Fire can clinch home playoff game vs. Union (Oct 15, 2017)
The Chicago Fire can wrap up a guaranteed home playoff game if results go right on Sunday, beginning with their game against the visiting Philadelphia Union at Bridgeview, Ill.
A win against Philadelphia, combined with Columbus drawing or losing at Orlando on Sunday, would guarantee that Chicago (15-10-7, 52 points) finishes no worse than its current fourth-place position in the Eastern Conference.
A jump as high as second place and a first-round bye remains possible but unlikely, with two matches left in the regular season and four points to make up on New York City FC. However, third or fourth would guarantee the Fire the right to host a knockout round contest rather than travel for a winner-takes-all encounter.
For much of the season, it looked like the Fire were more likely to take first or second in the East. But following a 17-day break for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a 1-6-0 stretch made that far less likely.
Sunday's match marks the end of another 15-day layoff for Chicago, which knows it must avoid a similar outcome.
"This is a very challenging moment for us because we know from the past ... we didn't come back well," coach Veljko Paunovic told the Chicago Tribune. "I think we did a better job (this time). ... We had a different approach, an appropriate approach for this short two-week stretch and then the playoffs, the most important part of the season."
Paunovic at least knows the Fire will be back in the postseason for the first time since 2012.
The same can't be said for Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin, whose team was one of four eliminated from playoff contention when the New York Red Bulls clinched the sixth and final conference spot last weekend.
But the Union (10-13-9, 39 points) may be playing in part to preserve Curtin's job, after he helped them snap a previous four-year playoff drought last season.
In American Alejandro Bedoya and Bosnian Haris Medunjanin, they have two midfielders who may be eager to take out their frustrations from the recent international break.
Both the United States and Bosnia saw their 2018 FIFA World Cup aspirations ended during that respite.
"We let our country down, we let our teammates down, we let our fans down, we let our families down and we let ourselves down, you know?" Bedoya told the Philadelphia Inquirer, afer being an unused sub in the Team USA's 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday. "I just didn't feel the proper energy out on the field."
