Preview: Chicago Fire versus Montreal Impact

Apart from a four-minute span in the second half, the Fire did play well against Atlanta United. However, they still got zero points from it and a third home loss. The Fire cannot really afford to drop many more points at home—especially against a Montreal side that has already lost five away matches. Montreal also has shipped the most goals in MLS thus far at 23—four more than the next worst in RSL—and have conceded at least three goals in four away matches so far.

For the Fire, they need to finish their chances. They had them against Atlanta on Saturday, but most of them were wasted. No matter the lineup, and no matter where Schweinsteiger lines up, the Fire need to score goals against the Impact if they are going to get three valuable points and not get cut adrift so early from the red line.

The Impact are coming off a 4-2 win over New England on Saturday which put them in 7th place in the East. Ignacio Piatti had a goal and three assists while Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored twice. That win ended a four-match losing streak for the Impact. Wednesday’s match will be their 7th away from home in ten matches.

Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic says that his team is getting better and the wins will eventually come with performances like the one against Atlanta. That said, they must not let Piatti have the run of the field like New England did on Saturday. Otherwise, Fire fans will react the way they did the first half of the Toronto match which won’t make for pleasant viewing on social media.

Kickoff for the match is 7:30pm CT on ESPN+ in the United States and TVAS in Canada.

Referee: Sorin Stoica
Assistant Referees: Andrew Bigelow, Oscar Mitchell-Carvaho
4th Official: Fotis Bazakos
VAR: Hilario Grajeda

CHICAGO FIRE — OUT: M – Djordje Mihailovic (right ACL surgery), F – Michael de Leeuw (left ACL surgery), D – Matt Polster (MCL sprain), F – Luis Solignac (left quad), M – Jon Bakero (right ankle), GK – Stefan Cleveland (low back pain); QUESTIONABLE: M – Drew Conner (right gastric injury), D – Rafael Ramos (left ankle)

MONTREAL IMPACT — OUT: D – Zakaria Diallo (ruptured Achilles tendon), D – Kyle Fisher (tibia), M – Marco Donadel (gluteal muscle injury), M – David Choiniere (ankle surgery); QUESTIONABLE: D – Rod Fanni (thigh

04/01/17:  CHI 2-2 MTL

08/16/17:  MTL 3-0 CHI

09/02/17:  MTL 0-1 CHI