Match Preview: Chattanooga FC v. Chicago Fire FC II
In-form visitors aim to end CFC's unbeaten home stretch.
Match: Chattanooga FC v Chicago Fire FC II
Date: Saturday, July 5th, 2025. 19:00 (Eastern)
Venue: Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, TN. Capacity: 20,412
How to watch: Apple TV MLS Season Pass
Tickets: Chattanooga FC Website
After a tough June, second-place Chattanooga FC looks to kick-start its July this Saturday with a return to winning ways against an in-form Chicago Fire FC II who sit in fourth place. The game will be played at Finley Stadium in the Scenic City and kick off is at 7pm (Eastern).
For Chattanooga (W8-L3-D4) it’s an opportunity to reset and use home advantage to get the second half of their season off to a good start. After failing to win any matches in June (two losses and two draws) they’ll look to grab all three points in front of their home crowd. CFC remains unbeaten at home this season, and are over 300 days since their last home loss. The team know they need to keep winning to keep up the pressure on top-of-the-table New York Red Bulls II who sit four points atop them.
Chicago Fire II (W6-L4-D4) is one of the league’s in-form teams and were named MLS NEXT Pro Team of Matchweek 16. They’re on an eight-game unbeaten run, most recently coming off a 1-1 draw at home against Crown Legacy FC (Chicago won the shootout for the extra point 5-3). Away from home they’ve won one of seven. The Fire sit six points behind Chattanooga but do have a game in-hand.
The match will be broadcast live on Apple TV as part of the MLS Season Pass.
The History
Chattanooga: P:1 W:0 D:1 L:0 SOW:0 GF:1 GA:1
Chicago: P:1 W:0 D:1 L:0 SOW:1 GF:1 GA:1
Saturday night's match will be the second-ever meeting between the two clubs. The first encounter saw CFC come from behind to earn a draw in Chicago back on June 7th, 2024. Lamonth Rochester (now with Tijuana in Mexico) opened the scoring for the Fire on 60 minutes before Mehdi Ouamri (now a free agent) fired one back for CFC eight minutes later. Chicago won the resulting PK shootout 5-4 after misses from CFC’s Farid Sar-Sar and Alex McGrath.
Saturday’s game will be the only match of the regular season between the two sides this year.
Report cards and lineups
Chattanooga
Head Coach Chris Nugent's side remain unbeaten at home this season, most recently coming off a goalless draw with FC Cincinnati 2. Earlier this week, the club announced the loan signing of D.C. United midfielder Gavin Turner, the first loan signing from an MLS club in CFC’s history. I recently wrote an article about CFC’s season so far, which you can read here.
Head Coach Chris Nugent likes to keep us guessing when it comes to setups and starting XIs. No stranger to springing a surprise, he often speaks about designing game approaches unique to each opposition. I have no updates on injuries but believe Callum Watson should return from suspension. I’ll be interested to see if Nick Mendonca makes a return to the starting lineup.
Eldin Jakupović, stand-in captain Farid Sar-Sar, and Nathan Koehler, all pick themselves at this stage. Jakupović and Sar-Sar have both played every minute this league campaign and are joint top of the league in minutes played (1350).
Other players to pick themselves are Milo Garvanian (2 goals, 2 assists, all competitions) and Tate Robertson (4 goals, league leading 7 assists) out wide. Garvanian made his milestone 50th appearance for the club against Cincinnati 2, and should he play on Saturday, Jesus Ibarra will join him.
After a blistering start, young winger Daniel Mangarov (5 goals, 2 assists) has had a quiet past few months and is due a game-changing performance soon. Nugent surprisingly started veteran Markus Naglestad up-front against Cincinnati, so I imagine he’ll return to one of Keegan Ancelin (3 goals, 2 assists) or Peter Plougmand (4 goals, 2 assists) this weekend. Keep an eye out to see if new loanee Turner makes an appearance.
My player to watch this weekend is Tate Robertson. I recently ranked him as their player of the season so far. The right-wing-back leads his side in key passes (35 - more than double the next best) and crosses (23 - also more than double the next best) and takes the majority of set pieces. As an attacking threat he’s key to this side. Four goals and a league leading seven assists are the result of 14 shot attempts, six on target (third most in the team).
Chicago
Chicago Fire FC II is coached by Mike Matkovich, who is in his first season as head coach of the club. They’re on an eight-game unbeaten run, and will come into Saturday’s match-up hugely confident.
Matkovich favors a 4-3-3 formation, which has served him well in the side’s unbeaten run. He’s also fairly consistent with starting lineups.
Chicago Fire II boasts several internationals, including Guyana international Omari Glasgow who lined out last week against Crown Legacy and could well play on Saturday, and El Salvador international Harold Osorio. A number of players, including Osorio, Glasgow, Diego Konnicks, Chase Gasper, and Jason Shokalook all have experience playing with the Chicago Fire senior team.
The team has four different players with four goals to their names: Jason Shokalook, Claudio Cassano, Jean Diouf and Trip Fleming.
My player to watch is dangerous Italian attacker Cassano. As well as his four goals, the AS Roma academy graduate has chipped in with six assists (second only to Tate Robertson), completed 43 key passes (second most in the league), and fired off 40 shots (third most in the league), this season. Sadly, he doesn’t appear to be related to legendary Italian forward and namesake Antonio.
Analysis and Predictions
Chattanooga, unbreakable at home, welcomes one of the league’s most in-form sides. I can see this one being a tied game, 1-1 and penalties.