Make It There: Chicago Fire at New York City FC Match 26 Preview

The Fire are back in action following a three-week break after their early exit from the Leagues Cup, on the road to face New York City FC.

Both sides have plenty to play for, even if the stakes are different: New York City is comfortably in a playoff spot but hopes that a late-season push can give them home field advantage in the early rounds, while the Fire are fighting to make it to the postseason for the first time since 2017.

Series History

All time: 3W-7D-11LLast Match: July 13: Fire 0-0 New York City at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.Last Away Match: October 21, 2023: New York City FC 1-0 Fire at  Citi Field, Queens, NY.

Recent Form

New York City

New York City FC made it as far as the Leagues Cup quarterfinals before bowing out last Saturday against the Columbus Crew, who are now playing for the trophy on Sunday. The run was somewhat unexpected after the Pigeons results results of late: They were winless in their last four games in the MLS Regular Season (0W-3D-1L), including the 0-0 draw against the Fire on July 13, and narrowly achieved an exit in the Leagues Cup group stage after going winless (and advancing because of PKs). They beat the New England Revolution and Liga MX giants Tigres before losing to the Crew on penalty kicks.

Fire

The Fire made a quiet exit from the Leagues Cup after falling in both their group stage matches against Toluca and Sporting KC, and thereby giving the team more than three weeks off between matches. In MLS Regular season – for those of us struggling to remember that far back – the Fire fell 2-1 against Inter Miami in Ft. Lauderdale on July 20th after beating FC Cincinnati 1-0 in Ohio a few days prior.

The Storyline

On the Fire’s last trip to New York City FC, they knew that a win – their first ever road win against the Pigeons – would likely (though not certainly) send them into the playoffs for the first time since 2017. They didn’t get it, and just like that, the Fire’s season indeed that day at Citi Field. They return for their second-ever match to Citi Field knowing that although a win won’t put the team in a postseason spot, it will put them within striking distance, regardless of results elsewhere.

WIth nine matches to go, the team still has a lot to play for, but they’ll have to put together a string of results that we haven’t seen from them so far this season. That starts in New York, against a team that looks considerably improved from the squad that missed the playoffs last year.

A push from 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings into the postseason will entail getting wins in unlikely places, and this match certainly falls in that category: the Fire have never won away at NYCFC. If they can change that, they’ll put themselves on a firmer trajectory to change the course of the season.

New York City FC Players to Watch

Santiago Rodríguez: One of the holdovers from NYCFC’s 2021 MLS Cup-winning squad, he, like much of the rest of the team, had a disappointing 2023 but has improved this year. With nine games to go, he’s already eclipsed totals for both goals and goal contributions (8G, 8A this year, vs 5G, 8A last year), and has generally looked more dangerous as he helps to orchestrate the Pigeons attack.

Alonso Martínez: Martínez was brought in just over a year ago from Lommel SK in Belgium but failed to make an impact in 2023, playing just 30 minutes down the stretch. He’s changed that in 2024, with eight goals to his credit in just 855 minutes in MLS regular season play, tying him for the team lead with Rodríguez, and scoring the fastest goal in team history in their most recent match against Columbus, dispossessing Columbus’s Rudy Camacho of the ball and putting it in the back of the just 14 seconds after kickoff.

Fire Keys to Victory

• Game ready: NYCFC played last week but it’s been more than three weeks since the Fire last played a match against anyone other than a teammate. There will be rust, but the sooner it wears off, the better. If the Fire get their game legs under them before NYCFC shift gears mentally from playing knockout, elimination football to a MLS regular season game, they’ll win.
• Activate Cuypers: As Fire fans saw last year, Citi Field is far, far smaller than a FIFA recommended pitch size.  The field is both shorter and much narrower than a normal football pitch and, of course, you’re dealing with patches of turf put over a baseball field, including a freshly-removed pitcher’s mound in some cases. Building out in those conditions can be a fool’s errand. Last year, the FIre didn’t have a goal-dangerous threat with anything near the venom that Cuypers has. Get it to Cuypers – balls over the top, quick passes while the striker lies in waiting – and the Fire can find success.

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

NYCFC will have some tired legs from Leagues Cup, but still have more quality overall.

Prediction: NYCFC 1-1 Fire

Jiggly Carollo

Prediction: NYCFC 2-1 Fire

Tim Hotze

It’s about time the Fire win one in New York.

Prediction: NYCFC 2-1 Fire

Matt Shabelman

Prediction: NYCFC 2-1 Fire

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, August 24, 2024, 6:30 PM CTLocation: Citi Field, Queens, NYForecast: 77’F expected at kickoff, winds at 8 mph, 27% cloud cover no chance of precipitationTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass