WHO:
Chicago Fire
WHAT:
A U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match
WHEN:
Wednesday, July 18, 2018, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Toyota Park, 7000 Harlem Avenue, Bridgeview, IL 60455
WATCH:
A bunch of purple people are heading up to the game. Plenty of tickets are reportedly still available if you’re interested! But if you can’t make it because it’s a Wednesday night match in the middle of the work week played five hours and change away, then you can catch the live TV broadcast on WMYO 10 in Louisville, listen on 1080 WKJK assuming Kevin Kernen’s bike didn’t break down on the way to Bridgeview, or stream it on USSoccer.com.
WHO, AGAIN?
The Fire are swooning a bit in league play, having lost their last three league matches. They’re four points out of the playoffs. Their defense is, well, sieve-like, having given up ten goals in their last three. They’ve only won four of their eleven home games all season. And they’re gunning for this game. Stars Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nemaja Nikolic, and Dax McCarty were all either rested or didn’t start in last weekend’s 3-1 loss to Dallas. They’re all expected to play in tonight’s match, along with new acquisition Aleksandar Katai.
Louisville City didn’t look good in their last outing against Charleston. They haven’t managed a clean sheet in their last seven matches. They aren’t a team that can park the bus. They’ll have to continue to rely on possession as a defensive strategy, which is going to be difficult against an MLS team.
This is a game that will be won or lost in the midfield. Oddly enough, I feel optimistic about Paolo and Speedy’s chances against aging McCarty and Schweinsteiger. I don’t think Morados will bowl those two guys over by any means, but I do think they’ll hold their own. City has chances to make some waves in this game if they can at least manage the midfield, track Nikolic, and be judicious about sending numbers forward. Who the Triumvirate picks as forwards for this game will probably be really important, because everyone else is pretty much accounted for. Those guys will have to defend, but they’ll also have to be clinical with whatever scoring chances they get.
The Fire are out for blood. Screw ’em, go take some of theirs. VAMOS MORADOS, VAMOS A GANAR!
