Preview & Gamethread: Orlando City vs Chicago Fire

CITRUS BOWL, Orlando, Fla.

March 11, 2016 (WEEK 2)

6 PM CT (UniMas, UDN)

The Chicago Fire are on the verge of setting a record they don't want.

Riding a 25-game winless road streak into Orlando -- the second longest in MLS history -- the Fire is only two more road losses away from setting the MLS record. The last road win came at New England on July 12, 2014. The top song was "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea and the No. 1 movie was Dawn of the Planet of Apes. It makes me sad.

So three points tonight would be fantastic. Kaka is out. Darwin Ceren is out. Antonio Nocerino is not in top form. The table is set for an upset.

The Chicago Fire will welcome back John Goossens who could start, but might come off the bench. Either way, he will almost certainly play. Gilberto is likely out, leaving coach Veljko Paunovic with interesting lineup decisions. He could choose to put Kennedy Igboananike in the lone striker spot, allowing Arturo Alvarez to remain on the field with Goossens. Or he could put Igboananike and David Accam together up top, making it a bit more difficult to get Alvarez and Goossens on the field at the same time in a 3-4-1-2.

Whatever the lineup, the defense and goalkeeper will need to be much better tonight. Cyle Larin is an absolute slayer of soccer netting. He will put the ball in your net if you do not defend properly. On the bright side, he no longer has Adailton to help him out on those goals.

If you want to catch up on all our pregame coverage click here, here and here. The Mane Land is your source for all things Orlando City.

The Fire could really use a road win tonight, but if they  fail to win again on the road, I at least hope they take the advice of that July 2014 hit song by Iggy Azalea and trash the hotel and get drunk on the mini bar.

Check back for lineups when they are announced and join the conversation in the game thread.

REFEREE: Ted Unkel. AR1 (bench): Sean Hurd; AR2 (opposite): Kermit Quisenberry; 4th: Marcos de Oliveira