Andrew Gutman’s road to the Chicago Fire’s first team required plenty of stops between his time with the Academy until he finally made his club debut in 2024 after being acquired in a trade with the Colorado Rapids.
The Hinsdale native has battled injuries throughout his first MLS season with the Fire but is finally healthy ahead of the club’s final run toward the playoffs as they look to climb the Eastern Conference table.
The experience of playing in SeatGeek Stadium, something Gutman did during Leagues Cup and will once again on Saturday, always brings back memories for the left back.
“It will be a really cool experience for me. This is a stadium that I grew up watching the Fire play in. I played in it with the Academy. When I was training with the first team we trained on the pitch. I still remember it as Toyota Park, when people asked me where I'm playing, I forget that it's called SeatGeek [Stadium] now.
“It will be a cool experience to play in the stadium for sure. But at the end of the day, Soldier Field is our home field. I think that's the place where the Fire want to be moving forward, and so yeah, it's a cool opportunity to play in SeatGeek this weekend.”
D.C. United (7-8-12, 29 points, 11th in Eastern Conference) are the Fire’s (6-8-13, 26 points, 14th in Eastern Conference) opposition on Saturday and Chicago is running out of time to get results against conference foes with only seven matches remaining in the regular season.
D.C. are a very direct team and Gutman knows his side wants to be aggressive against them despite their strength in the air.
“You've got to be strong in your duels,” said Gutman. “You've got to be super aware of the balls into the channels. You've always got to be on the front foot and eliminate the chances of them getting their head up and able to play in behind. I think when we played them in D.C., we had a really good game plan against them and I thought we should have honestly come away with more from that game.
“For us playing at home, we want to dictate the tempo. We want to be on the front foot. We want to control the game but you know, then on the other side of it, we do have to be aware of their attacking throughout that they have, with [Christian] Benteke and with the counterattacking and the directness that they play with.”
Benteke is tied with Chicho Arango for the MLS lead with 17 goals and he will be a point of emphasis for Chicago defensively.
“Obviously Benteke is a fantastic player. He is ahead in duels in the League by a crazy amount. For us it's understanding that he is going to win duels and you have to be in good position to cover, whether he flicks it off or lays it off and they try to go in behind. It's us being aware of their style of play and being able to get in the right positions to shut it down.”
From the rest of my notebook:
Frank Klopas on D.C. United
Chicago and D.C. shared the points when they faced off at Audi Field on May 25 thanks to a Kellyn Acosta match-tying goal in the 53rd minute. The Fire’s head coach noted during his weekly media availability that this weekend’s match comes with a similar mindset as the one in May.
“It's a lot of similarities going into the first game that we played because we were, at that moment, desperate,” Klopas said over Zoom. “We needed to get back on the right track, and we adjusted to some things. We played with Tom Barlow, with two strikers, and went to a back three. We got a point on the road, in the second half we played really well, and we got opportunities to take the maximum points out of that match.
“Now we're late into the season, and points are important for both sides. We know what they are all about. The good thing for us is we have almost all the guys healthy. Mauri [Pineda] is still out with a hip situation, but other than that, a little bit of some bangs here and there. But we'll be okay for the weekend.”
International Window
Despite the fact that Major League Soccer is playing through it, we are in the midst of an international window for men’s soccer. Here are the three members of the Fire organization who will be with their respective national teams during the window.
Ariel Lassiter, Costa Rica
Sept. 5 vs. Guadeloupe, 7:00 PM CT: CONCACAF Nations League A Group 1 Round 1, Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, broadcast on Paramount+.
Sept. 9 vs. Guatemala, 9:00 PM CT: CONCACAF Nations League A Group 1 Round 2, Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
Georgios Koutsias, Greece U-21
Sept. 10 vs. Faroe Islands U-21, 11:30 AM CT: EURO U-21 Qualification Group G, Djupumyru Stadium in Klaksvik, Faroe Islands.
Omari Glasgow, Guyana
Sept. 5 vs. Suriname, 3:00 PM CT: CONCACAF Nations League A Group 1 Round 1, Synthetic Track and Field Facility, Leonora, Guyana, broadcast on Paramount+.
Sept. 9 vs Martinique, 3:00 PM CT: CONCACAF Nations League A Group 1 Round 2, Stade Municipal Pierre-Aliker, Fort-de-France, Martinique, broadcast on Paramount+.
Chris Brady at Wrigley Field
The Fire’s Homegrown goalkeeper threw out the first pitch before Tuesday’s Cubs-Pirates game. There’s no data to confirm anything but there cannot have been many righties who have worn No. 34 while throwing off the mound at Wrigley Field since Kerry Wood.
Speaking of Kerry Wood, want to feel old?
Wood’s 20-strikeout game was almost six years before Brady was born in 2004.
What’s On Tap Next?
The Fire will host D.C. United at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview on Saturday. The match is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 PM and will air on MLS Season Pass on AppleTV+.
Follow @soccer_ontap on X for more Chicago Fire news and updates!
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