Merry Crewsmas 2025! The Black & Gold return to the pitch for the 30th year of play in Major League Soccer against longtime rival Chicago Fire on Saturday. The 2025 Crew will no doubt look different than the 2024 campaign with the departure of MVP candidate and fan favorite Cucho Hernandez, who was transferred to Real Betis in January. Additionally, fan favorite Christian Ramirez was traded to his hometown LA Galaxy, just a few days after Cucho. Thus, questions abound for the Black & Gold in 2025. Who will score the goals? Is there a star on this team? How busy will the summer window be? Despite these questions, there is a cautiously optimistic section of Crew fans who know that Wilfried Nancy is known for doing more with less. Additionally, the Crew has retained the majority of the roster from last year’s Leagues Cup Champions. The mix of returning talent and questions makes the Crew one of the more interesting stories around the league in 2025. 

Chicago has also made noise this offseason. Chicago made waves by hiring former Crew and USMNT boss Gregg Berhalter as its head coach in October. They have also been busy adding talent to their roster. The biggest additions come in the form of MLS veteran and former Philadelphia Union standout Jack Elliot. Additionally, the Fire made a big splash forking out several million to acquire Jonathan Bomba from Celta Vigo. With Berhalter at the helm and an increase in talent, Chicago is trying to re-establish itself as a competitor in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago Fire at a Glance:

2024 Record: 7-9-18 (30 points)

2024 Leading Scorer: Hugo Cuypers (10)

2024 Assist Leader: Ariel Lassiter (6) 

Player to Watch: Jonathan Bamba

The 28-year-old Ivory Coast international has joined Chicago ahead of the 2025 campaign looking to make a splash as a Designated Player alongside Hugo Cuypers. Bamba is a right-footed winger who typically plays on the left wing and will almost certainly do so in Gregg Berhalter’s 4-3-3 system. Bamba is an excellent passer who has the ability to pick out passes in behind opponents’ defensive lines, as well as deliver crosses into central areas. In addition to his passing ability, Bamba’s ability to beat players off the dribble in 1v1 situations makes him a versatile threat to create for his team. While not known for his production as a goal scorer, Bamba does have the ability to finish chances when they arise. The Crew backline must keep Bamba in check as he looks to make an immediate impact for his new club.

How Chicago plays: 

Fresh off of his stint with the USMNT, Gregg Berhalter is at the helm in Chicago. Crew fans will know his style well from his time with the club from 2014-2018 when he was in charge in Columbus. Berhalter hasn’t changed his style much since his days in Columbus, despite his critics during his time with the USMNT. Thus, I feel it’s pretty safe to expect Berhalter to employ a very similar system to what we have seen him use in the past on Saturday.

Berhalter almost exclusively deploys his teams in a 4-3-3 formation. While we did see him use a 4-4-2 a few times with the USMNT, it is pretty clear that a 4-3-3 formation is preferred. Chicago will look to keep possession as much as possible this season, to both create scoring chances and control the match. When in possession, you can expect the wingers (likely Bamba and homegrown Brian Gutierrez) to tuck inside into the halfspaces to create a box in midfield. The outside backs will push high up the field to provide width and depth, while one of the central midfielders will drop between splitting center backs. When all of this movement is done, it will likely look more like a 3-4-3, similar to the Black & Gold under Nancy.

Defensively, Berhalter’s teams are not known to be teams that press high up the field. Instead, Berhalter typically asks his team to defend in a mid-block about ¾ of the way up the field. Berhalter’s preferred defensive shape has fluctuated between a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2, being early in the season, I expect Chicago to defend in a 4-3-3 as Berhalter tries to hammer home his team’s identity in the early parts of the year.

How the Crew can win:

The Crew will be looking to get off to a hot start in 2025 and prove a point to the supporters and indeed the rest of the league that they can compete without Cucho. More than that, winning the home opener is something that every team strives for in the beginning of the year. Here are three keys to the match for Nancy’s side. 

1. Dominate Possession: Columbus almost always dominates possession, at least in MLS play, but it is still important for this match, mainly because of their opponent. As mentioned, Chicago will want to dominate the ball and have possession. If the Crew can dominate the ball it will do a few things that all work in the Crew’s favor: 1.) Allow them to control the rhythm and tempo of the match. 2.) Keep Chicago from getting in an attacking rhythm. 3.) Force Chicago to defend for long periods. Despite their improvements on the backline and Chris Brady in goal, Chicago doesn’t want to defend, especially the attackers.
2. Use the Overload in the Midfield: Given the two shapes the Berhalter has used in the past to defend, the Crew should have an overload of players in central midfield no matter which shape Berhalter uses on Saturday (4-3-3 or 4-4-2.) Pretty simple math here, 4 is greater than both 3 & 2, so the Crew should always have a free man in midfield. Finding this player and allowing them to drive play forward will be a big key in possession on Saturday.
3. Score First: The Crew very rarely loses when scoring first. It is really tough to chase a game against Wilfried Nancy’s system. In addition, scoring first will allow the Crew to capitalize on and prolong what will no doubt be a raucous Lower.com Stadium on Crewsmas. Early goals often win games for the Black & Gold.