New York Red Bulls vs. Chicago Fire | 2018 MLS Match Preview

New York Red Bulls vs. Chicago Fire
2018 MLS Regular Season - Week 8
Red Bull Arena — Harrison
April 21 - 3:30 pm ET
WATCH: Univision, Twitter

New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch took the reins off Alejandro Romero Gamarra on Saturday and the Argentine playmaker had what his manager called “his best performance to date” as the Red Bulls rebounded from crashing out of the Concacaf Champions League with a 3-1 win over the Montreal Impact.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Fire come to Harrison off a disappointing performance in a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy in front of a sellout crowd at Toyota Park.

The Red Bulls are riding a seven-match unbeaten streak against Chicago, including a 4-0 win in the Knockout Round of last season’s playoffs. The Fire had won three straight prior to this streak.

• Opinions differ, but Fire expectations remain high
• Marsch: Time to unleash Kaku? "The answer is yes"
• Big Question: Has Kaku established his bonafides?
• Marsch: No regrets about not starting Kaku in CCL
• Progress made but RBNY's CCL dreams fall short
• Seltzer: 5 teams that have work to do before May 1
• Positive Pauno: Fire boss bullish despite losses

New York Red Bulls

The New York Red Bulls (3-2-0) did well to put the bitter disappointment of their CCL ouster to Chivas de Guadalajara behind them to defeat the Montreal Impact, 3-1 at Red Bull Arena.

It was the first time Marsch utilized a first-choice starting XI in league play and that included the insertion of Alejandro Romero “Kaku” Gamarra, who was influential throughout and scored his first MLS goal in the 57th minute to break a 1-1 stalemate.

Bradley Wright-Phillips netted his 90th career MLS goal, moving him into 11th on the league’s all-time list, and Michael Murillo tapped in an insurance goal at the back post in the 76th minute to insure there would be no CCL hangover in Harrison.

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: D - Kyle Duncan (ACL surgery), D - Connor Lade (ankle sprain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2–3-1, right to left)
GK - Luis Robles — Michael Murillo, Aaron Long, Tim Parker, Kemar Lawrence — Tyler Adams, Sean Davis — Florian Valot, Kaku, Danny Royer — Bradley Wright-Phillips

• Notes: Murillo’s goal against Montreal last weekend was his second in consecutive league appearances (dating back to last season) after just one goal in his first 16 regular season appearances. … New York is unbeaten 11 consecutive league matches (7W-4D), scoring multiple goals in eight of the 11 games (2.5 goals per game overall).

Chicago Fire       

Chicago head coach Veljko Paunovic made three changes to his side that were coming off their first win of the year, a 1-0 victory over Columbus Crew SC with defender Jonathan Campbellcoming off the injury report after missing the first four matches of 2018 because of a facial fracture, and Grant Lillard and Elliot Collier each earning their first start of the season.

However, the Fire (1-3-1) were sunk by a Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed goal and have managed to secure just four points from four matches at home ahead of a rough stretch ahead that consists of the Red Bulls and Toronto FC away and Atlanta at home.

Paunovic was positive in his postmatch press conference, seeing what he calls “important progress” despite the defeat.

Veteran midfielder Dax McCarty was a bit more blunt in his assessment.

“We’re below average right now and the results speak to that,” McCarty said. “All I can do is just ask our loyal fans to stick with us and we have to turn it around. I promise them we will do everything we can to turn it around. We’re just lacking a bit of quality, all over the field.”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: D - Jorge Corrales (infection), F - Michael de Leeuw (left ACL), M - Djorjde Mihailovic (right ACL), M - Matt Polster (right MCL), F - Luis Solignac (left quad)

Projected Starting XI
(5-3-2, right to left)
GK: Richard Sanchez —  Johan Kappelhof, Jonathan Campbell, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Grant Lillard, Brandon Vincent — Elliot Collier, Dax McCarty, Tony Tchani — Nemanja Nikolic, Alan Gordon

• Notes: Bastian Schweinsteiger had 100 touches against the Galaxy last weekend. This was his 10th MLS game with at least 100 touches since coming to the league. Ibson (14) and Nicolas Lodeiro (12) are the only players with more 100-touch games since the start of the 2017 season. … The Fire have lost seven of their last nine on the road (2W), conceding multiple goals in each defeat (2.2 goals conceded per game overall).

All-Time Series 

• Overall: New York Red Bulls 17 wins, 72 goals … Chicago Fire 26 wins, 90 goals … 12 ties
• At New York: Red Bulls 13 wins, 44 goals … Fire 11 wins, 41 goals … 3 ties
• Last meeting at New York: New York Red Bulls 2, Chicago Fire 1 (April 29, 2017)

Officials 

Referee: Robert Sibiga
Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, TJ Zablocki
4th Official: Jose Carlos Rivero
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez