Riding an emotional high from a stirring 1-0 midweek win in the U.S. Open Cup at Atlanta, the Fire are back to the grind in the MLS regular season this weekend.
Level on points with Orlando City SC for the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference, Chicago (5-7-4, 19 points) is in the midst of a stretch that sees them play three road games against Western Conference foes in a span of four outings. For this week, that means venturing to Seattle's CenturyLink Field to take on a Sounders squad eager to begin a climb up the table and restore their place among the best in the West.
The two clubs will stage their 13th all-time MLS regular season meeting Saturday (June 23) at 9 PM CT, with the game airing live on ESPN+.
A year ago, it was a decisive 4-1 home win for the Fire against the Sounders that vaulted Chicago in a run of eight wins in nine MLS games, and a performance which Veljko Paunovic would love to see replicated ahead of next Saturday's home showdown with New York City FC. Doing so would mean recording Chicago's first-ever MLS road win vs. Seattle; the Fire have fallen short in their last four trips to the Emerald City after earning a point in their initial road fixture in the series back in 2009.
After their 2016 MLS Cup championship and a return to the league's biggest stage last December, Brian Schmetzer's Sounders team has struggled in the attacking third all season, registering a league-low 10 goals in 13 games -- six fewer than the next-lowest total in MLS. With their Open Cup hopes having been dashed in the Fourth Round, the Sounders enter Saturday night considerably more well-rested than the cross-country-traveling Men In Red, having last played on June 13 in a 2-1 road loss to the New York Red Bulls. The lone Rave Green goal scored that night came courtesy of former Fire Homegrown Harry Shipp, his first strike in 5 appearances this season for the club he joined from Montreal at the start of the 2017 campaign.
Although they'll be facing a sluggish Sounders attack, Paunovic heads to Seattle without the services of uber-consistent centerback Johan Kappelhof, who is due to miss consecutive MLS matches due to yellow card accumulation and a red card received last week at Colorado. How Paunovic opts to combine the likes of Jonathan Campbell, Kevin Ellis, Grant Lillard or even Brandon Vincent in the center of his defensive unit will be an area to keep an eye on come Saturday night.
Nevertheless, the Fire proved themselves capable Wednesday night of picking up a result in a hostile road environment, a fact that's not to be overlooked for a swing through CenturyLink Field.
“This win gives you confidence in [the U.S. Open Cup]," Paunovic said after Wednesday's cup win in Atlanta, "but it propels us to any other competition, which for us is very important in MLS. In the MLS regular season, we want to get to the playoffs. I think the confidence is the most important thing, and the best thing to get the confidence is to win every time you have the opportunity. I think that is going to help us even to prepare for the next game, which is our most important game, Seattle."
