Chicago Fire-New York Red Bulls preview

There are two ways to describe the Chicago Fire right now. Either there has been “important progress” as Veljko Paunovic has said. Or, they are “below average” and “lacking a bit of quality all over the field” according to midfielder Dax McCarty. The answer may lie somewhere in the middle. There was some improved play against LA Galaxy last week, but the Fire continue to lack quality all over the field right now.

Bastian Schweinsteiger at center back is not a long-term solution and two of Grant Lillard, Johan Kappelhof, and Jonathan Campbell need to fill in the center back roles. Schweinsteiger is needed more in midfield to help stabilize things. Michael de Leeuw, Djordje Mihailovic, Matt Polster, and Luis Solignac remain long-term injury concerns.

The Red Bulls are coming off a 3-1 win over Montreal last week. Kaku had his best match as a Red Bull and Bradley Wright-Phillips had his usual goal and assist. No longer burdened by the CONCACAF Champions League, the Red Bulls can now focus on league play. Their pattern in league play so far has been WLWLW. The Red Bulls are unbeaten in their last seven matches against the Fire.

The Fire really need to play much better to add an L to that pattern. They have looked increasingly more like the 2015/2016/post-2017 All Star-Game version of the Fire. Whoever is starting at center back has to watch BWP, Kaku, and Daniel Royer. The Fire need to go for a win as they can ill-afford to continue their poor start to the season. More fans will be agreeing with Dax if they are not already if the Fire come away with nothing in this match.

Kickoff for the match is 2:30pm on Univision and Twitter.

Referee: Robert Sibiga
Assistant Referees: Corey Parkey, TJ Zablocki
4th Official: Jose Carlos Rivero
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez

NEW YORK RED BULLS:  OUT: D – Kyle Duncan (ACL surgery), D – Connor Lade (ankle sprain)

CHICAGO FIRE — OUT: M – Djordje Mihailovic (right ACL surgery), F – Michael de Leeuw (left ACL surgery), D – Jorge Corrales (infection), D – Matt Polster (MCL sprain), F – Luis Solignac (left quad)

04/29/17:  NY 2-1 CHI

09/09/17:  CHI 1-1 NY

10/25/17:  CHI 0-4 NY