 season but who have instead fallen firmly back to earth. The Fire will hope to build on the best play in nearly two months and once again push the all-time series between the two teams in their favor.

Series History

All time: 7W-6D-7LLast Match: August 20, 2023: Fire 1-3 Orlando at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.

Recent Form

Orlando

Orlando hosted Columbus on Saturday, playing them to a 2-0 loss. Before that, though, Orlando had been making up for a slow start to their season – getting a draw in their opener then dropping the next three – but they’ve only lost three of the 10 matches since, notching four wins and three draws as the team has worked its way back towards the postseason spots in the Eastern Conference.

Fire

The Fire’s slowly-but-surely improving form of late netted the team a point as they played D.C. United to a 1-1 draw, snapping the team’s four game losing streak while extending the team’s winless stretch to eight games . The team did well to largely take Christian Benteke, D.C.’s star forward, out of the game but still conceded first, meaning that they’ve yet to hold the lead for any of the 720 minutes during that stretch.

The Storyline

The Fire’s two games this week conclude the disappointing first half of their season. Although no team is truly out of contention by the end May in MLS, particularly now that nine teams from each conference make the postseason, the Fire remain suck in 14th place in the15 team conference, and 28th out of 29 in the league overall, only ahead of the New England Revolution who can credit four of their seven points so far this season to results against the Fire. It isn’t a pretty place to be, and the math against the team is daunting.

Daunting, but not impossible. While a run that sees the team into the postseason would be historic, it wouldn’t be entirely unprecedented in this league, but now the time to start is now.

After following this week’s home matches, the team has a two week break. Entering the break with a series of results at their back could give the team a much-needed boost of confidence for the three game road trip that follows it.

If you look, there’s green shoots of hope starting to emerge from the Fire:

The team thoroughly outplayed their opponent in the second half against DC. The defense generally looked strong – though not perfect – throughout the match as they contained one of the best strikers in the league, thanks in no small part to the adept man-marking of Carlos Terán. Rafael Czichos’s performance has quietly improved after a shaky start to the season, and he was useful both on defense and in distribution against D.C.

Federico Navarro, who’d largely fallen out of favor, looked like the kind of no. 6 defensive midfielder that the Fire have been looking for, and Kellyn Acosta, who’d had a dip in form after a good start, picked up the tempo and scored a goal, his second of the season.

Brian Gutiérrrez started the match against D.C. relatively anonymously but grew into the game over the course of the match, and if he plays with the kind of confidence he showed at the end, would be poised for the kind of season the Fire hoped he’d have after giving him a new contract that pays him handsomely for his services.

Hugo Cuypers didn’t get a goal but did get an assist, in the kind of movement that takes something hard to do and makes it look ridiculously simple – just what you’d expect from a high-end offensive talent.

And Chicago-area native Andrew Gutman showed why the Fire pursued him so hard this offseason, becoming the best wingback the Fire have had in recent memory.

Will that be enough to return to the win column against an Orlando team that significantly overshot their underlying numbers last year before falling back to earth this one?

We’ll see, but it’s firmly within the team’s ability.

Orlando Players to Watch

Duncan McGuire: Last season, McGuire, who Orlando picked up in the MLS SuperDraft with the sixth overall pick that the Fire sent to Orlando as part of the deal for Chris Mueller’s rights, turned heads as he scored 13 goals and added three assists in under 1400 minutes.It felt loki t could be lightning in a bottle, and seeking to ride the hot hand, both player and team tried to make a move to Europe happen, but a comedy of errors kept him in Orlando. Well: Turns McGuire may not have been on a heater, as the striker has five goals and an assist so far this season, almost certainly sending his asking price upwards. McGuire, who is scheduled to make close to the league minimum this season, at just under $100,000 guaranteed, has every reason to keep on performing as he fights for a deal that will better pay him for his services, whether with Orlando or in Europe.

Nicolás Lodeiro: The longtime Sounder became a free agent when Seattle no longer wanted to retain his services in the offseason. While in Seattle, Lodeiro earned a reputation as one of the best no.10 central attacking midfielders in league history, and he was a key part of the squad that became the first from MLS to win the then-CONCACAF Champions League in its current format. Now firmly in his mid-30s, when Orlando picked him up in the offseason, many thought it was a smart move but questioned how many minutes the former Uruguayan international could provide this season. Well: So far, he’s been on the pitch for 925 minutes, sixth most on the squad, and leads the team in goal contributions with six, including five assists.

Fire Keys to Victory

• Pick up where you left off: Half the squad seemingly put in their best performances in recent memory against D.C. The team played coherent defense and did a good job keeping D.C.’s stars from having opportunities, while also doing a decent job building out from the back. Remember what that felt like; don’t let it be a flash in the pan. Last year, D.C. and Orlando finished polar opposite in the standings, but this season? D.C. is just ahead of them, and both teams have similar talent levels.
• Play the A-Team: With three matches in the span of a week, some rotation is inevitable, but the team needs to build off of what they started last game. That means making as few changes as possible to the XI (Allan Arigoni will be unavailable due to yellow card accumulation), and pushing to get a result this game. It’s better to aim for three points in the more winnable game, which is this one, rather than take unnecessary chances with this match. The team no longer has the luxury of time, and they do have something to build off of here.

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

You know what? Why not?

Prediction: Fire 1-0 Orlando

Jiggly Carollo

"And if you do, will anything happen?"The Fire may not be a good team, but they don't lose every game. And I think that this is one of those games that things will just happen. One of these goals will be a penalty.

Prediction: Fire 2-1 Orlando

Tim Hotze

The Fire are due, and they can get a result against an Orlando at home, particularly if they pick up with the form that we saw in the second half of the match against D.C. on Saturday.

Prediction: Fire 2-1 Orlando

Matt Shabelman

fireeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Prediction: Fire 3-1 Orlando

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 7:30 PM CTLocation: Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.Forecast: 58’F expected at kickoff, winds 9 mph, 21% cloud cover and a 0% chance of precipitationTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass