Coming off the back of another last-minute heartbreak in league play, the Fire will face their biggest test of the season thus far against a heavily favored Nashville side.
A common opponent between the two sides is Atlanta United. While the match against Atlanta from a couple of weeks ago is certainly a distasteful memory for all Fire fans, Nashville gave their fans a match to remember after beating Atlanta 3-1 at home last weekend.
Excluding the 3-0 victory over the Chicago House in the U.S. Open Cup, the Fire are winless since the beginning of April when they defeated Minnesota 2-1. The Fire have taken just two points from the last nine in league play and have given up four off of goals conceded at or beyond the 89th-minute mark.
To make matters worse for the Fire, Carlos Terán has been ruled out of today’s match after sustaining an injury in the first half of last weekend’s match. With Mauricio Pineda needing to come on as a makeshift center-back last weekend, it’ll be interesting to see how Ezra Hendrickson fills Terán’s position against Nashville.
Although neither was listed on the injury report, Wyatt Omsberg and Kendall Burks did not make the Fire’s bench last week against the Red Bulls. With neither of the two backup center backs sustaining major injuries during the week, it can only be assumed that we will see one of the two start alongside Czichos while the other will take a spot on the bench.
The only other injury concern for the Fire is Victor Bezerra, whose injury status is only improving.
For Nashville, only Nick DePuy is unavailable after being ruled out for the season due to injury.
3 Nashville players are dubbed as questionable, however. The list includes forward Teal Bunbury and midfielders Randall Leal and Sean Davis.
Chicago Fire vs. Nashville SC
MLS Matchday 11 | Saturday, May 6 | GEODIS Park, Nashville, Tennessee
Kickoff: 7:30 PM CST
Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Radio: 890 WLS-AM (English), TUDN 1200 AM (Spanish)
Commentators: Nate Bukaty (play-by-play) and Jamie Watson (analyst)
