Dean Smith marks milestone but eyes bigger prize

Dean Smith toasted a personal landmark at the weekend but wasted little time turning his attention to the next job. The Charlotte FC boss recorded his 50th win in all competitions at the helm last time out against D.C. United, and he will be chasing win number 51 when the Chicago Fire visit Bank of America Stadium.

Smith replaced Christian Lattanzio in December 2023 and has since taken charge of 112 matches, with results improving year-on-year. Charlotte have climbed from fifth to fourth in the Eastern Conference under his watch and currently sit fourth again this season. Ashley Westwood and Allan Saint-Maximin were on target in that 2-1 victory over D.C., sealing the milestone result on home soil.

Asked about the achievement, Smith was measured, insisting the collective matters far more than the individual.

"[I'm] just pleased," Smith said. "I mean, it's 50 wins in 112 games. It's a good record, but we just want to keep winning them.

"It's not about my records, it's about the club. Every win, you probably don't enjoy them as much as you should because you're always thinking about the next game.

"So, hopefully we can get to the end of the season, and I'm enjoying the win for a special reason. I think we're getting there. The building blocks have been there.

"The ideology, everybody knows what is expected of them, so I think that's the easy part. The hardest part is always recruiting good people and good players."

The one blot on Smith's tenure remains the playoffs: Charlotte have exited at the first round in each of his campaigns. The club are determined to change that by the end of the 2026 season.

Chicago arrive wounded and shorthanded

The Fire trail Charlotte by just four points heading into the weekend but arrive off the back of a 3-0 humbling at the hands of Eastern Conference leaders Nashville SC. Sam Surridge opened the scoring in the 33rd minute before second-half strikes from Cristian Espinoza and Hany Mukhtar wrapped up a comfortable win for the visitors.

Chicago managed an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.91 from nine shots, only one of which found the target. Head coach Gregg Berhalter refused to hide behind misfortune, conceding his side were simply outclassed.

"I don't look at it as if the result was unfortunate for us. We just lost to a better team. It's really simple," Berhalter said. "I think the most important lesson from this evening is that Nashville are a benchmark for us. This is a team that we want to reach and with which we want to be able to compete.

"At the beginning, we were a little too conservative. We held on, then we lost a goal. We got back into the game, but then we lost another one.

"For us, the conclusion is that as a team, we have to improve."

Berhalter's task is complicated further by an extended international break that has stripped his squad of key personnel. Noah Allen, Chris Brady, Anzor Mekvabishvili, Puso Dithejane, Robert Lewandowski and Robin Lod have all joined up with their respective national teams, leaving the Fire thin for the trip to North Carolina.

Players to watch

Charlotte FC – Allan Saint-Maximin: Since his debut for the club, only Cavan Sullivan (30), Kristoffer Velde (25) and Guilherme (23) have completed more dribbles in MLS than the former Newcastle United star's 22. Saint-Maximin has chipped in with five assists and a single goal in that time and will be keen to make another decisive contribution.

Chicago Fire – Maren Haile-Selassie: The forward leads the Fire's active roster with eight goals this season, five of them on the road, including four in his last four away matches.

Form and prediction

Chicago took the first meeting of the season 2-1 back in August, their third straight win in the series after five consecutive defeats in the fixture entering last year. But the Fire were shut out for only the second time this regular season at Nashville, ending a 21-game scoring run that stretched back to March 7 against the Columbus Crew.

Charlotte, by contrast, have built the two longest regular-season unbeaten runs in club history from July onward — a 10-game streak in 2025 and a current eight-match sequence. Over the past two seasons the Crown have averaged 2.24 points per match from July to October, against 1.31 between March and June.

Opta's win probability favours the home side: Charlotte FC 44.9%, Draw 23.4%, Chicago Fire 31.7%.