Fresh off a dominant offensive performance, the Chicago Fire bid to exact revenge from an early-season shellacking when they host Nashville SC on Saturday night.
The Fire (7-5-4, 25 points) benefited from Tom Barlow’s first career hat trick to post a 7-1 romp over host D.C. United last Saturday.
Making his first start of the season, in place of Belgian striker Hugo Cuypers (lower-body injury), Barlow scored in the 30th, 44th and 65th minutes. The offensive explosion helped Chicago match a club record for goals in a match, set on July 4, 2001, during a 7-0 rout of the then-Kansas City Wizards.
The Fire improved to 6-1-1 across all competitions since the start of May after being on the business end of a 7-2 setback at the hands of Nashville SC on April 26.
“We went to their place and it wasn’t a good result for us, and that’s something we want to prepare for, especially at home,” Barlow said. “I’m focused on getting back to training, getting back to work.”
Nashville SC (8-4-5, 29 points) began their eight-match unbeaten streak in MLS play (4-0-4) with the lopsided victory over Chicago. The Music City representatives last competed on May 31, failing to take advantage of Sam Surridge’s second brace in three matches and fifth goal in that stretch in a 2-2 draw versus New York City FC.
“The rest will be good,” Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan said. “… There’s a lot of season left, and we’re going to use the time in June to really focus on ourselves and improve ourselves. We have things that need to get cleaned up.”
Surridge ‘s 11 goals lead Nashville SC and are second in MLS only to Philadelphia Union forward Tai Baribo (13). Surridge’s 14 goal contributions are tied with Baribo for second best in the league, trailing only Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi (16). Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar has seven goals and six assists.
Cuypers leads the Fire with 10 goals on the season.
–Field Level Media
