On Saturday, 126 days after their last competitive match, the Chicago Fire will take to the pitch in Columbus against the Crew. In that time, the Gregg Berhalter era in has started in Chicago, with a revamped front office, a new coaching staff, and a significantly reworked roster that has seen about half of the squad – including a number of starters – leave with new players, headlined by Jonathan Bamba and including the second largest homegrown contract in league history added to the squad. Along with new faces, Berhalter has brought in new ideas, reworking the team’s game model and tactical set up as he seeks to be the one who finally breaks the curse that has seen the team fail to make the postseason for seven seasons – the longest active drought in the league and restore the team to the glory that seemed to come so easily in its early years.

The first opponent on that quest is a familiar foe: Gregg Berhalter was head coach of the Crew for six years and longtime Fire fans remember the Crew as a Midwest rival (one of just three Midwestern teams for of the MLS’s history). In the league’s early years, the Fire were by far the more successful of the two, winning their first MLS Cup a full decade before the Crew and  defeating Columbus in the U.S. Open Cup final in 1998, completing a domestic double in their inaugural season. The Fire went on to win three more Open Cups and a Supporters Shield in their first decade. The Crew, however, have been the far more successful of the two teams in recent years, with two MLS Cup victories and a Leagues Cup title this decade.

Despite a broadly successful tenure in Columbus, with the Crew becoming a playoff regular, and narrowly losing an MLS Cup final in 2015, Berhalter failed to win hardware in his first MLS head coaching tenure, something he – and the Fire – will be looking to change this season and beyond. Trophies are doubtless also on the mind of the Crew’s Head Coach Wilfred Nancy, who has won a major trophy each of his first two seasons with the club.

The victories have come by building a team with one of the strongest tactical identities in the league based around ball possession and methodical build up play. That identity will be tested against the Fire, as the Crew have lost significant talent in the offseason – talent they have yet to effectively replace. Throughout his first preseason with the Fire, Berhalter has similarly tried to instill a distinct tactical identity in his squad, one also built around possession, making this game feel like a must-watch matchup as much for the play on the pitch as the numerous storylines off it.

This is the 83rd matchup between the two teams but the overall series hangs in the balance, with the Fire’s 29 wins just one higher than the Crew’s 28. Can Berhalter’s squad earn a result against one of the toughest opponents in the league and keep the series in Chicago’s favor?

Series History

All time: 29W-25D-28LLast Match: May 18, 2024: Fire 1-3 Columbus at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.Last Away Match: March 3, 2024: Columbus 3-0 Fire at Lower.com Field, Columbus, Ohio

What to Expect

Columbus Crew

Over the past two seasons, Wilfred Nancy has built the Columbus Crew into one of the most dynamic sides that MLS has ever seen in its 30 year history. In 2023, they won MLS Cup. In 2024, many expected them to repeat and compete for several other trophies, including the Supporters’ Shield. Ultimately, they fell short of every trophy but one, winning the Leagues Cup by beating Los Angeles FC 3-1. That’s far from nothing – it did book them a ticket to the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament this year, with a bye through the Round of 16 – but it’s still less than many expected of the team.

That isn’t to say they didn’t come close. In MLS play, they finished second in the Supporters’ Shield table to Inter Miami. They had the second-most goals for (again, after Inter Miami) and the fourth fewest goals against, good for the league’s best goal differential. In the CONCACAF Champions Cup, they went to Guadalupe to face off against C.F. Monterrey in the semifinals and left with a 3-1 victory. Although MLS teams have had occasional success in Mexico, it typically has come in the form of a scrappy victory – or even more commonly, eking out a draw away and winning at home, the Crew were dominant in that match, toying with Rayados in a match that was played entirely on Columbus’s terms. Although they lost out in the final (Nancy said that illness had struck his squad, the details of which won’t be repeated here), it was still eye-opening to see a MLS team play control the game on their germs with that kind of confident swagger against one of the region’s biggest clubs.

That success was built by leaning pretty hard into one game model: While other teams in MLS history – including Gregg Berhalter’s Crew – played possession-based soccer, none have been as committed to playing a methodical buildup as the Crew. In 2023, it seemed like there was no Plan B. In 2024, you started to see some more vertical play in moments, but the Crew still finished the season with 58.7% possession – good for 2nd in the league behind the Houston Dynamo (59.3%).

There’s more than one way to use possession, though. The Crew use it in a slow, methodical build up – they had the second slowest direct speed in the league per Opta and the longest average sequence time of 12.86 seconds, a hair ahead of the L.A. Galaxy. They average far fewer passes per sequence than the Galaxy, however, and while the Galaxy would build up and then break through, the Crew were mostly controlled all the way through to the end. Nancy did start leaning a bit more into direct attacking options over the course of last year, but it’s still hard to imagine him really shifting the identity.

