Chicago Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter said he was not going to distract top scorer Hugo Cuypers from his fine start to the season ahead of facing Charlotte FC. 

Cuypers has started the campaign with eight goals in 12 appearances for the Fire, including netting the opening goal from the penalty spot in their last win over Atlanta United. 

Berhalter's team sit 11th in the Eastern Conference, with only four teams in the division scoring more goals than the Fire's 20 from their first 12 games of the season. 

And the Fire head coach insisted he would not interfere with Cuypers' run of form, revealing he has had very few conversations with the striker since the start of the campaign. 

"I haven't talked to him for the last two weeks. Not about his form, what do I need to say to him?", Berhalter said. 

"He's doing a great job and he's working hard. We do some training after training with some individual work, but I don't think there is much that needs to be said.

"He's a guy in form and we want to continue that on. We show him videos and we work with him, but no deep conversations with Hugo. We're letting it ride."

For Charlotte, meanwhile, they will be looking to respond from their 3-1 defeat to Orlando City SC last time out, a result that leaves them seventh in the Eastern Conference. 

Luis Muriel and Martin Ojeda had put Orlando two goals in front inside 24 minutes before Wilfried Zaha reduced the deficit 11 minutes before the break. 

But Orlando's Ramiro Enrique emerged from the bench to seal the win for the Lions late on, in a game head coach Dean Smith believed was self-inflicted. 

"That's the disappointing part. The preventable goals all seem to have come in a spell," Smith said. "You don't often see Kristijan Kahlina beaten from distance. 

"He held his hand up at half-time for that goal, and we got caught out for the second, although it was a great finish, and then we got caught out for the third as well. 

"We changed it and wanted to play something different and for large parts of the game we did well. We played them three times last season and never looked like winning. 

"I felt we were better against Orlando, but we were on the end of another defeat purely down to the goals that we gave away."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Charlotte – Wilfried Zaha

Zaha's strike against Orlando last time out was his fourth since joining Charlotte, with his overall performance perhaps meriting more than a defeat. 

Indeed, the former Crystal Palace forward ended that game with team-high totals for touches in the opposition box (four) and duels won (six). 

Chicago Fire – Hugo Cuypers

Cuypers scored his eighth goal of the season in Chicago's 2-1 win over Atlanta United on Saturday.

He is the second Fire player in the last 20 years to score eight or more goals in the team's first 12 matches of a season, after Nemanja Nikolic, who netted 10 in 2017.

MATCH PREDICTION: CHARLOTTE WIN

Charlotte have won five straight matches against the Fire after losing the first-ever meeting between the sides. This is their longest winning streak against a single opponent in regular-season play.

However, the Crown's eight-match regular-season home winning streak ended in their last home match, a 1-0 loss to New England on April 26. Charlotte have not dropped consecutive home matches since losing their first two home games of the 2023 season.

After a 7-2 defeat to Nashville SC on April 26, Chicago have allowed only one goal in their last two matches (W1 D1). The Fire have conceded 16 goals in four defeats this season but have allowed just seven goals in their other eight matches (W4 D4).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Charlotte – 62.1%

Draw – 20%

Chicago Fire – 17.8%