Chicago Fire will be looking to secure their first win of the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign when they visit the Toyota Stadium to face Dallas on Saturday night.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since April 2022, when they played out a goalless draw at Soldier Field, and both sides will be looking to get one over the other in Texas.
Match preview
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Dallas were involved in a six-goal MLS classic in just their second outing of the regular-season campaign as they played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Colorado Rapids at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park last Sunday.
Trailing by two goals heading into the final six minutes of the first half, Pedrinho and Luciano Acosta netted in quick succession to draw the visitors level, and Petar Musa struck in the 68th minute to turn the tie on its head, Rafael Navarro grabbed his second of the game in the 72nd minute to hand Colorado a share of the spoils.
Prior to that, Dallas turned in a resilient team display in the season curtain-raiser on February 23, when they fought back from behind at the Shell Energy Stadium to snatch a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo courtesy of goals from Musa and Andersen Julio.
Coming off the back of an unconvincing pre-season run, where they picked up two wins and lost two of their five warm-up games, head coach Eric Quill will be delighted with his side's start to the league campaign as they look to reach the playoff for the first time since 2019.
While Dallas will look to build an early-season form and set the pace for the rest of the campaign, next up is the stern challenge of taking on an opposing side who are unbeaten in eight of their last 10 encounters, claiming six wins and two draws since May 2012.
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Like this weekend's hosts, Chicago Fire failed to hold on to their lead last Sunday as they were held to a 2-2 draw by DC United when then the two sides squared off at Soldier Field.
Chicago Fire found themselves trailing inside just four minutes after Christian Benteke put DC United in an early lead, and after Hugo Cuypers struck twice to turn the game around, Jacob Murrell scored in the 96th minute to hand the Black-and-Red Eagles a deserved point.
This followed a humbling 4-2 defeat against Columbus Crew in the season curtain-raiser on February 23, when Uruguayan forward Diego Rossi netted a brace to inspire the Crew to a thrilling opening-day victory.
With last weekend's stalemate, Gregg Berhalter's men have failed to taste victory in their most recent seven MLS matches, losing five and claiming two draws since a 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls on September 15.
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Team News
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Dallas will take to the pitch without the services of Brazilian defender Geovane Jesus, who continues his lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining a cruciate ligament injury.
He is joined on the club's injury table by Angola international Show, who has been out of action since picking up an injury while on international duty back in November.
Paxton Pomykal has also been ruled out since last March through a knee injury and the 25-year-old midfielder will also play no part in this weekend's clash.
As for Chicago Fire, Polish midfielder David Poreba has been ruled out since picking up a knee injury against Sporting Kansas City on January 25 and is out of contention for this weekend's tie.
Chase Gasper, 18-year-old Dylan Borso and Swiss defender Maren Haile-Selassie all continue their spells on the sidelines and are out of contention for the visitors.
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Moore, Ibeagha, Urhoghide, Farfan; Lletget, Acosta, Ramiro; Julio, Musa, Pedrinho
Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Brady; Dean, Elliott, Rogers, Gutman; Williams, Oregel, Acosta, Zinckernagel, Cuypers, Bamba
We say: Dallas 2-1 Chicago Fire
While the most recent two meetings between Dallas and Chicago Fire have ended goalless, we anticipate a thrilling contest at the Toyota Stadium this weekend as both sides go all out in search of maximum points. Home advantage gives Quill's side an extra edge here and we are backing them to come away with the desired result.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
