It's Pride Night at Soldier Field as Chicago Fire FC welcomes Eastern Conference counterparts the Philadelphia Union for a midweek meeting along the lakefront.
Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson's team will be looking to make it back-to-back wins at home following their 1-0 win over D.C. United on June 18, and to bounce back from last weekend's 2-0 road defeat at the Houston Dynamo. The Union, under head coach and former Fire defender Jim Curtin, enter the match in first place in East with 29 points through 16 matches played.
After a pair of nationally-televised contests, coverage of this evening's match returns to WGN, CF97 Live, Univision Radio, and MLS LIVE's out-of-market package on ESPN+.
Details on tonight's just-announced Fire starting XI are below:
- Three changes have been made from Saturday's lineup that took on the Dynamo.
- Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri is back in the lineup and makes his first start for the Fire since May 28, having been cleared to return following an injury picked up while away with the Switzerland Men's National Team during the June international window.
- Fabian Herbers also returns to Fire midfield tonight as part of the starting XI for the first time since May 14. It's Herbers' seventh start of the season, and 13th appearance overall. He and Shaqiri will be joined by Chris Mueller in the attack this evening, replacing Brian Gutiérrez and Stanislav Ivanov.
- Along the back line, Andre Reynolds II will make his first-ever start in MLS regular season play in what will be his fourth appearance of the year. Reynolds has previously started for the Fire first team in Leagues Cup and the U.S. Open Cup. He'll replace Jonathan Bornstein tonight.
- Joining Reynolds in defense are captain Rafael Czichos, Carlos Terán, and Boris Sekulić. Terán makes his second-straight start in central defense in place of the injured Wyatt Omsberg.
- Just ahead of them, Gastón Giménez and Federico Navarro slot into their usual place in deep-lying midfield for the fifth-straight time together.
- Up top, forward Kacper Przybyłko leads the line, starting against his former team and looking to add to his three goals scored so far this season.
- In the back, 18-year-old goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina starts for the 18th time this season. Slonina has six clean sheets to his name so far this season.
- Available to Hendrickson as substitutions tonight are goalkeeper Spencer Richey, defender Jonathan Bornstein, defender Jhon Espinoza, midfielder Javier Casas Jr., midfielder Brian Gutiérrez, forward Victor Bezerra, forward Jhon Durán, forward Stanislav Ivanov, and forward Chinonso Offor.
- Goalkeeper Chris Brady (international duty), Defender Kendall Burks (right knee), defender Wyatt Omsberg (left foot), defender Miguel Navarro (health & safety protocols), defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda (health & safety protocols), and midfielder Jairo Torres (left hip) are unavailable for selection tonight.
Get a look at Philadelphia's starting lineup below as it becomes available:
