Xherdan Shaqiri “day-to-day” ahead of Chicago Fire’s visit to Orlando City

Chicago Fire midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri is “day-to-day” with a calf injury ahead of this weekend’s matchup with Orlando City at Exploria Stadium. Shaqiri came out of last weekend’s match against FC Dallas in the 19th minute after feeling tightness in his calf.

The Fire had the last couple days off, and Wednesday was their first day back with the full team at training. Shaqiri did not take part, Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson said.

“We want to be careful, because he’s a very important player for us,” Hendrickson said. “So, we don’t want to rush that back too soon. We’re monitoring that, and he’s day-to-day right now.”

Anything involving Shaqiri is concerning for the Fire, but this doesn’t appear to be a serious injury. The Fire did an MRI on Shaqiri’s calf, but nothing major was found, Hendrickson said. The Fire’s social media team highlighted his visit to the Chicago Bulls game Tuesday night, meaning he is indeed up and walking. Still, the Fire want to be careful to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

In other injury news, team captain Rafael Czichos is still out, undergoing MLS’s health and safety protocols related to COVID, Hendrickson said.

“As of now, I’m not sure when either one will be back,” Hendrickson said.

The Fire take on Orlando City on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT. The match will be televised on TUDN and Univision for the second week in a row, with an English language feed available on Twitter.