DC United (2-0-0, 2nd in East) vs. Chicago Fire FC (0-0-2, 8th in East)
Chicago Fire FC will look to at least get on the board as well as get their first win when they travel to DC United on Saturday. The Fire became the sixth team in MLS history to open with two successive 0-0 draws. While the defensive side has improved, the attack has yet to get going and that is a priority for Ezra Hendrickson this week.
“We’ve spent the past couple days focusing on the attacking part of things,” Hendrickson told reporters on his Wednesday video call. “Focusing on what we do when we’re in the front half because it’s not like we’re not getting into the front half. I think that what we’ve seen from the film from the past two games is, for instance, in Miami: We got in the front half, created opportunities but just didn’t put them away.
“Against Orlando we created a couple opportunities but not as many as we did in Miami. So we have to make sure we maintain that in the sense of we’re creating chances, but now we’re putting them away also.”
Kacper Przybylko has not has as many chances in the first two matches, but facing DC Untied may be a tonic for him as he has scored twice in each of the last three seasons against them while with Philadelphia Union. Too often last week against Orlando, Przybylko had to come back to midfield to get a sniff of the ball. Perhaps facing DC United will get him going again.
DC United have opened with two wins over Charlotte and FC Cincinnati. It’s been 23 years since they opened a season with three wins. Against the Fire at home, be that the old RFK Stadium or Audi Field, DC are 7-1-1 in their last nine. The seven wins matches the seven at home they defeated the Fire between 2002 and 2014 (22 matches).
They needed a 98th minute-penalty from Ola Kamara to defeat FC Cincinnati and the consensus was that DC were rather fortunate for their three against Charlotte (who had a goal disallowed via VAR in the match).
It goes without saying that the Fire need to score goals to win matches. Having Xherdan Shaqiri and Kacper Przybylko more active in attack would be a plus assuming the defense maintains its good start to the season.
Kickoff for the match is at 6:30pm CT on WGN-TV.
INJURIES:
DC UNITED: QUESTIONABLE: Russell Canouse (groin)
CHICAGO FIRE FC: OUT: Carlos Terán (right thigh); Andre Reynolds II (left thigh)
SUSPENDED:
ORL: Robin Jansson
Referee: Rubiel Vazquez
Assistant Referees: Andrew Bigelow, Kevin Klinger
Fourth Official: Luis Arroyo
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr
AVAR: Diego Blas
LAST YEAR:
5/13/21: DC 1-0 CHI
7/21/21: CHI 2-2 DC
9/15/21: DC 3-0 CHI
