Having notched their first point in the standings last week in their home opener, the Chicago Fire head to Dallas where they take on an old – if now unfamiliar – foe in FC Dallas as the team searches for its first win of the season. The match is also the team’s first chance at (dented) hardware under new Head Coach Gregg Berhalter, with the Brimstone Cup on the line for the first time since 2022.

The Brimstone Cup was created by supporters of both teams in 2001, when the league was still a scrappy upstart and supporters across the country were actively working to establish a fan culture for the league. The Brimstone Cup is awarded to the series winner between Fire and the then-Dallas Burn. Until 2019, the Cup was contested annually, but league growth (and the COVID-shortened 2020 season) have meant that the two teams have met just once since then – a scoreless 2022 draw between the two teams in April 2022.

The draw meant that the Brimstone Cup has stayed in Chicago since 2019, thanks to the team’s 4-0 victory at SeatGeek stadium that year. Dallas won the last time the contest was held in Frisco, however, during a match when Brand Bronico scored the only goal for the Fire, Elliot Collier started on the wing and Drew Conner received a 70’ red card in a game where he started at right back.

The game winner for Dallas in that match? Kellyn Acosta, now the captain for the Fire. The match marks the first time that the Plano, Texas native will face FC Dallas since the 2023 season.

The match marks the start of a three game road swing for the Fire, but Berhalter isn’t fazed, saying “It’s all part of it…. I think it builds strength and character within the group. It’s a good challenge for this group to have to go on the road and want to pick up some points. So for us, it’s all part of it. We accept this challenge.”

Series History

All time: 20W-6D-24LLast match: April 2, 2022: Fire 0-0 Dallas. at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.Last road match: July 14, 2018: Dallas 3-0 Fire at Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Tex.

What to Expect

FC Dallas

Out: Paxton Pomykal, Show

This will be Dallas’s home opener, but it won’t be an entirely familiar home to them: Toyota Park is undergoing a multi-year renovation that will eventually expand the stadium and add a roof over most seats , amongst other improvements, but in the meantime, the stadium will be operating at a significantly reduced capacity.

After a season in which the team didn’t make the playoffs for the second time since 2017 (the last year the Fire were in the postseason), Dallas significantly overhauled their team, starting with the coach. Eric Quill is the new gaffer in Frisco. A former head coach FC Dallas’s reserve squad, Quill spent time as an assistant with the Columbus Crew before moving to USL and taking over New Mexico United in the USL Championship.

Unlike the departed Nico Estevez, Quill’s New Mexico teams played possession-based soccer and that style took his squad to the top of the Western Conference in USL. In the U.S. Open Cup, New Mexico defeated Real Salt Lake’s first team on a run that made it to the quarterfinals before being stopped by eventual winners Los Angeles FC. It’s early, but it seems that he’s bringing the same style of play that worked well in New Mexico with him to his first MLS head coaching gig.

Quill has been given a significantly reworked squad. Gone is Jesus Ferreira as is Paul Arriola, both to the Seattle Sounders. Alan Velasco, the team’s young Designated Player who never quite fit in with the squad after injuries sidelined him for much of the past two seasons, was sold to Boca Juniors for $10 million in January – an eye-watering sum that let FC Dallas move on from the player, amongst a number of other moves.

Headlining the arrivals is Lucho Acosta, the 2023 MLS MVP in a blockbuster $5 million cash trade with FC Cincinnati. Acosta showed that he can be one of the top no. 10 central attacking midfielders in the league in his time in Cincinnati, and he’ll be tasked with providing fellow Designated Player Petar Musa with service in the Croatian’s second season in MLS. Last year, Musa worked his way to 16 goals in 2,304 league minutes. He’ll be looking to add to that number significantly in his second year in the league.

They’ll likely need that increased production: despite a significant roster overhaul, the team didn’t really upgrade their defense outside of adding 24-year-old Osaze Urhoghide from Ligue 2 in France, which was one of the squad’s most glaring weaknesses last season. Former head coach Nico Estrevez tried papering the issues over by switching to playing three center-backs, but – as Fire fans are painfully aware – it turns out that adding a third CB that isn’t really up to snuff doesn’t actually solve anything.

Although Urhoghide looks like he could be a top-quality CB in this league, neither Lalas Abubakar nor Sebastien Ibeagha, the next highest CBs in the depth chart, have shown that they’re really up to the task. Similarly, at fullback, Marco Farfan and Shaq Moore have both been fine (though Moore is himself a new arrival, after a few seasons in Nashville where he looked decent if unremarkable), but neither are the kind of creative wingbacks that would really be an asset to Quill’s system.

In Dallas’s young season, they looked good against the Houston Dynamo in their season opener, winning a 2-1 victory on the road, before playing to a wild 3-3 draw last week in Colorado.

Against Colorado, in particular, FC Dallas showed that with Acosta in the lineup, they meant business up front, but their defense is permeable. Can the Fire find a party in the back?

Chicago Fire

Out: Dylan Borso, Chase Gasper, Rominigue Kouamé, Chris Mueller, David Poreba, Carlos Terán, Philip ZinckernagelQuestionable: Maren Haile-Selassie

The good: Against D.C., the FIre got two goals off corners, a welcome sight considering the team’s struggles to produce from set pieces last year.

