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Chicago Fire
Major League Soccer
Mar 19, 2023 at 12.30am UK
Toyota Park
FC Cincinnati

Chicago Fire
3 - 3
Cincinnati

Przybylko (32'), Czichos (45' pen.), Mueller (46')
Teran (13'), Gimenez (57'), Navarro (65'), Przybylko (90+2'), Pineda (90')
FT(HT: 2-1)
Moreno (8', 87'), Santos (84')
Vazquez (58')

Preview: Chicago Fire vs. FC Cincinnati - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Sunday's Major League Soccer clash between Chicago Fire and FC Cincinnati, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

The 2023 Eastern Conference season continues in the MLS in the early hours of Sunday as Chicago Fire host FC Cincinnati at Soldier Field.

These two teams had differing fortunes in their last match as the hosts were beaten 1-0 at Philadelphia Union whilst Cincinnati triumphed by the same scoreline at home against the Seattle Sounders.

Last weekend's results leave Chicago in 13th in the Eastern Conference table, while Cincinnati sit third ahead of their fourth match of the season.


Match preview

Chicago Fire boss Ezra Hendrickson on October 1, 2022© Reuters

Ezra Hendrickson's Chicago Fire have started their season poorly, with a 1-1 draw at home to New York City on the opening day being followed last time out with a 1-0 loss to the Union.

A stoppage-time strike from Joaquin Torres condemned the Fire to defeat in Pennsylvania and left them languishing in 13th ahead of the meeting with Cincinnati on Sunday.

Having conceded the first goal of the game in their season opener against New York City FC and failed to score on Saturday, only DC United have now scored the first goal of a game fewer times than the Fire's tally of 12 since the beginning of last season.

They allowed Philadelphia to have 14 shots on goal, nine of which were from open play so they will need to tighten up defensively if they are to kick start their campaign with victory over the Orange and Blue.

If the Fire are to improve on last year's 12th-placed finish then they will need to make sure that they are not playing catch-up later in the season due to poor form in the opening weeks.

Three points at the weekend will hugely improve their outlook as a win could lift them as high as eighth in the early-season standings.

The sale of Colombian forward Jhon Duran to Aston Villa in January was a blow to the Fire as the eight goals he registered in 27 matches last term was a club-high tally.

Hendrickson will be hoping that Xherdan Shaqiri repeats his excellent debut season in the US as he notched seven strikes and six assists, and the Swiss international will be hoping to get up and running for 2023 against Cincinnati.

The Illinois outfit will be looking to new signing Georgios Koutsias to replace Duran's output after his move from PAOK Thessaloniki in February, and the Greek forward may be in line for a debut this weekend.

Chicago will be aiming to improve on a tally of just 39 goals in 34 games last season, which was the second-lowest in the division.

FC Cincinnati midfielder Obinna Nwobodo (5) celebrates with teammates forward Sergio Santos (17) after scoring a goal against the Houston Dynamo in the second half at TQL Stadium on February 25, 2023© Reuters

Pat Noonan's Cincinnati are in much better shape ahead of the game on Sunday, having taken the momentum from the end of last season, when they recorded four wins in their final six fixtures, into the new campaign.

They have seven points from their opening three games of 2023 and are currently in third place in the Eastern Conference.

Cincinnati have lost just two of their last 23 regular season matches dating back to June, though one of those defeats came at the hands of the Fire, who beat them 3-2 in October.

A goal from Brazilian forward Brenner gave them a 1-0 success over Seattle last weekend and the Orange and Blue could go top of the standings with a third victory in four to begin the campaign against Chicago.

Brenner's strike was his 24th regular season goal for FC Cincinnati excluding penalties, bringing him level with Brandon Vazquez as the leading scorer of non-penalty goals in Cincinnati history.

Mexican forward Vazquez is looking for his first strikes of 2023 in the upcoming match and he will be confident given that he netted in the reverse against Chicago last season.

Cincinnati are the opposite of their goal-shy opponents as their 64 goals was the second-highest tally in the league last term and they have also netted three times so far this season.

Noonan's side will need to tighten up defensively if they are to improve on their fifth-placed finish in 2022 as their record of 56 conceded during the campaign was the joint-third worst in the division.

Chicago Fire Major League Soccer form:
  • D
  • L

FC Cincinnati Major League Soccer form:
  • W
  • D
  • W

FC Cincinnati form (all competitions):
  • L
  • W
  • D
  • W
  • D
  • W


Team News

FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan watches from the bench in the game against the Houston Dynamo in the second half at TQL Stadium on February 25, 2023© Reuters

Chicago Fire will be without winger Kei Kamara and midfielder Fabian Herbers for the meeting with Cincinnati as they are both serving suspensions for second yellow cards.

Jonathan Dean and Javier Casas are likely to take their places in the starting 11 after they both made appearances from the bench last time out.

Koutsias is pushing for a start upfront in place of Kacper Przybylko after the Polish striker was substituted against Philadelphia.

The visitors are missing defender Nick Hagglund for the trip to Illinois after he was sent off against Seattle last weekend. Ian Murphy will take his place in the heart of Cincinnati's defence.

Pat Noonan otherwise has a fully-fit squad to choose from ahead of the match so is likely to utilise his usual 3-5-2 system.

Club captain Luciano Acosta, Obinna Nwobodo and Junior Moreno will take up the central midfield roles and will be charged with overpowering Chicago's midfield two.

Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Brady; Souquet, Teran, Czichos, Burks; Gimenez, Casas; Dean, Shaqiri, Navarro; Koutsias

FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Celentano; Mosquera, Murphy, Miazga; Gaddis, Moreno, Acosta, Nwobodo, Barreal; Brenner, Vazquez


SM words green background

We say: Chicago Fire 0-2 FC Cincinnati

Cincinnati will be confident of hurting any team this season with a front pairing of Vazquez and Brenner.

The strikers and the additional goal threat of Acosta in the midfield should be too much for a badly out of form Chicago to cope with, so Noonan's side are strong favourites to collect their third win of the season here.

How to watch

You can watch Chicago Fire vs. FC Cincinnati and every MLS match this season live on Apple TV. Click here for more details on how to subscribe.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data


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How you voted: Chicago Fire vs Cincinnati

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FC Cincinnati
80.0%
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Eastern Conference

TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Inter MiamiInter Miami32208472472568
2Columbus Crew31169662362657
3FC CincinnatiCincinnati321751055441156
4Orlando City32147115547849
5New York Red BullsNY Red Bulls32111475245747
6New York City FCNY City32138115146547
7Charlotte FCCharlotte FC32129114137445
8CF MontrealMontreal321010124662-1640
9Philadelphia UnionPhiladelphia32910135950937
10DC United32910135066-1637
11Toronto33114184060-2037
12Atlanta UnitedAtlanta32810144247-534
13Nashville SCNashville3289153451-1733
14New England RevolutionNew England3194183462-2831
15Chicago Fire3379174059-1930

Western Conference

TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Los Angeles GalaxyLA Galaxy32187766471961
2Los Angeles FCLos Angeles31167855411455
3Real Salt LakeSalt Lake321411762471553
4Seattle SoundersSeattle32158949341553
5Houston DynamoHouston32149945351051
6Colorado RapidsColorado32155125956350
7Vancouver WhitecapsVancouver31138105044647
8Minnesota UnitedMinnesota Utd32137125348546
9Portland TimbersPortland32129116455945
10Austin FCAustin32109133544-939
11Dallas32107155255-337
12St Louis City32713124659-1334
13Sporting Kansas CityKansas3287175061-1131
14San Jose EarthquakesEarthquakes3263234074-3421


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