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Steffen Schmidt - August 3, 2023
Chicago Fire vs Club America
Leagues Cup
Date: 5 August 2023, Saturday
Kick-off at 01:00 UK / 02:00 CET
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium (Bridgeview).
Despite losing on penalties to Puebla on Sunday, Chicago Fire advanced to the knockout phase of the Leagues Cup as the Group Central 2 winners thanks to an earlier win over Minnesota United.
They will now face a more famous Mexican outfit Club America in the last 32 round of the competition as the elimination game is scheduled for Friday evening at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
The hosts have generally been in an excellent form of late. They had four wins on the spin across competitions before a 1-1 stalemate against Puebla last weekend.
The team led by Fotios Klopas have shown an excellent attacking display, firing 21 attempts, 9 of which went on target on the occasion.
Chicago should have enough space to deliver the goods up front here against Club America who have allowed four goals in a tough defeat to Columbus Crew five days ago.
It was the second loss in the last four outings in all competitions for Andre Jardine’s troops who clearly have issues with consistency these days.
Club America did not get off to the best start of the new Liga MX campaign either, falling 1-2 to Juarez before bouncing back with a 3-0 drubbing of Puebla.
Chicago Fire have been on a hot run of form lately and we trust their in-form attacking line to unlock the rivalling defense on multiple occasions on Friday. Xerdan Shaqiri was on target in both Leagues Cup outings so far and we fancy the attractive 3.10 odds offered for the Swiss star to score anytime here as well.
Alternatively, we will back the MLS side to avoid a defeat in regular time at the 1.61 odds. After all, they do have four wins and a draw in the last five matches in all competitions.
