Apr 13, 2024; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; Chicago Fire FC midfielder Kellyn Acosta (23) reacts during the first half against the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. — Photo: Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports

Preview: Chicago Fire vs. Real Salt Lake

The Fire seek their third consecutive win at Soldier Field.

Author:
Joe Chatz
Publish date:
Apr 19, 2024 10:13 AM CDT

Chicago Fire

Soldier Field

The Chicago Fire are back home after a disappointing result last weekend against the New York Red Bulls. Chicago hosts Western Conference foes Real Salt Lake on Saturday attempting to make it consecutive wins in non-conference matchups at Soldier Field after a win over Houston two weeks ago.

It looks like the Fire will be without Tobias Salquist due to the defender being in concussion protocol, and it remains to be seen if Andrew Gutman will return from injury this weekend. Brian Gutiérrez appears destined for a bench role once again as Fire head coach Frank Klopas explained this week that it’s about form with his young attacker.

Klopas also spoke about facing Real Salt Lake during his weekly media availability.

“It's a really hard-working team,” said Klopas. “A team that's really good in transition, especially on the right side with (Andrés) Gómez and with (Cristian) Arango with his pace and his ability to really punish teams with the chances he gets. And you know, (Diego) Luna, also a player on the other side that comes inside and can create certain overloads with his quality on the ball. It's a team that's coming in and playing really well with confidence that's going to work extremely hard. You know, we don't face them; we do every couple years, so it's actually exciting for us to get an opponent that we haven't seen for a while.

“We know it's going to be a difficult match. We were preparing extremely well this week and really focused, especially, you know, one game at a time. But it's a big opportunity now with this home stand to start climbing the ladder.”