The Chicago Fire (6-12-5, 23 points) welcome the visiting Colorado Rapids (5-9-9, 24 points) to Toyota Park Saturday in a match presented by Crush for this season’s lone meeting between the two clubs, both of which are looking to begin late-season moves up their respective conference tables.
Television coverage begins with the CSN Chicago Pregame Show at 7 p.m. CT followed by kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Fire vs. Colorado Rapids
A scoreless draw last June in Commerce City brought the all-time ledger between the two teams to 18-12-9 in favor of Chicago. The Fire have enjoyed most of their historical success against the Rapids on their home field, with 15 of their 18 all-time wins in the series coming in Chicago. The Rapids’ most recent visit to Toyota Park ended in a 2-1 victory for the home side, with Mike Magee and Austin Berry each scoring for the Fire back on June 19, 2013, as Colorado dropped to 0-5-2 all-time in Bridgeview.
Striker Kennedy Igboananike, coming off his two-goal and one-assist performance Sunday in Philadelphia, didn't need to expound on his plans to help the Fire continue that trend other than to say Thursday that three points is the only option.
“We just need to win," he said. "Winning is the most important thing in the game. We don’t need to tie or lose again.”
With both sides desparate to make a push toward postseason play, Fire head coach Frank Yallop won’t overlook this match, mainly because he realizes how Colorado must be feeling at this point in the season.
“They’ve got talented players that can play well,” Yallop said. “I bet they’ve got their stories of why they didn’t pick up as many points as they should, like every team down there seems to have. You never hear about the teams that fluke games and win. They’re at the top, [and] they go, ‘Oh, we knew it was going to happen because we’re good.’ It can go the other way as well. Colorado are a good side.”
Pablo Mastroeni’s team has had its share of painful losses this season. In that sense, there’s a bit of mutual understanding. But once these two sides step out onto the Toyota Park field, they’ll be ready to battle.
The Fire know they’ll have to attack with a similar fervor to the performance that saw them score three goals at Philadelphia. The challenge will be staying strong at the back, as the Rapids are near the top of MLS in shots per game, at 13.4.
“They’re dangerous going forward,” Yallop said of Colorado. “We’ve just got to make sure tactically, we’ve got a bit of a plan. We’re going to get at them as long as David [Accam] is nice and healthy. He’ll be a big factor in the game, we hope. It’s always a hard game, but we’re at home, and we’ve played pretty well at home lately. Haven’t we?”
Yes, that’s correct. The Fire are 4-1-1 in their last six home matches across all competitions. On the other hand, the Rapids have lost four of their last five road matches.
But there’s no need to overthink it. Any team can win on any day at any venue in MLS. Three points could bring the Fire closer to an Eastern Conference playoff spot that has seemed improbable.
Still, like Igboananike said, “We just need to win.”
