D.C. United vs. Chicago Fire: Preview, time, and how to watch
It’s been a rough run for D.C. with two losses in a row. First, there was a painful 1-4 midweek let down at home against New York Red Bulls. Second, a tough loss to Miami in stoppage time. When the Black-and-Red took on Inter Miami last Saturday, they managed to hold off Messi’s team for two solid halves. Devastation came in the 90′ + 4′ with an absolute banger from Leo Campana. It just wasn’t D.C.’s night despite their solid shift at Chase Stadium.
Tonight, United will meet an opponent that has had a decidedly difficult season so far. With a lagging defense and trouble finding results, Chicago isn’t having the most stellar run in 2024. Only New England sits lower in the Eastern Conference standings. The Fire lost their last two home matches to Columbus and Charlotte.
While the Fire will be desperate for three points on the road, D.C. will look to impress at Buzzard Point and move into more secure playoff territory.
Head coach Troy Lesesne continues to work with the squad to chip away at the same challenges that have been haunting the Black-and-Red all season, especially clinical finishing.
Lesesne said, “For us, it’s about just as we executed a match playing against Miami in so many different ways, we have to do that at home throughout 90 minutes in order to realize the result that we want to see and that’s really what our focus is on.”
Hear everything head coach Troy Lesesne had to say in the pre-game press conference here.
Let us know your thoughts about tonight’s match in the comments below.
Key Player: Christian Benteke
There has hardly been a D.C. United win that hasn’t featured the veteran striker. Benteke’s pechant for braces, hat tricks, and feats of heroism have more than endeared him to the home crowd.
Watch Out For: Brian Gutiérrez
Gutiérrez has been having a moment. The homegrown midfielder just marked his 100th appearance with Chicago and is tied with forward Hugo Cuypers for goalscoring this season.
Challenges: D.C. United needs to overcome the clinical finishing challenge to charge through the remainder of the season.
Previously: When the Black-and-Red last met Chicago in September of 2023 at Audi Field, D.C. won with a stunning 4-0 scoreline.
D.C. United Availability:
Out: Conner Antley (knee), Russell Canouse (not due to injury), Martin Rodriguez (concussion), Pedro Santos (hip)
Chicago Fire Availability:
Out: Chase Gasper (leg), Tobias Salquist (leg)
Location: Audi Field, Washington, DC
Kickoff time: 7:30 pm ET
Referee: Mark Allatin
Available streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Re finishing, only 30% of DCU’s shots are on goal compared with the Spirit’s 55% (and 70% last night, which will raise that 55%). Perhaps the men should take some lessons from the women?
Both games were interesting mirrors of each other. Spirit dominate the first half and were up 3-1 going into the locker room. Could muster anything close to threatening in the second half. To be fair, neither did Seattle.
DC should’ve been up at least 2-0 at half. Chicago made some tactical changes and DC we’re pretty awful in the second half.
My out there prediction: Jackson Hopkins scores tonight.
He’s had two shots so far in the early going, although neither one has been particularly close.
Goal for McVey, someone else bagging his first ever career goal for DC. Let’s see Hopkins do it too!
(I think Klich will get a hockey assist on that, which gives him 16 for his career with DC, tying him with Bryan Namoff, Nick DeLeon, Andy Najar, Chris Pontius, Bobby Convey, and Paul Arriola.)
Not so out there! He’s about due, in my opinion. After McVey, let’s see who else can find that net!
And how many other players can get just one goal before somebody besides Benteke scores a second.
Pirani in for Hopkins. Alas, my prediction remains out there.
What’s uglier tonight, our bench or the field? Probably the field, but it’s closer than it should be.
First Stroud, then Hopkins makes the wrong final pass on a breakaway. Disappointing but at least we’re breaking the “press” of Chicago with relative ease.
Stroud had picked the right pass, but just didn’t put enough oomph on it. But yeah, getting a midfield playmaker would be pretty cool. coughcoughPiranicoughcough
Dajome picks up a yellow card. He needs to be careful. We don’t know if Santos will be recovered by the next game, so missing our last left (wing)back would be bad news.
This game has been another dominant, but hauntingly familiar performance. We need to get some goals, put our foot on the ball, and see it out against a team lacking in quality. That said, Chicago’s backline has limited us effectively, and deserve some credit
Ugh, hate when I’m right about this shit. Acosta equalizes off what feels like their one dangerous play in about half an hour
Gutman really beat Herrera, and then a nice passing sequence. Alas.
Herrera has been uncharacteristically bad on defense this second half, minutes might be catching up to him
Lesesne needs to adjust to counter Gutman. He’s Chicagos only outlet right now.
If it was me, then move Peltola to LB (he plays there for Finland) and go with a 4-2-3-1 for a change of pace.
Kristian Fletcher gets a chance at a pretty open (although quite long) shot, and just skies it. Pretty disappointing. I don’t know that I expect him to score from there, but I’d at least like him to make Brady make a save.
He seems like he’s lost a step of quickness. Maybe just some growing pains or maybe he’s pushing too hard in training.
Murrell needs to shoot that first time.
He’s not tremendous with his touch dribbling
Bono man of the match
Dropped points at home. Dropped points from a winning position. Couldn’t put away a worse team.
Frustratingly familiar.
Welp, another one. Dominate a team for a long stretch, wane eventually, concede on limited chances, give a struggling team hope.
Herrera needs a rest, ran out of long term gas this game. Hopkins played well, Pirani had a long range pass that almost did something for once. Overall, the system continues to fail to create a lot of clear chances when we’re ascendant.
I know upgrading players in the offseason will make us better, but Lesesne needs to show a better way to play in terms of chances finished
I’m not sure how we got a 75% pass rate, unless you count the passes to Fire players.
Tremendous first half followed by a pretty dismal second half. The attacking subs made no impact. I think Lesesne needs to start tweaking personnel a bit here. No one except for Benteke, really, has shown they can’t be switched out. I’d like to see Klich further forward with Benteke and move Peltola next to Hopkins. That would at least give the team more shape in the midfield. Chicago were dominating the center of the field in the second half and DC eithe didn’t care or couldn’t figure out how to fix it.
They have been torched several times this season when they switched to a 3-back system in the middle of the game. I put this on the coach.
Hopkins is playing well but his passing is not nearly as effective as Peltola’s. I think Petola is better at D-Mid than Hopkins in terms of both positioning and passing.
Herrara had a nightmare game and it was his give-away that led to the goal.
Stroud was not his usual active self.
Presently, Ku is doing everything well but scoring.
The lack of depth on the team showed tonight as well. They really need more than one signing in the upcoming transfer window.
Despite these shortcomings in this game, the team seems to have stretches of brilliance. The second half demonstrated that consistency is their main problem at this point.
I’ve got to believe that when David Schnegg, our new left back from Austria, reports, that we’ll be switching to a four-man back line. And I agree about Peltola.
Re DCU’s 30% shots on goal rate compared to the Spirit’s 55+%, I’ve been watching the last match for each specifically on this point.
The men take a lot of Hail Mary shots outside the box; the women almost never. The exception was a Spirit match last season in which all four Spirit goals were from distances outside the box — which had never happened in a NWSL match.
Why do men do it so much? Machismo? For DCU the absence of a true magician as a #10? I’ll raise this issue in Monday’s Freedom Kicks.
I think they just get antsy when they can’t get an easy pass or cross into the box. It would be helpful to have either better long-distance shooters, or train the guys to be more patient. That could entail moving the ball (and therefore the opponent) around, which we’re not necessarily set up to do. Or just make sure recoveries get to the opponents goal as quickly as possible so there’s space.