The thing is, the Crew will likely have to evolve this year, one way or another. Over the offseason, they lost Cucho Hernández, the team’s leading scorer in 2024 with 19 goals, and Christian Ramírez, third on the team with eight goals. And they’re replaced them with… no one. Cucho’s departure in particular came late in the offseason and as somewhat of a surprise. That leaves striker Diego Rossi, who had 12 goals last year, as the team’s torch-bearer on offense.

Can he do it alone without dynamic attacking pieces like Cucho and Rossi around him? Nancy has a history of finding ways to elevate players, and the team does take a Total Football-inspired approach of expecting every player to be able to contribute on both ends of the pitch. Still, Cucho was a singular talent in the league and while he didn’t exactly make life easy for Rossi, simply having multiple strong attacking options on the pitch at the same time complicated the game for opposing defenders.

It really feels like the Crew may be asking for Nancy to pull one too many rabbits out of this particular hat.

Chicago Fire

As part of our season preview, we had an overview of Berhalter’s tactical approach – take a look for an overarching overview. Like Nancy, Berhalter prefers a possession-based approach, but he’s been less dogmatic about it (doubtless, a big part of that is likely due to the different situations that their teams have encountered, and the fact that Berhalter has a lot more years behind the bench as a head coach).

Still, both teams likely want 60% of the ball, and that obviously can’t happen. I asked Berhalter about it the challenges – particularly since Columbus has had two full seasons to with a similar system and the Fire just started practicing their system in January. The Fire gaffer said “Something has to give, right? For us, we have to value the moments when we have the ball. We have to be difficult to break down. We have to be dynamic both offensively and defensively. But it's a great challenge for this group. For us, we're not shying away from it at all. We realize that it's the first game and that it's a great challenge right from the onset, and we'll be up for it.”

That makes it sound like Berhalter is not planning on trying to out-possess the Crew, but instead, realizes that the defensive structure that he’s worked to instill as well as the talent and patterns of play on offense to get a result against his former club.

Another challenge that Berhalter will face: His squad managed to get pretty banged up by the end of preseason. Chase Gasper and David Poreba both have long-term injuries. On defense, New U22 Initiative signing Leonardo Barrosso is out, and Mauricio Pineda is listed as questionable. New defensive midfielder Romingue Kouamé is also out, as is midfielder Dylan Borso.

Further up the pitch, on top of Poreba, Maren-Haile Selassie is also out with an injury, and Chris Mueller is out for non-sporting related reasons.

That’s seven players out and one questionable. Even if only two of those players were likely starters, missing eight players puts a lot of strain on a roster that currently has 27 players in the squad.

On top of the players listed, winger Philip Zinckernagel and striker Hugo Cuypers have both recently been injured. Neither appears on the injury report but Cuypers didn’t appear at all in preseason and only recently started to train with the team. My bet ist that Berhalter doesn’t risk a start early, instead preferring to have the DP make an appearance off the bench. My hunch is that Zinckernagel, though, will make his MLS debut, as will new DP Jonathan Bamba. If the Danish winger doesn’t start, then the first MLS start honors would pass to Omari Glasgow with a fresh new first team deal after Guyana’s all-time leading scorer made two appearances on short term callups last season.

Those injuries also provide opportunities: I’d expect Sergio Oregel Jr. to get his first MLS start, coming far too long after his first (and only) MLS appearance. The Fire homegrown looks ready, and it could be a banner year for the midfielder. There’s still time to get on board the Oregel hype train – but I wouldn’t wait too long, because it really feels like it's about to leave the station.

Projected Starting XI

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Columbus 0-2 Fire

Berhalter vs. Nancy under the lights in Columbus will be the talk of MLS Matchweek 1. With the Men in Red rolling into form after a strong preseason, it’ll result in a familiar scoreline – Columbus, 2-0, but this time, the Fire over the Crew.

Max Sánchez Josa

Columbus 1-2 FirePreseason went very well, so why not carry on the strong rhythm? Columbus will outplay the Fire throughout a good part of the game, but a solid defensive performance will give the Fire all 3 points. With Cuypers out, the scorers will be Guti (carrying on the tradition of scoring bangers on opening day) and Bamba.DJ Hagenwald

Columbus 0-1 Fire

Berhalter definitely wants to start strong, and I expect that – despite likely missing several players – Gregg, Kellyn, and Brady are going to do everything in their power to win. Kellyn Acosta gets the goal.

Tim Hotze

Columbus 0-2 Fire

Sure feels like Gregg Berhalter has earned a dos-a-cero at Lower.com Field in Columbus, doesn’t it?

Alan Królikowksi

Columbus 0-1 Fire

Matt Shabelman

Crew 2, Chicago 2

Triple GGG’s return to Columbus sees a lot of goals and things to be happy about for #cf97….but I won’t count out a Wilfred Nancy side even if Cucho no longer plays ball there.

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, February 22nd 2025, 6:30 PM CTForecast: Freezing temperatures (28’F expected at kickoff)Location: Lower.com Field, Columbus, OHTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass