The Chicago Fire will host New York City FC on Saturday in a meeting of clubs trying to rejuvenate their attacks.
The Fire were idle last weekend as the MLS season opened, which provided a chance to make additions to an offense that ranked second-worst in MLS with 39 goals last season.
They acquired Kei Kamara, the third-highest goal scorer (139) in MLS regular season history, in a trade from CF Montreal, and announced the signing of young Greek forward Georgios Koustias.
Yet it’s far from clear that coach Ezra Hendrickson’s squad will be better going forward. Kamara is now 38, Koustias is unproven and not yet available, and the Fire sold last year’s scoring leader Jhon Duran to Aston Villa of the English Premier League this offseason.
“Our thing with the lack of scoring last year, when we look at it and we reflect about last season, we felt like that really kept us from achieving our goal, which was making the playoffs last year,” Hendrickson said this week. “Because with 12 shutouts in a 34-game season, that team should be in the playoffs.”
New York City (0-1-0, 0 points) has its own attacking questions after a significant exodus from the roster that won the 2021 MLS Cup and reached the 2022 Eastern Conference final.
It began when 2021 MLS Golden Boot winner Valentin Castellanos moved to Girona in Spain’s top flight last summer. It continued following the season when Maxi Moralez returned to his native Argentina, Santiago Rodriguez’s loan expired and Heber moved to Seattle in a trade.
Rodriguez is back with the club after agreeing to a deal through 2027 on Friday.
Without him last week, a lack of cutting edge showed in a 2-0 loss at Nashville SC.
On the other end of the pitch, New York City received a boost this week when James Sands’ loan to Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers was cut short.
“We’ve got a guy, who not only is a really, really good football player, but now has a new and incredibly improved mentality through being in that environment,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said of Sands. “So, everyone’s really happy. He’s trained really well today, and one thing I can say is: He’s really, really hungry to continue to be successful with New York City.”
–Field Level Media
