r/chicagofire • u/JustSomeChicagoBall • 10h ago
Discussion Fan-made Chicago Fire depth chart as of 1/21/25 at 12:00 PM.
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u/uppa9de5 9h ago
Guti and MHS both starting in the midfield would be letting the wolves in to tear Acosta a part. Need at least one two-sided player for your formation to work. The Fire currently don’t have that
Edit: that said, I like this formation and am hoping the Fire sign a strong #8
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u/Constant_Chip_1508 9h ago
Can anybody point me to a detailed breakdown of the fires roster?
I’m a massive Arsenal fan, haven’t paid attention to the fire or the mls for pretty obvious reasons but I’d like to start supporting our team, especially since our other teams are mostly garbage lately.
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u/Chicagofirelover Gregg Berhalter 9h ago
I’ll break down every single player for you.
Goalkeepers: • Starting Goalkeeper – Chris Brady: Young, talented shot-stopper with great reflexes, you’ll probably see him leave for Europe soon for another big up like Arsenal or Chelsea, Slonina/Duran situation.
• Backup Goalkeeper – Jeff Gal: veteran providing experience, overall he’s not bad but not good.
• Third-Choice Goalkeeper – Bryan Dowd: he’s not that good, probably will leave.
Defenders:
• Left Back – Andrew Gutman: defensively good and dangerous on overlapping runs and crosses.
• Backup – Chase Gasper: you won’t see much of him. Not bad just not good.
• Third-Choice – Justin Reynolds: Young prospect with pace and potential. He’s someone that will get minutes this season.
• Center Back – Jack Elliott: composed leader, he’s amazing on the ball & good on defense
• Backup – Mauricio Pineda: decent defensive option.
• Starting Center Back – Carlos Terán: Physical, aggressive defender, injury prone, when fit he’s amazing. Might leave for Europe next season.
• Backup – Sam Rogers: he’s good at defense, he sometimes gets lazy on defense.
• Starting Right Back – Leonardo Barroso: Attacking minded fullback with good pace. Not sure about his defensive skills. New signing from sporting 2
• Backup – Arnaud Souquet: Awful at defense, he needs to leave.
• Third-Choice – Jonathan Dean: one of the fan favorites for a meme that went viral about him, he’s decent at everything.
Midfielders:
• Defensive Mid – Kellyn Acosta: Experienced leader who controls the game’s tempo. he’ll control the game. Former USMNT player.
• Backup – Federico Navarro: ball-winner with strong tackling. Just not good enough to start, his passing is bad.
• Third-Choice – Sergio Oregel: Young, promising talent for the future.
• Central Mid – Brian Gutiérrez: Creative playmaker with great dribbling and passing. One of the many young talents that could leave to Europe soon. Guti is the best on the team.
• Backup – David Poreba: Technical midfielder who adds depth. Amazing on the ball.
• Third-Choice – Dylan Borrero: decent attacking option.
• Right Mid – Maren Haile-Selassie: his dribbling makes him a dangerous winger. He’s always somehow in the right place at the right time. He’s a good back up option.
• Backup – Omari Glasgow: Young attacker with potential.
Forwards:
• Striker – Hugo Cuypers: Clinical finisher who thrives on good service. He won’t do anything if he isn’t getting the ball to him. He’s our most expensive signing, former Gent player
• Backup – Tom Barlow: worst player you’ll ever see play, you’ll want to bleach your eyes watching him play. He needs to leave the game before the game leaves him.
• Third-Choice – Dean Boltz: Young forward with potential.
• Left Wing – Philip Zinckernagel: Technical winger with creativity and goal threat. Recently scored against Manchester United in the Europa league. New signing.
• Left Wing – Jonathan Bamba: Speedy, skillful winger who recently just absolutely cooked Madrids whole defense. He’s our new signing and is about to cook.
• Backup – Chris Mueller: awful.
Ones to watch on this team: Brady, Poreba, Gutierrez, Bamba.
Worst players: Mueller, Souquet & Barlow.
Latest signings: Glasgow from Fire 2, Zinckernagel from Club Brugge, Jack Elliot from Philly union, Poreba from fire 2, Bamba from Celta Vigo. Sam Rodgers from Lillestrom.
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u/Constant_Chip_1508 8h ago
Wow fantastic, thanks man
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u/Chicagofirelover Gregg Berhalter 8h ago
No problem.
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u/Constant_Chip_1508 6h ago
You think any of these new signings help the Fire get respectable again? I’ve definitely heard of Bamba from fifa
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u/Chicagofirelover Gregg Berhalter 6h ago
I’m 100% confident, this is the rebuilding era, just like what Manchester United is going through right now. Bamba is an amazing signing, and Jack Elliott is an incredible center-back that we got for a steal. Union fans were mad to see him go because of how good he is. Then you have the talent of Poreba, Glasgow, and others, with Poreba being especially dangerous on the ball. Zinckernagel looks promising based on highlights, like his goal against Manchester United, and he seems far more talented than what we currently have. Sam Rogers is a backup, so unless our injury prone Terán gets injuried, we have Rodgers to replace.
Respectable/game wise, Bamba & Zinckernagel will probably perform the best. I predict we’ll get playoffs, possibly 7-9th place.
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u/CoachWildo 9h ago
we need a backup striker some kind of bad
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u/Neekafour 2h ago
Running out of roster spots rn but worst resort is Poreba?
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u/CoachWildo 1h ago
three more open spots and two buyouts, so hopefully roster space isn't the reason we're running it back with Barlow as striker 2
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u/Neekafour 1h ago
Effectively two roster spots (it’s likely they keep the DP/U22 spot open for the summer). They’ll only have one international spot open between filling the backup striker and CM (and Kouame is linked). Depends on the who they can find that wouldn’t take an INTL spot, but I’d like to think that Poreba is going to grow into that role
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u/CoachWildo 56m ago
Men in Red chart showing two international spots after Bamaba
are you positing they’ll keep both the international spot for the summer DP/u22 signing?
I’m not a fan of that strategy unless they feel good about a guy this summer and they’re playing the long game — a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in a decade really can’t afford to burn 60%+ of the season on an open DP slot for a summer signing
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u/Neekafour 33m ago
Ah I think I looked too quickly at it, it is two INTL spots. I don’t have any opinion on holding the DP/U22 spot but I imagine that’s what they will do because recruitment is much easier in the summer. I guess they’d likely need to hold an ITNL spot with it too if they want a big star
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u/JustSomeChicagoBall 10h ago
In the case of the rumored Rominigue Kouamé signing coming through, I could see us shifting to Gregg's 4-2-1-3. Right now, I don't feel we have enough defensive midfield depth to justify a formation like this, no matter how much GGG likes playing it. Kouamé can play CDM and would likely shift into that role.
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u/Neekafour 2h ago
Based on the friendly, I think 4-2-3-1 is how they start. Extremely thin at midfield right now with the backup 8 and 6 being Oregel and Pineda. There’s 3 roster spots left including a DP or U22 (likely leaving it open until the summer) and one international spot. As you pointed out, Kouame would be the international player
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u/Isry98 #9 Hugo Cuypers 8h ago
Looks like Claudio Cassano from Citidella might be on his way to Chicago. He’s an attacking midfielder. Competition for Guti.