For the second time in a row, the Chicago Fire will host a game at Soldier Field and Gregg Berhalter will be at the center of discussion. Last time, it was the Fire’s last home game of the season, and Gregg Berhatler’s role was ceremonial – having just been announced as the next Fire head coach, he donned a red and white logo jacket and was the guest for the Sound the Alarm ceremony. This time, he will be more impactful, serving in the dugout after an offseason where he overhauled the team’s roster and implemented a new style of play.

The result of that offseason work was a team that came out and played an attractive style of possession soccer at the start of the team’s season opener in Columbus but ultimately came up short against one of the league’s top teams, falling 4-2 after giving up two leads. Despite the loss, the team showed promise, and commentators around the league described the Fire using words like “fun” and “exciting” – phrases that would have rarely been used to describe the Fire in recent years. Still, the team remains in search of their first point, their first result, and their first win of the season. With that result, they’ll get underway as they look to end the league’s longest active postseason drought by the end of the campaign.

Their opponent at Soldier Field is the team with the second-longest active drought in D.C. United. The teams that wore the red and white of Chicago and black and red of D.C. were  the most feared in the league’s early years, with D.C. taking the inaugural two MLS Cups and the Fire the third, after defeating D.C. United in the final. In recent years, however, the two teams have far too often been the poster examples of the stagnation that some early MLS sides have experienced.

That is something that both are looking to change, but the Fire have leaned harder into that shift, overturning more of the roster while also reworking the front office under Gregg Berhalter’s helm. Despite the obvious challenges the Fire will face – not the least of which is a severely depleted squad – it certainly feels like a winnable game for the Fire. Is it a “must-win” though?

Not in the eyes of Berhalter. Asked about the importance of getting a result in the team’s first home game ahead of a three game road trip, the Fire head coach said, “I think results are always important, but I also know there's a lot of soccer to play. I also know that you can't predict what happens in games. I wouldn't say, okay, we're going on the road, we have to do this, or we're playing at home. For us, it's really about our performance, reaching our standards. If we do that, we'll be happy.”

Kellyn Acosta, given the captain’s armband for the first match of 2025, however, said that it was of “huge” importance for the team to get a result, adding “We know within the season very game is important, especially home games. It’s exciting times, especially the first of the season in front of our home fans and our home stadium, a place that we’re comfortable with. So fur us, it’s about getting points back that we dropped. I think for us all of it is progression and growth. It’s a huge opportunity for us to get back on track.”

Series History

All time: 28W-23D-28LLast Match: September 7, 2024: Fire 1-2 D.C. at SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, Ill.

What to Expect

D.C. United

A lot of what I wrote about D.C. in 2024 still holds true – they still have the second-longest active playoff drought in the league after the Fire. What was a new head coach in Troy Lesesne and Chief Soccer Officer in Ally MacKay a year ago is now a sophomore pair, and what I called the “high-energy pressing system based on a high line of attack” stayed with D.C. throughout 2024 and looks like it will still be the mainstay for the team in 2025.

The team relies on long balls and playing direct; they press high, they press often, they press, press, press. If you were looking for videos to explain the concept of “vertical play” in soccer, you could probably find what you needed in five minutes or less of D.C. United tape. Normally, that makes teams less than fun to watch, but normally, those teams don’t have a guy like Belgian forward Christian Benteke. Benteke, the only designated player on D.C. United’s squad (but not roster – more on that in a second) – is truly a special player in the league. He won the MLS Golden Boot last year and he did it in no small part because he was absolutely dominant in the air. Benteke won 310 aerial duels in MLS last year. In second place was teammate Lucas Bartlett, with 110.

Last season, Benteke was supported by fellow DP Mateusz Klich and young homegrown Ted Ku-DiPietro in the attack. This year, both are gone. Ku-DiPietro was sent to the Colorado Rapids for $1.25 million under MLS’s new cash transfer system, Klich, meanwhile,was traded to Atlanta United in a deal where Atlanta is paying only a fraction small fraction of Klich’s salary, meaning that the bulk of his wages remain with D.C., who have to use a DP slot on a player that now plays for a conference rival.

The team’s added some players – headlined by GK Kim Joon Hong, a young but promising South Korean goalie that could simultaneously fail to pan out and yet be an improvement on what D.C. had last year, when their goaltending was amongst the worst in the league. Some of that is due to D.C.’s system – “when you press high you leave the GK out to dry,” as someone once told me – but some of it was due to personnel.

