Atlanta United, unbeaten in seven games with six wins, will play at Chicago on Saturday in Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.
The Five Stripes (6-1-1) are coming off a 4-1 win against Montreal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that featured two goals from Miguel Almiron and two goals on free kicks by Kevin Kratz.
Chicago fought back from a two-goal deficit to tie Toronto at BMO Field.
Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio), one of the best soccer reporters in the business, answered three questions about Saturday’s game.
Q. How important to the season was Chicago's rally to tie Toronto last week?
A. I think in general the entire road trip – both in New York and Toronto – was absolutely crucial to the Fire's season. This is a team that was really struggling, and to go on the road and get two good results against two very good teams, both within your conference, keeps you right in the thick of things and creates a different type of confidence around the club. At the very least we are seeing that this team can stay competitive and make things difficult until the summer window when reinforcements are expected.
Q. Why has Chicago struggled on offense this season and what is the key to turning that around?
A. Well, I think there are a number of problems here. They lost something when they traded away David Accam. What that did to this team was it eliminated any sort of vertical threat and that allows teams to defend them differently. Nemanja Nikolic is a box striker, but teams are able to play a higher line of defense now because they don't need to worry about Accam running in behind. That's made it more difficult for the Fire to attack teams and to get Nikolic in the most dangerous spaces. That being said, they've been able to find ways to create goals through crosses and individual effort from guys like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Aleksandar Katai. They aren't an offensive juggernaut, but they can score goals. The biggest problem early in the season was the inability to defend. They fixed that by moving Schweinsteiger into the backline. It was sacrificing the ability to get more of the game in order to stay in games, but I think eventually you'll see him push back into midfield – as he did against Toronto – once they find some trust in the back line.
Q. What is the key matchup and how do you see that going?
A. I think the key matchup absolutely is the Fire backline against that attacking trio of (Miguel) Almiron, Ezequiel Barco and Josef Martinez. This is an incredibly difficult team to defend, and especially so if you don't have enough pace. With a rookie center back like Grant Lillard and a rotating cast of right wing backs that have played, staying organized and limiting opportunities matters more in this Fire game than anything else. It's tough for the Fire to sit deep and transition, they don't have the pace, but they'll have to find a way to defend and stay compact and then create goals without committing too much going forward.
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