Major League Soccer's Rivalry Week kicks off with a new one potentially brewing between the Chicago Fire and St Louis City, who will face each other on Saturday at Soldier Field for the second time in a week after the Fire won 2-1 at the US Open Cup on Tuesday.
In league play, the Fire are winless in four consecutive matches, falling 3-0 at Nashville SC a week ago, while St Louis had their previous MLS fixture suspended due to inclement weather in Dallas.
Match preview
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The suffering in the Windy City seems to be never-ending, as the Fire are going through another difficult start to an MLS campaign, currently second from the bottom in the Eastern Conference with two wins from 11 matches.
That form was enough for the Chicago management team to make a change on the sidelines, sacking Ezra Hendrickson, who becomes the seventh permanent coach in club history since 2007 that has not lasted longer than three full seasons in charge, with the only one to pass that milestone being Veljko Paunovic (2016-2019).
Just like in 2021, it will be up to interim boss Frank Klopas to try to prevent another season from slipping away, with this team in early danger of missing the playoffs for a sixth successive campaign.
To this stage of the regular season, Chicago have not figured out how to close out many games, with half of their league goals conceded (8/16) coming beyond the 70th minute, while they have dropped eight points when leading in the second half and have given up two goals after 90 minutes with the score tied.
Their most inspiring performances have come at home, where the Fire are undefeated on the year, conceding a goal or fewer on four occasions, including their only clean sheet of the campaign to date.
Klopas began his temporary tenure as head coach positively with his side advancing into the round of 16 at the US Open Cup thanks to an early goal at SeatGeek Stadium on Tuesday and an insurance marker 15 minutes from the end, which proved decisive in their quest for an MLS record fifth title in that competition.
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Following an outstanding opening to their inaugural MLS campaign, winning five of their first six matches, lately, St Louis City have shown that they are mere mortals after all, with just one victory in their previous five domestic affairs.
Poor weather last Saturday at Toyota Stadium appeared to be the saving grace of this expansion side, who could not generate much in the attack before the game was called off in the 50th minute, firing just one effort on target at that stage.
This weekend will only be their third encounter against an Eastern Conference opponent, with St Louis winning handily in their two previous outings versus Charlotte FC (3-1) and the Supporters' Shield co-leaders FC Cincinnati (5-1).
In recent weeks, the depth of this squad has been tested, and Bradley Carnell has been forced to deal with some significant losses which have impacted the creativity and link-up play between their midfielders and goalscoring threats.
While they are going through some challenging times, this team is still comfortably positioned in the standings, currently second in the Western Conference, a point behind the Seattle Sounders and seven above the playoff line.
Earlier this week, despite having 57% of the possession, they could not find a way through the Chicago defence until the 93rd minute, on a goal which was too little too late, ending their dreams of a US Open Cup.
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Team News
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Victor Bezerra will be questionable for Chicago because of an injury to his left upper leg, which is the same issue plaguing Carlos Teran.
In their last MLS fixture versus Nashville, Federico Navarro started for the second straight domestic encounter, Fabian Herbers picked up his 100th cap as a member of the Fire, Jonathan Dean and Alonso Aceves began together for the first time in this competition, Georgios Koutsias earned his first career start in the regular season, while Rafael Czichos is the only player to start every one of their league fixtures in 2023.
Goals from Herbers and Maren Haile-Selassie helped the Fire advance into the next round of the US Open Cup this week, while Xherdan Shaqiri and Brian Gutierrez picked up their first and second career starts respectively in that competition, with Spencer Richey getting the call in goal for the eighth time at the US Open Cup.
St Louis have been without Klauss for the past few games as their leading scorer is dealing with a quad strain, Rasmus Alm will be questionable due to an abdominal issue, Joakim Nilsson has a knee injury and Njabulo Blom was back on the field Tuesday, replacing Akil Watts for the final 12 minutes plus stoppage time.
Carnell made a few changes to his starting 11 versus Dallas from the side which began their previous MLS fixture against the Portland Timbers with Lucas Bartlett, Tomas Ostrak and Celio Pompeu taking the place of Kyle Hiebert, Alm and Jared Stroud.
Miguel Perez had the only St Louis goal in injury time on Tuesday, while Ben Lundt made his second start in goal at the US Open Cup, replacing Roman Burki, and Isak Jensen also started for the first time in the attack with Nicholas Gioacchini beginning on the bench.
Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Richey; Souquet, Omsberg, Czichos, M. Navarro; F. Navarro, Gimenez; Haile-Selassie, Shaqiri, Mueller; Kamara
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Nerwinski, Hiebert, Parker, Nelson; Perez; Lowen, Vassilev; Ostrak, Stroud, Giocchini
We say: Chicago Fire 2-0 St Louis City
The Fire have been much sharper and dynamic on home soil, while St Louis look like a different team when Klauss is out of the lineup, and we expect the expansion side to struggle when it comes to generating chances this weekend.
How to watch
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Joel Lefevre
