Chicago Fire FC: Player Profiles: Robin Lod Chicago Fire FC: Cristo Fernández Trials with Chicago Fire FC II Goal.com: Ted Lasso star Cristo Fernandez trained with Chicago Fire II earlier this month, club announces https://www.goal.com/en-om/lists/te...this-month-club-announces/blt33c8a004fe24e608 On Tap Sports: ‘Ted Lasso’ star Cristo Fernández was on trial for Chicago Fire II, Dani Rojas actor didn’t make team https://ontapsportsnet.com/fire/ted...ago-fire-ii-dani-rojas-actor-didnt-make-team/ USA Today: Chicago breaks ground on new $750M stadium. No, it's not for the Bears https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...750-million-stadium-the-78-bears/88980323007/ bizjournals: Chicago Fire FC breaks ground on $750M stadium in South Loop https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2026/03/04/fire-break-ground-soccer-stadium-south-loop.html Major League Soccer Soccer dawt com: Match Trailer | Columbus Crew square off with Chicago Fire https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/mat...er-columbus-crew-square-off-with-chicago-fire Major League Soccer Soccer dawt com: Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire: Everything to know for Walmart Saturday Showdown https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/colu...o-know-for-walmart-saturday-showdown-md3-2026 Major League Soccer Soccer dawt com: Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire: 5 biggest storylines for Walmart Saturday Showdown https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/colu...gest-storylines-for-walmart-saturday-showdown One Football: Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire: Everything to know for Walmart Saturday Showdown https://onefootball.com/en/news/col...o-know-for-walmart-saturday-showdown-42503883 Columbus Crew: MATCH GUIDE | Chicago Fire FC https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/match-guide-chicago-fire-fc-x6943 ---------------------------------------------- Non Fire News ------------------------------------- All Footy games on TV today: https://firsttouchonline.com/soccer-tv/ AND ALSO Loonixxx approved global football listings: https://www.livesoccertv.com/schedules/ Stars & Stripes: USWNT victorious in Concacaf clash in Columbus https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/uswnt-news/42702/uswnt-victorious-in-concacaf-clash-in-columbus USA Today: USWNT vs. Canada player ratings: Ally Sentnor sends U.S. top of SheBelieves table https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ratings-shebelieves-2026-sentnor/88989519007/ Field Level Media: Report: Antoine Griezmann puts potential MLS move on hold https://fieldlevelmedia.com/mls/report-antoine-griezmann-puts-potential-mls-move-on-hold/ SBI Soccer: Yunus Musah scores vital equalizer in Atalanta’s Coppa Italia draw https://sbisoccer.com/2026/03/yunus-musah-scores-vital-equalizer-in-atalantas-coppa-italia-draw The Athletic: USL, players remain locked in CBA negotiations as strike threat lingers https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/70...onship-strike-cba-talks-promotion-relegation/
News: Chicago Fire's Leagues Cup Group stage schedule is out, the club will host 3 LIGA MX sides at SeatGeek Stadium in August #cf97 #VamosFire #LeaguesCup pic.twitter.com/z5PIMK8KTy— Joe Chatz (@JoeChatz) March 5, 2026
I will try my best not to hold playing for Panathinaikos against Lod! Pete (roots for the red Greek team and hates the green Greek team)
Bold to make games in Chicago clear MLS Sat Aug1 Home CLT LxC Thu Aug 6 Necaxa LxC Sun Aug 9 Santos Laguna LxC Thu Aug 13 Cruz Azul MLS Sun Aug 16 Home POR MLS Wed Aug 19 Away ORL MLS Sat Aug 22 Home NYRB 4 ‘short rest’ matches strung together… And Sept 15/16 is semis and finals of the LHUSOC between MLS games Sept 13 & 19. It will be interesting to see how GGG decides to manage everyone’s minutes to be healthy for a late season/playoff run.
At Fire training. Gutman, Shokalook in the gym. No Sam Rogers. Viktor Radojević was training with the squad.#cf97 #VamosFire pic.twitter.com/rBLGXJMuTR— Tim Hotze (@sing_electric) March 5, 2026
Not sure we have enough info to make a 'good guess', but knowing they played a 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 with Gazdag and Rossi floating around will need attentive CDM play...and Barroso vs Arfsten should be fun battle. Dean on Redcard...and presuming Rogers, Gutman and Shokalook will be unavailable...and the rest are good to go... I think I'd start 4-2-3-1 .........................Cuypers ........Bamba.......Zinck..........Lod ................Saletros.....Pineda MHS..........TLB.......Elliott.........Barroso ..........................Brady Which probably look 4-3-3 a lot of the time... .........................Cuypers .......Bamba..........................Zinck ..............Saletros.........Lod ........................Pineda MHS..........TLB.......Elliott.........Barroso ..........................Brady So for subs...regardless of score, stay attacking but shift moreso to 4-3-3....Dithejane for Lod, Oergel for Saletros .........................Cuypers ........Bamba........................Dithejane .................Zinck..........Oregel .........................Pineda MHS...........TLB.......Elliott.........Barroso ..........................Brady And then maybe end with something unusual...shift to 3-W-2 and use the rest of the 5 subs...H20 for Pineda, Davilla for MHS, and Mueller for Bamba .................Cuypers....Dithejane .......Mueller........Zinck............Barroso .................Davilla......Oregel ...........TLB.........Elliott..........H20 ..........................Brady Looking forward to see who GGG rewards for playing well in practice!
Like your 4-3-3 formation. Like Pineda and Saletros, not sure who third CM should be. Lots of mention of Dithejane recently. Surprises me. Is this because he has looked really good in practice or some other reason?
Puso was subbed in the 88th minute of the Houston game and displayed some speed, hunger, and flair…exactly what you want from a young winger and a second half sub. Similarly, Oregel came in late in the Houston game and looked quicker (movement and decisions) than Saletros (who was on the field at the same time)
I'm trying to be patient with Saletros before I get grumpy about his play...he doesn't suck, but IMO he's not yet providing TAM level contributions. Hard to extrapolate 8min vs 90min, but FWIW Oregel was 8 for 8 (100%) completed passes vs Saletros 63 of 86(73%)...it's not apples to apples, with 98 touches he's certainly not going to be 100%...but it does seem like Oregel deserves more than 9 minutes. Added to that, the squad is kinda struggling with chemistry, so I'd like to see GGG make more use of the proven chemistry between Oregel and Pindea.
Assume you mean League should liberalize/modify rostering rules. not that Fire should imitate Miami. TAM players are definitely expensive budget-wise. The 5 Fire TAM players salary budget charges total nearly one-half of the $11.83 million in Basic Budget Resources provided by League.
14. Chicago Fire Previous ranking: 21 After taking the lead in the first half through a devastating transition attack slotted home by Jonathan Bamba, the Fire added two more goals even after going down to 10 men. Jonathan Dean's red card didn't seem to slow down Chicago in a 3-0 win over Montréal. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48081796/mls-power-ranking-inter-miami-surge-comeback-win A jump of 7 spots in a week. When we beat Columbus we should be in the top 10.
As much as I would like to see this sometime, not sure if this is the match. Unlikely there has been much practice time time with TLB at LB, tough away match- would be expecting a lot for him to perform defensive duties up left side to centerline and also make recovery runs for Elliott and Waterman. But…maybe.
Gutman out, Dean out, and Viktor is questionable… So our options are TLB, MHS or 3CBs Feels like the time to try TLB at LB But we will probably see 3CBs