National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Austin or Chicago Fire that keep their silverware dream alive.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Austin form and stats
Austin participated in US Open Cup the last season, where they reached the 3rd round.Austin's previous game was also played at home, ending 1-0 versus Toronto. The home side are looking to build on that result. Austin enjoyed their 1-0 win against Toronto and the result could have been even better, as they hit the posts three times. Defender Ring got the top score of the team in the match with a rating of 7.62/10. Ring hit one key pass and won 2 of 4 duels.
A strong away win before that one, visiting Seattle Sounders and winning 2-1.The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Austin have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 17 games) they have won 7 times, drawn 6 and lost 4.
There's a new game coming up fairly quickly for Austin as they are travelling to their away game against Houston Dynamo in the Major League Soccer. That match is three days after this one.
Chicago Fire form and stats
Chicago Fire's mission in US Open Cup last season failed in the 3rd round.Playing away, Chicago Fire have won 1 game, drawn 0 and suffered 4 defeats in the Major League Soccer this season.
Chicago's last game was the home draw against Atlanta United (3-3). As you can tell from the result, the match against Atlanta United was as crazy as a clown in a village circus. Great fun for the neutral supporter with 6 goals, will the fun continue today? The draw against Atlanta United came from a losing position. The Chicago Fire manager Klopas brought on Koutsias as a substitute and the player scored to make the scores level. Midfield player Haile-Selassie was the top player of the team with a match rating of 8.33/10. Haile-Selassie scored one goal, served one assist, hit five key passes, dribled past the opponent 1 of 1 times and had 28 successful passes (of 30 total).
It was a Major League Soccer defeat before that one as the away game against Charlotte wasn't a success with a 1-2 loss.We have checked recent matches where Chicago Fire have had similar odds to win. Win-draw-lose statistics from those 13 games were 2 victories, 1 draw and 10 defeats.
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Chicago Fire manager Klopas as the team has another away game coming up in only three days, this time against New England.
It's early days yet, but Chicago Fire has scored 5 and conceded 10 goals from their travels in the league so far (5 games).
Head 2 Head
Top Goalscorers
  J. Gallagher 4 goals |   K. Kamara 4 goals |  K. Przybyłko 3 goals |
Austin missing players
Chicago Fire missing players
| Austin | Chicago Fire | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 15 | Played | P | 10 | 25 | ||
| 7 | 5 | Won | W | 4 | 9 | ||
| 9 | 8 | Drew | D | 0 | 9 | ||
| 9 | 2 | Lost | L | 6 | 7 | ||
| 28 | 20 | Scored | S | 18 | 46 | ||
| 37 | 15 | Conceded | C | 18 | 37 | ||
| 96% | 93% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 92% | ||
| 84% | 73% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 90% | 84% | ||
| 48% | 33% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 90% | 72% | ||
| 24% | 27% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 40% | 40% | ||
| 8% | 7% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 40% | 32% | ||
| 52% | 60% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 60% | ||
| 20% | 33% | Clean Sheets | C S | 20% | 28% | ||
| 32% | 13% | Failed to Score | F T | 30% | 20% | ||
| 5.1 | 6.2 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 2.3 | 4 | ||
| 5.2 | 4.2 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4.9 | 4.1 | ||
| 1.5 | 1.1 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.9 | 2.3 | ||
| 1 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 3 | ||
| 12.6 | 14.5 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 8 | 10.2 | ||
| 4 | 4.7 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 2.9 | 3.3 | ||
| 27% | 29% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 50% | 51% | ||
| 11.9 | 10 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.7 | 10.8 | ||
| 4.2 | 3.1 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4 | 4.1 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Cincinnati | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 30 |
| 2 | Nashville SC | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 25 |
| 3 | New England | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 24 |
| 4 | Atlanta United | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 28 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 17 | 4 | 22 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Union | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 21 |
| 6 | DC United | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 19 |
| 7 | Orlando City | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 19 |
| 8 | Columbus Crew | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 18 |
| 9 | Charlotte | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 13 | -6 | 18 |
| 10 | New York City | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 11 | -1 | 16 |
| 11 | New York RB | 14 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | -2 | 16 |
| 12 | Chicago Fire | 13 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 18 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -3 | 15 |
| 13 | Inter Miami | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 8 | -3 | 15 |
| 14 | Montreal Impact | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 19 | -10 | 15 |
| 15 | Toronto | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -5 | 13 |
