It's gameday in Chicago!
The Fire put out a rather conservative XI for tonight's matchup against Philadelphia, favoring experience and hard tackling in the middle, as Matt Watson starts alongside Jeff Larentowicz in deep midfield. Expect the Fire to show a rough 4-2-2-2 shape, with the players in the top two bands swapping places and playing games in space with abandon:
FIRE @UIHealth Starting XI vs. @PhilaUnion: Johnson; Palmer, Hurtado, Soumare, Segares; Alex, Larentowicz ©, Watson, Shipp; Amarikwa, Magee
— Chicago Fire (@ChicagoFire) July 19, 2014
Philadelphia starts precisely the lineup predicted in our Fireside Chat, with one exception - Michael Lahoud takes the spot we'd predicted Fred would fill.
.@PhilaUnion Starting XI: MacMath; Gaddis, White, Edu, Williams; Cruz, Okugo, Lahoud, Nogueira; LeToux, Casey #cf97 #DOOP #CHIvPHI
— Chicago Fire (@ChicagoFire) July 19, 2014
The benches are unexceptional, with one caveat: 2012 Rookie of the Year Austin Berry, whose trade to the Union raised some eyebrows, is apparently not impressing his third coach this season. Jim Curtain has left the former Fire man off the 18 today.
FIRE @UIHealth Subs vs. @PhilaUnion: Reynish, Ianni, Cochrane, Franco, Ward, Ritter, Fondy #cf97 #CHIvPHI
— Chicago Fire (@ChicagoFire) July 19, 2014
.@PhilaUnion Subs: Blake, Fabinho, Fred, Carroll, Brown, Wenger, Wheeler. #cf97 #DOOP #CHIvPHI #MLS
— Chicago Fire (@ChicagoFire) July 19, 2014