Chicago Fire FC will welcome longtime rivals Columbus Crew to Soldier Field on Saturday, Sept. 27 in a key Eastern Conference matchup on Hispanic Heritage Night, presented by Meridian.
The 79th regular season meeting between the longtime Eastern Conference rivals is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT. The match 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). A replay of the match will be available on Marquee Sports Network on Monday, Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. CT.
Following the Fire’s eighth road victory of the season last Saturday at Minnesota United FC, Director of Football and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter has named the following Starting XI tasked with earning a second consecutive clean sheet:
- One change has been made to the Starting XI that defeated Minnesota 3-0 last Saturday at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn.
- Leonardo Barroso returns to the Starting XI for the first time since Aug. 23 and will slot in at right wingback. The Portuguese defender will make his 19th appearance and 11th start of the year and will reach the 1,000-minute mark this season if he plays just six minutes in the match.
- Lining up as wingback on the left side will be Hinsdale, Ill. native Andrew Gutman, who will make his 31st start of the year. His appearance in tonight’s match will mark a career-high for the veteran defender, who set his personal record in 30 games between Atlanta United FC and Colorado Rapids in 2023.
- Fresh off his first goal with Chicago and an appearance on the MLS Team of the Matchday, defender Joel Waterman draws his third consecutive start for Chicago. He will line up alongside Sam Rogers and Jack Elliott in the backline once more, the latter of whom will wear the captain’s armband.
- Goalkeeper Chris Brady will be gunning for a career-high 11th win of 2025 in his 25th appearance of the year. The Homegrown goalkeeper will also seek back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since July, when he and the Fire defense blanked CF Montréal and New York Red Bulls in two straight Eastern Conference matches.
- André Franco and Dja D’Avilla will line up together in the center of the pitch for the fourth consecutive match. The two midfielders combined for D’Avilla’s first professional goal in the win against Minnesota on Saturday, shutting down the Loons’ attack in the process.
- Winger Philip Zinckernagel will look for his fourth consecutive game with a goal and a Club record-tying 28th goal contribution of the season against the Crew. He is joined by Jonathan Bamba on the left wing, who recorded two assists in his MLS debut in Columbus in Chicago’s first match of 2025 on Feb. 22.
- Forward Hugo Cuypers rounds out the Starting XI, looking for his 17th goal of 2025 and 27th all-time with the Fire.
- Unavailable for selection tonight are defender Viktor Radojević (lower body) and midfielder Chris Mueller (not due to injury).
- Available off the bench are goalkeeper Jeff Gal; defender Jonathan Dean; midfielders Rominigue Kouamé, Maren Haile-Selassie, Brian Gutiérrez, Kellyn Acosta, Mauricio Pineda and Sergio Oregel Jr.; and forward Tom Barlow.
