The 2023 Eastern Conference season continues in the MLS in the early hours of Sunday as Chicago Fire host FC Cincinnati at Soldier Field.
These two teams had differing fortunes in their last match as the hosts were beaten 1-0 at Philadelphia Union whilst Cincinnati triumphed by the same scoreline at home against the Seattle Sounders.
Last weekend's results leave Chicago in 13th in the Eastern Conference table, while Cincinnati sit third ahead of their fourth match of the season.
Match preview
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Ezra Hendrickson's Chicago Fire have started their season poorly, with a 1-1 draw at home to New York City on the opening day being followed last time out with a 1-0 loss to the Union.
A stoppage-time strike from Joaquin Torres condemned the Fire to defeat in Pennsylvania and left them languishing in 13th ahead of the meeting with Cincinnati on Sunday.
Having conceded the first goal of the game in their season opener against New York City FC and failed to score on Saturday, only DC United have now scored the first goal of a game fewer times than the Fire's tally of 12 since the beginning of last season.
They allowed Philadelphia to have 14 shots on goal, nine of which were from open play so they will need to tighten up defensively if they are to kick start their campaign with victory over the Orange and Blue.
If the Fire are to improve on last year's 12th-placed finish then they will need to make sure that they are not playing catch-up later in the season due to poor form in the opening weeks.
Three points at the weekend will hugely improve their outlook as a win could lift them as high as eighth in the early-season standings.
The sale of Colombian forward Jhon Duran to Aston Villa in January was a blow to the Fire as the eight goals he registered in 27 matches last term was a club-high tally.
Hendrickson will be hoping that Xherdan Shaqiri repeats his excellent debut season in the US as he notched seven strikes and six assists, and the Swiss international will be hoping to get up and running for 2023 against Cincinnati.
The Illinois outfit will be looking to new signing Georgios Koutsias to replace Duran's output after his move from PAOK Thessaloniki in February, and the Greek forward may be in line for a debut this weekend.
Chicago will be aiming to improve on a tally of just 39 goals in 34 games last season, which was the second-lowest in the division.
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Pat Noonan's Cincinnati are in much better shape ahead of the game on Sunday, having taken the momentum from the end of last season, when they recorded four wins in their final six fixtures, into the new campaign.
They have seven points from their opening three games of 2023 and are currently in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Cincinnati have lost just two of their last 23 regular season matches dating back to June, though one of those defeats came at the hands of the Fire, who beat them 3-2 in October.
A goal from Brazilian forward Brenner gave them a 1-0 success over Seattle last weekend and the Orange and Blue could go top of the standings with a third victory in four to begin the campaign against Chicago.
Brenner's strike was his 24th regular season goal for FC Cincinnati excluding penalties, bringing him level with Brandon Vazquez as the leading scorer of non-penalty goals in Cincinnati history.
Mexican forward Vazquez is looking for his first strikes of 2023 in the upcoming match and he will be confident given that he netted in the reverse against Chicago last season.
Cincinnati are the opposite of their goal-shy opponents as their 64 goals was the second-highest tally in the league last term and they have also netted three times so far this season.
Noonan's side will need to tighten up defensively if they are to improve on their fifth-placed finish in 2022 as their record of 56 conceded during the campaign was the joint-third worst in the division.
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Team News
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Chicago Fire will be without winger Kei Kamara and midfielder Fabian Herbers for the meeting with Cincinnati as they are both serving suspensions for second yellow cards.
Jonathan Dean and Javier Casas are likely to take their places in the starting 11 after they both made appearances from the bench last time out.
Koutsias is pushing for a start upfront in place of Kacper Przybylko after the Polish striker was substituted against Philadelphia.
The visitors are missing defender Nick Hagglund for the trip to Illinois after he was sent off against Seattle last weekend. Ian Murphy will take his place in the heart of Cincinnati's defence.
Pat Noonan otherwise has a fully-fit squad to choose from ahead of the match so is likely to utilise his usual 3-5-2 system.
Club captain Luciano Acosta, Obinna Nwobodo and Junior Moreno will take up the central midfield roles and will be charged with overpowering Chicago's midfield two.
Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Brady; Souquet, Teran, Czichos, Burks; Gimenez, Casas; Dean, Shaqiri, Navarro; Koutsias
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Celentano; Mosquera, Murphy, Miazga; Gaddis, Moreno, Acosta, Nwobodo, Barreal; Brenner, Vazquez
We say: Chicago Fire 0-2 FC Cincinnati
Cincinnati will be confident of hurting any team this season with a front pairing of Vazquez and Brenner.
The strikers and the additional goal threat of Acosta in the midfield should be too much for a badly out of form Chicago to cope with, so Noonan's side are strong favourites to collect their third win of the season here.
How to watch
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Top tip
Ollie Hawthorn
