Saturday night marks a return to Soldier Field for Chicago Fire FC, as they get set to welcome CF Montréal for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff along the lakefront.
The Fire will be pushing for all three points in front of the home fans coming out of last weekend's defeat to New York City FC at SeatGeek Stadium. Entering the match, the Fire are five points out of the final Eastern Conference spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Montréal land in Chicago as one of the most in-form teams in MLS, having stretched their unbeaten run to seven straight with a 4-0 win over New England last weekend. They currently hold the second spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Tune into tonight's match on WGN, CF97 Live, Univision Radio, and MLS LIVE's out-of-market package on ESPN+, and get the scoop on tonight's Fire starting XI and bench below:
- Three changes highlight tonight's Fire starting XI compared to last weekend's lineup against NYCFC.
- Forward Jhon Durán makes his 20th of appearance and eighth start of the season at the top of the attack in place of Kacper Przybyłko.
- Behind him, Brian Gutiérrez is back in the starting lineup for the first time since July 23. Gutiérrez inches closer to the next major appearances milestone of his young career, notching his 49th for the Fire tonight. Joining Gutiérrez in attacking midfield tonight are Designated Player Xherdan Shaqiri and Schaumburg native Chris Mueller.
- Rounding out tonight's midfield are Young Designated Player Jairo Torres and Federico Navarro. Torres drops into the deeper-lying midfield in place of the injured Mauricio Pineda (left foot) and Gastón Giménez. Giménez suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in the team's match against the Philadelphia Union on Aug. 13.
- Also returning to the starting XI tonight is Jonathan Bornstein, who slots into the fullback position in lieu of Miguel Navarro. Navarro is unavailable for selection tonight while serving a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation. Bornstein will lineup opposite Boris Sekulić on the defensive back line tonight.
- In central defense, captain Rafael Czichos will partner with Carlos Terán.
- 18-year-old goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina backstops the unit in net tonight, looking for his 11th clean sheet of the season.
- Available to Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson as substitutions tonight are goalkeeper Spencer Richey, defender Kendall Burks, defender Jhon Espinoza, defender Andre Reynolds II, midfielder Javier Casas Jr., forward Victor Bezerra, forward Fabian Herbers, forward Kacper Przybyłko, and forward Missael Rodriguez.
- Defender Wyatt Omsberg (left foot), defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda (left foot), midfielder Gastón Giménez (right thigh), and winger Stanislav Ivanov (right thigh) are unavailable for selection tonight.
Get a look at Montréal's starting lineup below as it becomes available:
