Chicago Fire 2022 MLS Season Preview: Key Players and Prediction

When MLS was founded in 1993, very few people predicted success for the league and the argument was that soccer is a sport that is played in warmer areas, so no one would listen to this tournament. 

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29 years later, those critics have not only been silenced by the facts, but the argument that the sport is only played in warmer areas has become obsolete. 

Especially since Chicago can now be considered a "hot zone" due to the fire that burns in the city, which has taken the form of a club that, since 1997, has won nine titles in Major League Soccer. 

That club is the Chicago Fire Football Club, a team that has only won the MLS Cup once, and won it just 1 year after joining the league, so the glory is not unknown to them and for this MLS 2022 season, they are preparing to regain the limelight.

So it's time to review how the Men in Red are preparing so that in 2022 they can go for glory.

Chicago Fire FC transfer activity

Players in

F - Missael Rodriguez (10/12/21 - Homegrown)

M - Sergio Oregel (10/23/21 - Homegrown)

GK - Spencer Richey (12/20/21 - signed as free agent)

F - Victor Bezerra (12/22/21 - Homegrown)

D - Rafael Czichos (1/2/22 - signed from FC Köln)

F - Kacper Przybylko (1/22/22 - trade with Philadelphia Union)

M - Xherdan Shaqiri (2/9/22 - transfer from Lyon)

F - Jairo Torres (2/19/22 - transfer from Atlas)

Players out

F - Robert Berić (11/8/21 - option declined)

D - Francisco Calvo (11/8/21 - option declined)

D - Elliot Collier (11/8/21 - option declined)

GK - Kenneth Kronholm (11/8/21 - option declined)

M - Álvaro Medrán (11/8/21 - option declined)

D - Nick Slonina (11/8/21 - option declined)

M - Luka Stojanović (11/8/21 - option declined)

D - Johan Kappelhof (11/8/21 - contract expired)

GK - Bobby Shuttleworth (11/8/21 - contract expired)

F - Ignacio Aliseda (12/13/21 - transferred to to FC Lugano)

Chicago Fire FC Key Players

Xherdan Shaqiri

The "Messi of the Alps" has shaken up Major League Soccer with his arrival, bringing with him two UEFA Champions League titles, two European Super Cups, and two Club World Cups. 

He was also part of Bayern Munich and Liverpool, two true monsters of the European leagues, with whom he won everything. EVERYTHING. 

With him in the midfield, Chicago Fire FC will have someone who will help them score more and concede less, to improve the goal difference that placed them in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. 

Kacper Przybylko

Another great element that joins the Men in Red and who has the great responsibility of scoring many goals so that the team can aspire not only to have another Supporter's Shield but to their second MLS Cup. 

Przybylko has a German Bundesliga title with Cologne. Yes, of that Bundesliga in which real beasts like Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund play, but his achievements did not stay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

 Kacper Przybylko was a key player for the Philadelphia Union to win the Supporter's Shield in 2020 and for that team, the Polish-German scored 7 goals, an amount that he would surpass in 2021 scoring 12 goals. 

Gabriel Slonina

If anyone has the eyes of the world on him, it is Slonina, who in 2021 established himself in the second half of the year by making four clean sheets in 11 starts, which led him to earn his first call-up with the USMNT amid the World Cup Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In addition, this authentic wall has generated rumors of a possible transfer to European soccer that, as long as they remain just rumors, will not keep the Men in Red's fans awake at night.

But if his performance in MLS 2022 equals or exceeds that of 2021, the summer transfer window will likely see him leave for the Premier League, which is where the rumors have put him for months.

Chicago Fire FC season prediction

With the arrival of Ezra Hendrickson, an old MLS wolf of the sea, the team is hoping to not only perform better but aspire to win the MLS Cup, which may be reflected in the caliber of players that arrived in the winter transfer window.

And it's not just Shaqiri or Przybylko, but the arrival of more players, such as Mexican winger Jairo Torres, who just helped Liga MX side Atlas break a 70-year title drought. 

Or Federico Navarro, a 21-year-old talent from Argentina who is looking to follow in the footsteps of other MLS greats such as "Taty" Castellanos and Maxi Morales.

For this reason, 2022 could be the year in which the Chicago Fire FC regains that prominence that it had in 1998 and shows the world that they are here to win everything. 

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