Preview: Fire, TFC play first of back-to-back fixtures Saturday at Toyota Park

Dylan Butler, MLSsoccer.com

Chicago Fire vs. Toronto FC
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 21
Toyota Park — Bridgeview
July 21 - 6 pm CT
WATCH: ESPN+

Two teams coming off midweek cup competition victories square off at Toyota Park Saturday night as the Chicago Fire, fresh off a 4-0 victory over Louisville City FC in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals, host a Toronto FC side that knocked off Ottawa Fury FC, 1-0, in the opening leg of the Canadian Championship semifinals.

This is the second meeting this season, with the teams playing to a 2-2 draw at BMO Field on April 28. Jonathan Osorio and Victor Vazquez gave TFC a 2-0 lead after 22 minutes, but Bastian Schweinsteiger pulled the visitors to within a goal in the 69th minute and Alan Gordon leveled deep in second-half stoppage time.

Chicago Fire

For the second time in three years, Chicago (6-10-5) reached the USOC semifinals, easily defeating Louisville City, 4-0, at Toyota Park on Wednesday.

Nemanja Nikolic opened the scoring in the 16th minute, with a glancing header off a Aleksandar Katai cross and then Katai doubled the lead in the 32nd minute on a terrific individual effort. Diego Campos and Elliot Collier tacked on late goals as Louisville City finished with nine men.

“In the Open Cup, obviously you don’t have a second chance so I think there was a little more urgency in this game and a little bit more focus,” Veljko Paunovic said. “We are going to use this game as a good reference how to play every single game, not only in the Open Cup, but in our league.”

Suspended: D - Drew Conner
Suspended after next caution: D - Kevin Ellis
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Djordje Mihailovic (right ACL surgery), F - Michael de Leeuw (left ACL surgery), D - Matt Polster (MCL surgery), GK - Patrick McLain (hamstring injury), F - Luis Solignac (left quad injury), D - Grant Lillard (right quad injury), D - Kevin Ellis (left calf contusion), D - Rafael Ramos (left ankle injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Richard Sanchez — Elliot Collier, Johan Kappelhof, Jonathan Campbell, Jorge Corrales — Dax McCarty, Brandt Bronico — Diego Campos, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Aleksandar Katai — Nemanja Nikolic

Toronto FC

Toronto FC (4-11-4) opened up defense of their Canadian Championship title in the right way Wednesday night, defeating the Ottawa Fury, 1-0, at TD Place Stadium in the opening leg of their semifinal series.

Osorio scored the game’s lone goal in the 5th minute, with a low shot that snuck inside the near post. The critical away goal puts the Reds firmly in the driver’s seat with the second leg set for BMO Field in a week’s time.

“For us, we met our objective for the night. Last year, we came here and didn’t get the result we were looking for. Tonight we came, we got a shutout, got the away goal,” Greg Vanney said. “We’re leaving pleased, we set ourselves up with a position to try and finish the series at home next week. From that standpoint, we’re pleased.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: F - Jozy Altidore (foot surgery), D - Drew Moor (quadricep strain), D - Chris Mavinga (hamstring strain), GK - Caleb Patterson-Sewell (elbow injury), D - Auro (hamstring strain), D - Jason Hernandez (hamstring strain), M - Victor Vazquez (knee injury)

Projected Starting XI
(3-5-2, right to left)
GK: Alex Bono — Eriq Zavaleta, Nick Hagglund, Justin Morrow — Nicolas Hasler, Marky Delgado, Jonathan Osorio, Michael Bradley, Ryan Telfer — Jordan Hamilton, Sebastian Giovinco

All-Time Series

Overall: Chicago Fire 9 wins, 41 goals … Toronto FC 9 wins, 42 goals … 8 draws
At Chicago: Fire 5 wins, 17 goals … Toronto FC 2 wins, 14 goals … 5 draws
Last meeting at Chicago: Chicago Fire 1, Toronto FC 3 (Aug. 19, 2017)

Officials

Referee: Sorin Stoica
Assistant Referees: Jason White, Peter Balciunas
4th Official: Rubiel Vazquez
VAR: Armando Villarreal