CHICAGO (April 25, 2025) – Chicago Fire FC heads south to the Music City to face off against Nashville SC Saturday night at GEODIS Park.
Chicago returns to action ready to come back from a home loss against FC Cincinnati last Saturday night. Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead following Evander’s fifth goal of the year early in the first half. Hugo Cuypers equalized the match after a perfectly placed through ball from Jonathan Bamba in the 31st minute. But the visitors scored shortly before halftime, then added another one via Evander in the 72nd minute that proved to be the difference. Brian Gutiérrez tallied his third of the year in the 85th minute, but the Fire could not muster anything else before the final whistle.
Nashville will likewise look for a better 90 minutes after a 3-0 loss to Seattle Sounders in the Pacific Northwest. After a three-goal outburst within the span of 15 minutes in the first half, the Sounders settled in and kept Nashville off the board for the third time in 2025. Noted Fire nemesis and 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar played 90 minutes in the loss and will seek his third goal of the year against Chicago.
Game Information
CHICAGO FIRE FC (3-3-3, 12 points) at Nashville SC (4-4-1, 13 points)
Saturday, April 26, 2025
GEODIS Park – Nashville, Tenn.
All-Time MLS Regular Season Record vs. NSH: (1-4-2)
Last Game vs. NSH: Oct. 19, 2024 (0-3 L) – Soldier Field – Chicago (Match Recap)
Last Game at NSH: Sept. 18, 2024 (0-1 L) – GEODIS Park – Nashville, Tenn. (Match Recap)
Keys to the Match
- Ruin Homecoming: It is tough to win on the road in Major League Soccer, but Chicago has certainly made it look easy. The Fire lead all MLS clubs this season with 11 goals tallied away from home, two more than LAFC’s nine. Their 3-2-0 record is tied with Cincinnati for the best road record in the league. With Nashville returning to the Music City following a 3-0 loss in Seattle, Chicago could use its road form to ruin the homecoming on Saturday.
- Master Your Apprentice: Saturday’s match will be the first between Gregg Berhalter and Nashville SC head coach B.J. Callaghan, his previous assistant at the U.S. Men’s National Team. It will also mark the first time that Berhalter coaches against a former assistant, though not Callaghan’s first time coaching against a mentor: his first match in charge of Nashville on July 20, 2024 resulted in a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union and Jim Curtin, his former boss. Berhalter and the Fire will hope for a similar result in this meeting between mentor and apprentice.
- Handle Hany: Chicago is well aware of the threat that Hany Mukhtar presents in the gameplan. The German midfielder has been a thorn on the side of the Fire, scoring a hat trick in his first match against Chicago on July 17, 2021, then repeating the feat on May 6, 2023 – both times at home. With seven goal contributions across five matches, containing Mukhtar will be of paramount importance to the Fire backline and defensive midfielders tasked with shadowing him on Saturday.
By the Numbers
2 – Chicago is the only team in the league with multiple players 21 and under who have started all nine matches this season. At 21 years old, goalkeeper Chris Brady is currently the youngest player in the league to have played all 810 minutes this season. Midfielder Sergio Oregel, Jr. is the youngest player in 2025 to have started in all nine matches at just 19-years-old. Brady and Oregel have contributed heavily to the Fire’s strong start to 2025, with Brady among the top netminders in the league and Oregel in the 92nd percentile of the league in passing accuracy.
3 – Nine games into the season, the Fire remain in the top three of three key categories in the league. Chicago is tied for third in goals scored with 16, trailing San Jose and Vancouver with 19 and 17, respectively. Hugo Cuypers’ sixth goal of the season on Saturday kept him in second place in a hotly contested Golden Boot race behind Philadelphia’s Tai Baribo. The assist on Cuypers’ goal was recorded by Jonathan Bamba, whose five assists are tied for third in the league behind Charlotte’s Pep Biel and San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza.
4 – Chicago’s record of 3-2-0 on the road marks only the fourth time in Club history the Fire have started the season 3-2-0 or better away from home. The mark is the best since a Club-record 4-0-1 start in 2008. The Men in Red have scored 11 goals away from home – tied for the second-best mark through five matches behind the 12-goal start in 2008.
How to Watch
Kickoff in Nashville is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and transmitted locally on wlsam.com (English), and Que Buena Fire via the Uforia app (Spanish).
