Chicago Fire FC looks for a first in five years on Saturday

CHICAGO – If there was a time for the club to find its form, now was it.

After dropping a 2-0 lead against Columbus at home in a 3-2 loss on July 9th, Chicago Fire FC came through with six needed points in victories over Toronto FC and Seattle.

It keeps hope alive for a possible playoff spot, though work still needs to be done, and gives the club a chance to do something they haven’t in five years on Saturday.

When the club faces Vancouver at 9 PM in a match you can watch on WGN-TV, Channel 9, they have the opportunity to pick up three-straight MLS victories. That hasn’t happened since the 2017 season when the Fire was able to pull off a pair of four-match winning streaks.

The last of those was from June 10th through July 1st of that year, which propelled the club to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. While they couldn’t keep up that pace, the Fire was able to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs, which remains their last postseason appearance.

It’s put the club within four points of the last playoff spot, but it’s a crowded race for seventh place with four other teams ahead of them chasing FC Cincinnati. To be in that conversation might have seemed unlikely after a loss to Columbus two weeks ago, but a quick turnaround has raised the spirits.

“I think you can see that right away we recovered from that game, and against Toronto we played a good game and we did the same thing against Seattle,” said midfielder Federico Navarro. “So I think we are doing well for the games that are coming up.”

With the chance to pull off something the club hasn’t done in a half-decade.