Real Salt Lake will look to extend its unbeaten streak to five matches when they travel to Chicago to face the Fire on Saturday night.
RSL (3-2-3, 12 points) has points in four straight, with its last loss coming on March 9 against Colorado. Salt Lake, fourth in the Western Conference table, is also looking for points in a fourth straight away match.
“From a mentality perspective, we want to be an aggressive team, and we want to be on the front foot,” said RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni. “I think as we continue through the season, there’s moments where we have to dial it back a little bit, but you always want to be dialing it back versus having guys that don’t understand what it takes to win games.”
Mastroeni’s side boasts one of MLS’ top scorers in Cristian Arango. The Salt Lake captain has six goals — tied for most in the league — through eight games this season.
Chicago (2-3-3, nine points), which is 11th in the Eastern Conference, opens a three-match homestand.
The match will be the first between the sides in MLS play since the 2021 season, which the Fire won 1-0 in Chicago.
“It’s a team that we don’t play (often), but from the games that I watched, I think it’s a team that’s very well organized,” said Chicago coach Frank Klopas. “Obviously, it’s a really hard-working team. A team that’s good in transition, especially on the right side with (Andres) Gomez and Arango, also with his pace, his ability to really punish teams with the chances he gets.
“(Diego) Luna is a player on the other side that comes inside and can create certain overloads and 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.”
Chicago is 8-7-9 all-time against Salt Lake, including a three-match unbeaten streak at home since the 2017 season.
The Fire enter Saturday’s match following a 0-0 draw in New York against the Red Bulls last Saturday. Chicago is led offensively by midfielder Brian Gutierrez, who has a team-high three goals in eight matches.
–Field Level Media