Well, the Fire (and much of MLS) have a "bye" week this week, so there is no chance of losing and dropping points. This kind of sucks, as I don't have any conflicts tomorrow. The Fire cannot fall at all in the Eastern standings, regardless of what happens, but the two MLS games could pretty much doom our incredibly tenuous playoffs "hopes." NYCFC and Cincinnati could assist our slim chances of making the playoffs by beating New England and Toronto, respectively, thus keeping the Fire within striking distance. If New England wins, they would be 12 points ahead of the Fire, but New England have 5 games remaining. So, if NE wins, the Fire would have to win out and NE would have lose every game for the Fire to "tie" them (the Fire would be in, as they would have more wins and have a better goal difference). If Toronto wins, they would be 11 points ahead of the Fire, but Toronto would have 5 games remaining. So, if NE and Toronto win, we can pretty much (but not completely) kiss our changes for the play-offs good bye. In other US soccer news: The USMNT plays Mexico tonight, but no Fire players are on the team. Almost "soon-to-be-former" Fire player Chicharito is starting up top for Mexico. They are saying not to use the P*to chant. Yeah, that'll work. Well, in English, it was just "racism is bad, mmmm'kay?" or something like that. Zach Steffen was not very convincing reading the statement. Chicago Fire's own Calvo plays for Costa Rica v. Uruguay tonight. Chicago's third place Red Stars play Portland on Sunday at 5:00.
If both Toronto and New England win, our elimination number will be lowered to 5 and the Red Stars are playing Houston Dash @ SeatGeek Stadium @ 5:00pm. Oh it's on TV, NBC Sports Chicago.
A match that is as typical an MLS match as there could be without the crapshootout. Silviu Petrescu already had a career match after 22 minutes.