After snapping losing skid, Fire look to keep rolling
Last Saturday's victory at Montreal did more for the Chicago Fire than improve its playoff standing. It also relieved some of the pressure building on the team.
After ending a skid of six losses in seven games and four straight defeats, maybe the Fire could get back to normal this week?
"It's never normal," Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said jokingly before turning more serious. "It's always chasing that next level. To keep going and always to improve. But definitely the wins like at Montreal help us and give the team the right boost in order to prepare for the next two home games that we have."
The Fire (13-9-5, 44 points) can put its July-August skid in the past with another win Saturday at Toyota Park against the New York Red Bulls (3 p.m., UniMas). The Fire has seven games left in the regular season.
"This week has been really good because we won, everyone is happy and everyone has confidence to go again," Ghanaian forward David Accam said, a sentiment his coach echoed.
It seemed like a rough several weeks did have an effect. The Fire coaches and players might not all agree, but they seemed to be tense and playing not to lose. Their midseason joy was missing.
"I don't think relax but it kind of pushed our motivation to kind of remember the team we were in the past," Argentine forward Luis Solignac said of the fun the Fire had in May and June during an 11-game unbeaten streak. " ... Instead of relaxing we remembered that and we want to push harder and harder and be that team again."
Of course it is possible to push too hard, something the Fire recognizes.
"If you come depressed to training you're not going to perform," Solignac said. "As in life, if you're not happy or whatever, you're not the same during the day. It's the same in football as well."
The Fire is in third place in the Eastern Conference, with the top six teams in each conference earning a playoff berth.
If the Fire can't catch New York City FC (14-7-5, 47 points) for second place and avoid a play-in game, it would at least like to place third or fourth and get that play-in game at home. The Fire is 10-2-1 in home games this season.
That's another reason Saturday's match against the fifth-place Red Bulls (12-10-4, 40 points) is so important.
Injury update:
Superstar midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger missed training Wednesday with a calf contusion suffered Saturday at Montreal.
"He's doing treatments. We are evaluating him on a daily basis. Hopefully, he can be ready for the game. It's not impossible, but we still have to be careful and re-evaluate on a daily basis," Paunovic said.
Naperville native Patrick Doody also missed training with an injury suffered at Montreal, but with regular left back Brandon Vincent back from a quad injury after missing seven games, Doody wasn't likely to play this week anyway.
Accam trained Wednesday but said he was uncertain for the Red Bulls because of a lingering ankle injury.
"It's still swollen," he said. "I'm trying to ease into training now, so we'll see what happens."
Center back Joao Meira ran on the side during training. Paunovic said his knee injury will be tested Friday.
Midfielder Dax McCarty is expected back at training Thursday after joining the U.S. national team for two World Cup qualifiers. He did not play in either.