Chicago Fire FC will undertake a midweek trip to South Florida to face Inter Miami CF in a rescheduled match on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale. The match is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and will be transmitted locally on wlsam.com (English) and Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).
Currently in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 48 points, the Fire have a chance to clinch a spot in the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs with a win against the Herons on the road. A victory in Ft. Lauderdale would also be the ninth away from home in 2025, the most in a single season in Fire history.
With so much on the line, Director of Football and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter has named the following Starting XI tasked with getting three points in the Sunshine State:
- Three changes have been made to the Starting XI that earned a second straight shutout in a 2-0 victory over Columbus Crew on Saturday, Sept. 27 at Soldier Field.
- Maren Haile-Selassie will slot in at wingback from the right side for Leonardo Barroso (lower body). The versatile Swiss player will make his 28th appearance for the Fire this season, starting for the first time since a 2-0 shutout victory at CF Montréal on July 19.
- Filling in on the left wing will be Jonathan Dean, who struck a season-high three shots – two of them on goal – in a substitute appearance in the Fire’s 2-0 win against Columbus Crew on Saturday. The Macon, Ga. native will make a career-high 17th start this season, hoping to add to the four assists he has recorded.
- Rominigue Kouamé will spell Philip Zinckernagel in the midfield, making his fifth start of 2025. The Malian international will start for the first time since July 19, looking for his third goal of the campaign, alongside Ivorian international Jonathan Bamba.
- Selected to the MLS Team of the Matchday on Monday for his game-winning goal against Columbus, defender Andrew Gutman will start his 32nd match of the year against Miami. The left back will fill in on the left side of the backline in place of Sam Rogers, who is serving a suspension due to yellow card accumulation.
- Shoring up the backline alongside Gutman is last week’s Fire representative to the MLS Team of the Matchday, Joel Waterman. The Canadian international will resume his role in the middle of the defense alongside captain Jack Elliott in his fourth appearance for the Men in Red.
- Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady will start the 90th match of his career seeking a third consecutive clean sheet. After notching a career-high 11th win of the season, Brady will look for win number 12 and third straight shutout for the first time since July 2023.
- André Franco and Dje D’Avilla resume their role in the heart of the Fire midfield, starting their fifth straight match together. Franco arrives in South Florida having tallied his fourth assist of his Fire tenure in the their second goal of Saturday night, while D’Avilla makes his eighth straight start as a holding midfielder.
- On the end of Franco’s fourth assist of 2025 on Saturday was forward Hugo Cuypers, who starts for the 31st time this year. The Belgian striker finished his 17th goal of the season in the win; one more goal would tie him with Ante Razov (2000) for second-most goals in a single Fire season.
- Besides Barroso and Rogers, defender Viktor Radojević (lower body) and midfielder Chris Mueller (not due to injury) are unavailable for selection tonight.
- Available off the bench for Berhalter are goalkeeper Jeff Gal; defenders Omar González and Justin Reynolds; midfielders Philip Zinckernagel, Brian Gutiérrez, Kellyn Acosta, Mauricio Pineda and Sergio Oregel Jr.; and forward Tom Barlow.