Will that, alongside the arrival of Brazilian winger João Peglow and a few other pieces enough to improve the squad to the point that they’ll make the playoffs? It doesn’t seem likely but that doesn’t change the fact that if Benteke repeats the form he displayed last year, D.C. should feel like they can probably find themselves a goal ahead in pretty much any game they play, and at that point, who’s all bets are off.

Chicago Fire

The Fire looked good for stretches against one of the best teams in the league last week. Jonathan Bamba, the highest-profile acquisition of the team in the offseason, looked great.  The team showed a coherent identity.  As Berhalter noted in the team’s press conference ahead of the home opener, “We think we can hurt any team anywhere,” noting the “good elements” the team showed in its shape and success in the press, saying that there’s “a lot of positives to take” from the way the team played against Columbus. Despite facing a weaker opponent this week, however, the Fire face new challenges.

Gutiérrez’s one-game suspension adds to an already acute availability crisis for the team. The Fire are missing eight players for this match: Six due to injury, Gutiérrez’s suspension, and Chris Mueller, who did not train this week as he was with his wife and family following the birth of their second child last weekend. As I noted in the injury overview, on top of the players that are unavailable, several, including star striker Hugo Cuypers as well as Philip Zinckernagel and Mauricio Pineda, are on restricted minutes as they work back to full fitness following injury.

That means that Gregg Berhalter will likely have to get creative with his lineup, but don’t expect it to make the team play differently. “I think we are who we are,” Berhalter said when asked about tweaking the system ahead of the game against D.C, “For us, it’s really, highlighting who we are and how we can hurt the opponent and what our strengths are.”

Despite the need for creativity – if not improvisation, unlike Alex, I think it’s less likely that we’ll see a Fire II player like Harold Osorio or Sam Williams get a start against D.C., instead, I suspect they’ll be used for load management given the team’s severe lack of depth in the midfield. Zinckernagel was brought in because he’s an experienced veteran who can play across the front three of an attacking midfield. We saw him on the right last week; against D.C., I’d expect him to play in the spot that Gutiérrez vacated at kickoff.

That would give Omari Glasgow his first MLS start, and a glorious opportunity to make a contribution against the team that allowed the third most games in the league last year. Despite the injuries throughout the squad, there is still a good balance of experienced players at every position group: The Bamba will be playing opposite him on the left, and if I’m right, he’ll have the veteran Zinckernagel next to him.

At the other end of the pitch, the Fire’s goalkeeper and center-back corps are largely healthy. Although the Fire would likely like to have Leonardo Barroso’s attacking ability in the squad, Jonathan Dean has become an experienced MLSer and Andrew Gutman can provide the offensive spark from the left. In the defensive midfield, Kellyn Acosta, one of two players on the squad (along with Omar González) who are both World Cup veterans and MLS Cup winners. He’ll be paired with Sergio Oregel, who is all but certain to be getting the nod again. But you know what?

This time, it isn’t Sergio Oregel’s first rodeo.

Projected Starting XI

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Fire 3-1 D.C.

Even with the Fire’s injury crisis, they really should have enough to beat a United team with all of their eggs in the Benteke basket. Without Gutiérrez, this game will be Bamba’s time to shine.

Max Sánchez Josa

Fire 2-2 D.C.

With Guti and Cuypers out, there won’t be as many goals. Bamba should, once again, have at least one (possibly two) goal contributions. I don’t see the defense miraculously fixing every issue that led to conceding 4 goals last week.

DJ Hagenwald

Fire 2-1 D.C.

Bamba and Pineda score with Benteke doing Benteke things.

Tim Hotze

Fire 2-1 D.C.

I still think that this squad is better and more balanced than D.C.’s, despite the absences. Zinckernagel is better than he looked against Columbus, and he, Bamba and Cuypers can get the job done in front of the home crowd.

Alan Królikowksi

Fire 3-1 D.C.

Matt Shabelman

Fire 3-1 D.C.

A thin roster SHOULD still be able to beat out an okay D.C. side at home. Call me an optimist.

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, March 1st 2025, 7:30 PM CTForecast: Cooler temperatures (29’F expected at kickoff, no chance of precipitation)Location: Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.TV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass