DC United (7-4-4, 1st in East) vs. Chicago Fire (4-5-5, 8th in East)
Both teams are coming off draws from last Saturday. DC needed a Wayne Rooney penalty to draw 10-man New England, 1-1, at Gillette Stadium last Saturday. The Fire were held, 1-1, by New York City FC at SeatGeek Stadium.
DC are winless in their last three, but remain atop of the Eastern Conference by a point over Philadelphia. Rooney leads the Red and Black with eight goals while the rest of the team has eleven.
The Fire are looking to bring their “home mentality” onto the road. The Fire are one of three teams yet to win away from home this season (0-4-3). This is the second of three games in eight days as after this, they travel to Atlanta United on Saturday. A draw will be enough to be over the red line at least until Saturday.
Nico Gaitan is listed as questionable with his thigh injury. If he can play on Wednesday, that would be a major boost as the Fire have struggled in attack recently without him in the lineup. Kenneth Kronholm will start in goal per coach Veljko Paunovic after last Saturday’s match.
Kickoff is at 7pm CT on ESPN+.
INJURIES:
DC UNITED:
OUT: D – Oniel Fisher (knee surgery)
OUT: D – Joseph Mora (broken jaw)
OUT: D – Donovan Pines (knee sprain)
QUESTIONABLE: M – Antonio Bustamante (knee injury)
CHICAGO FIRE:
QUESTIONABLE: Nicolas Gaitan (M) – thigh injury
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW:
CHI: Francisco Calvo
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Referees: Apolinar Mariscal, Ian McKay
4th Official: Matt Franz
VAR: Geoff Gamble
LAST YEAR:
10/07/18: DC 2-1 CHI
10/28/18: CHI 0-0 DC
