Chicago Fire-Sporting Kansas City preview

The Chicago Fire begin its 21st season at home against Sporting Kansas City who are coming off a 2-0 home loss to New York City FC. Even though the regular season is starting, the roster by club president and general manager Nelson Rodriguez’s own admission is ‘incomplete’.

It’s also thinner due to long-term injuries to Djordje Mihailovic (ruptured ACL) and Michael de Leeuw (ruptured ACL). Jonathan Campbell is out for a few more weeks (facial fracture) and Grant Lilliard is out with a left knee injury. Daniel Johnson (right ankle), Rafael Ramos (right thigh), Richard Sanchez (left elbow), and Luis Solignac (left hip) are all question marks entering the home opener. Tony Tchani will almost certainly start straight away in midfield after being acquired from Vancouver last week.

Preseason wasn’t the best barometer to measure the Fire and there are signs that are not encouraging (such as a lack of TV deal as of the time of this preview). Yes, the Fire have Bastian Schweinsteiger, Dax McCarty, and Nemanja Nikolic; but they need much more than that to contend with the best of the Eastern Conference. They will need all hands on deck who are able to get the three points on Saturday and hope the front office can complete the roster by the May 1st deadline.

Sporting Kansas City are coming off a 2-0 loss to NYCFC in which the hosts were disjointed in the first half and by the time they got in gear, they were already 2-0 down. Newcomers Johnny Russell, Yohan Croizet, and Felipe Gutierrez are still trying to gel in Kansas City. Otherwise, everyone is healthy and available for selection by Peter Vermes.

Last time the Fire won a season opener—home or away—was in 2009 at FC Dallas (0-5-3 since). They are 5-8-7 in season opening matches. Last year’s home opener against Real Salt Lake was their first home opening win since 2012.

Kickoff is at 5pm at Toyota Park. The match will be available for free on MLS Live. The club announced earlier today that all matches will be streamed live on ESPN + once that platform is available.

Referee:  Jose Carlos Rivero

Assistant Referees:  Jeremy Hanson, Logan Brown

Fourth Official:  Fotis Bazakos

VAR:  David Gantar

07/29/17:  SKC 3-2 CHI