The Chicago Fire and New England Revolution, currently the first two teams out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, will square off twice in the final six weeks of the regular season.
Their matchups could have a major effect on the playoff chase, beginning Saturday night when they meet in Bridgeview, Ill.
The Fire (11-10-6, 39 points) are 10th in the conference, just one point behind the New York Red Bulls with two games in hand. The Revolution (8-13-7, 31 points) have ground to make up on Chicago and New York, but a postseason push is hardly out of the question.
The Revs know exactly where they stand and the approach they need to take to avoid missing the playoffs for the third time in four years.
“Every training session, every week leading up to the game, we’ve focused solely on that game as if you would a playoff game,” midfielder Jackson Yueill said. “… (Chicago) is a team that is directly in front of us so I think it’s a little bit more of that, this is a 1-v-1 battle. This is an opportunity for us to gain on them significantly. It’s definitely got that playoff feel to it.”
Following a nine-match winless rut (0-7-2), the Revolution went 2-0-2 in August. New England fell 2-1 to Charlotte FC last week after yielding an 87th-minute goal.
“Last four games, we played very well overall. Got two wins, obviously two losses, but I felt like in the games where we lost we did enough to win,” Revs coach Caleb Porter said. “I think we’re playing our best soccer of the year right now.”
It makes a difference to have goalkeeper Matt Turner back in the fold. New England reacquired its former ‘keeper after he had a bumpy run in Europe, and he started every match in August.
Chicago coach Gregg Berhalter is plenty familiar with Turner from his days leading the U.S. men’s national team.
“Matt, at his best, is difficult to beat,” Berhalter said. “He comes up with big saves time and time again, covers a lot of the goal and can intimidate the strikers that shoot against him. I know him really well.”
The Fire haven’t played since Aug. 23, when they saw a five-match unbeaten streak end in a 4-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union.
Hugo Cuypers paces Chicago with 15 goals, including three in his last five matches. Carles Gil leads New England with nine but has scored just once since July 9.
The clubs will meet again Oct. 18 at New England for the season finale.
–Field Level Media
