News

Lineup Notes | Chicago Fire FC vs Real Salt Lake

StartingXI_Home_16x9 (1)

Chicago begins a three-game homestand against the current fourth-place team in the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake. Kickoff against the Utah-based side is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and the match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass. The match will also be transmitted locally in Chicago via wlsam.com in English and WRTO 1200 AM in Spanish.

Real Salt Lake is facing its second-straight Eastern Conference foe after tying 0-0 with defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew at America First Field.

Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Frank Klopas and his squad returned from the Big Apple with a point in hand and look to make the most of the team’s stretch at home, where the team holds a 2-1-0 record so far this season. In the previous encounter at home, goals from captain Xherdan Shaqiri and Homegrown midfielder Brian Gutiérrez led the team to a 2-1 win against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, April 6.

  • Chicago Fire Head Coach Frank Klopas made two changes to the lineup that tied 0-0 with the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena last Saturday.
  • Defender Arnaud Souquet and midfielder Chris Mueller will start their third straight matches of the season.
  • Midfielder Federico Navarro earns his first start of the season, replacing Brian Gutiérrez who was injured during warmups.
  • Also returning to the XI is defender Carlos Terán, stepping in for Tobias Salquist who left the previous match with a head injury.
  • Captain Xherdan Shaqiri will marshal the team from the middle of the field, starting his seventh match of the 2024 regular season.
  • Goalkeeper Chris Brady starts in the net for the eighth time this season, having only missed one game due to international duty.
  • Defenders Rafael Czichos and Allan Arigoni, and forward Hugo Cuypers start their eighth consecutive match together. Czichos is the only player to have played the full 90 minutes in all of the Fire’s eight previous matches this season.
  • Midfielders Kellyn Acosta and Fabian Herbers start in the midfield together for the eighth time this season.
  • Defenders Chase Gasper (upper leg) and Tobias Salquist (head), midfielder Brian Gutiérrez (tbc) and winger Maren Haile-Selassie (lower leg) are unavailable for today’s match.
  • Available off the bench for Coach Klopas are goalkeeper Spencer Richey; defenders Jonathan Dean, Andrew Gutman and Wyatt Omsberg; defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda; midfielders Gastón Giménez and Federico Navarro; and forwards Tom Barlow and Georgios Koutsias.