The bad: Philip Zinckernagel has been added back to the injured list, although he trained with the team throughout the week, so the team won’t be benefiting from the Danish winger’s service, so crucial to setting up those goals last week, against Dallas. Carlos Terán, injured in the warmups last week, is also out.

Turning the Fire’s injury ward into a revolving door is very unwelcome news for the Fire, who still haven’t seen midfielder Rominigue Kouamé or right back Leonardo Barroso make their competitive debuts. One of those could be set to change: Barroso trained with the team this week and isn’t listed on the availability report. Will he be well enough to start? Possibly, if not, Jonathan Dean will get his third start of the year.

Still, the injuries taken their toll on the Fire, and while every player and coach will talk about a “next man up mentality,” let’s be honest: Having at least seven players unavailable, as the Fire have all three of their games so far, takes a toll. If it didn’t, why bother signing those players?

Nowhere has been more directly affected by the availability issues than the midfield, where Kellyn Acosta was paired with Sergio Oregel, in the second MLS start of his career, and Sam Williams, in his first-ever professional match. Brian Gutiérrez’s suspension deprived the team of a valuable creative spark in the attack and it limited Acosta’s ability to help the defensive stability.

Asked about the issues in the midfield, Berhalter said “It’s a work in progress, not a ton of continuity. Last game, having to make some changes, and then the first game, you know, I think it started well, and then we lost some shape. But overall, the guys have been working hard. Really, their ability to both defend when we are high pressing, cover space, and then offensively, really break lines and get into good positions to play forward is really important.”

The midfield’s inability to recover when the team was pressing led to D.C.’s first goal last week, courtesy of a speedy winger and a skilled finisher. Dallas have both, and a creative playmaker in Lucho Acosta, as well as what Berhalter called a “more technical winger.”

Still, Sergio Oregel demonstrated a lot of game-on-game improvement, and with Kouamé out, is likely in for his third start. The improvement was noted by his coach, who said, “we did challenge him after the Columbus game and saying that he needed to be more physical and more present, and I think he responded well. We have to give D.C. a lot of credit for being a very physical team, a very difficult team to deal with, and I think he acquitted himself well in that game. We would like to see from him a little bit more control of the game offensively because we know he has it in him. He's a young player but we think he can help dictate the game for us. We’re pleased with his second performance, and we want to see him continue to build.”

He’ll likely get that chance. Less certain is Sam Rogers, who had his first MLS start last week. Acknowledging that the center-back was put in a difficult position being told “you’re playing five minutes before the game,” and saying it was a “tough start” for him. Regardless, I still think this is a good game to give Dallas-native Omar González the start. He started 10 games for FC Dallas last year, and has a year’s worth of experience seeing Musa in both game and practice situations. Having debuted for the Fire in the waning minutes of the last game, it seems like as good of a time as ever to give the veteran defender his place in the XI for the 267th time in MLS regular season play.

His steadying presence on the backline can help the team get the kind of stability they need to get results, especially against a team with players like Lucho Acosta and Petar Musa. Still, Brady isn't phased by Dallas's attack. Asked about going facing them a week after the reigning Golden Boot winner, Chris Brady said he felt "good" about it, stating "I'd much rather step up against an efficient and dangerous front three than one that wouldn't be me a lot of work," noting that the Fire also have "dangerous" players.

We’ve seen individual pieces of the Fire – an electric opening half hour of possession-based football against a strong Columbus team, performance in set pieces last game, and some strong defending – but not yet a complete game. FC Dallas’s attacking talent presents a real challenge, but Bamba, Gutiérrez and the rest of the Fire’s attack will likely find that they can break through Dallas’s lines. If we can see the whole thing assembled and running for 90 minutes, the Fire can walk out of Dallas with their first win of the season.

Projected Starting XI

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

FC Dallas 1-1 Fire

The Fire clearly haven’t gotten off to the start they expected, and injuries have played a part. Even if it looks like those will alleviate soon, they’ll still need to wait at least another week for their first win.

Max Sánchez Josa

FC Dallas 3-2 FireThe Fire’s defense is a very slow work in progress, as we have seen. Musa and Acosta should combine for most of Dallas’s goals with Bamba, Cuypers, and Zinckernagel once again putting up impressive performances.

DJ Hagenwald

FC Dallas 2-2 Fire

The Fire will struggle with injuries in Dallas, but they'll battle well and escape from a place they haven't been to since 2019 with a respectable draw. Goals by Cuypers and Bamba, with another MVP-level performance by Brady.

Tim Hotze

FC Dallas 2-2 Fire

This game could be completely off the rails, which, because this is MLS, means that it probably won’t be. If the Fire are able to get rid of small mistakes and keep showing what they’ve been showing the other direction, though, this is winnable.

Alan Królikowksi

FC Dallas 2-1Fire

Memo Pizano

FC Dallas 1-1 Fire

Matt Shabelman

FC Dallas 2-2 Fire

A leaky defense won’t be able to stop a quality Dallas front four. However – the offense will stay on fire.

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, March 8th, 2025, 7:30 PM CTForecast: Temperatures in 40s with a 30-50% chance of rainLocation: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Tex.TV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass