The Chicago Fire are back at home, returning to Soldier Field this Saturday for the first time since July as they host New York City FC. The game has potentially massive playoff implications for both teams. The Fire are two points behind New York who are currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand.

That makes the game a true “six-pointer,” as the Fire are part of what has essentially become a three-way battle with the two New York teams for the final three postseason spots in the East, with the Columbus Crew looking to regain form and avoid falling into the fray.

The math is complicated – but despite New York City’s game in hand, the opponents that NYCFC faces (and the fact that both teams can’t walk away with three points) means that the Fire still control their destiny for eighth place, which would not only return to the postseason, but grant at least one game in front of a home crowd – if they win this game.

The importance of the matchup should be enough to fuel a playoff-like atmosphere, but there’s added fuel to the fire: When these teams last met in May, the game became a heated affair with both teams having reason for anger – but the one from New York walking away with the victory.

The Fire will come into this one looking for their revenge – but more importantly, for the three points that the win will provide, pushing the Fire into eighth place at the expense of a rival.

Series History

All time: 3W-8D-12LLast match: May 25, 2025: New York City 3-1 Chicago Fire FC Last home match: July 13, 2024: Chicago Fire 0-0 New York City FC at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.

What to Expect

New York City FC

Coming into the season, the line around New York City was that the team had a solid core, propelled in part by a number of products from the academy, but was missing one to two high-end pieces. Not that the team lacked them – and Alonso Martínez has 14 goals on the season, just two fewer than the Fire’s Hugo Cuypers – but that an overall decent corps didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle to push themselves into the league’s top teams.

That’s largely proven true throughout the season, as new Head Coach Pascal Jensen has used his squad to play a possession-heavy brand of football, controlling the midfield in no small part off of the play of 38-year-old Maxi Moralez – somehow, the club legend having proven irreplaceable since joining the team in 2017.

Not that they haven’t tried to replace him – but none of the replacements have really performed as needed, and the squad suffered during the time that he was at Racing Club in his native Argentina. While not a direct one-for-one replacement, the team’s big summer addition, Designated Player Nicolás Fernández, has been playing in the midfield alongside the typically deeper-lying Moralez or as a winger.

He’s played well so far, but in New York’s results have been similar: All six of their games have ended with one goal or less (in the case of their draw against Sporting Kansas City) between the two teams. They’ve been on the winning end of most of those, but impressive wins in mid August over Nashville and FC Cincinnati were capped off by a 2-1 loss at home against D.C. United, at the time, the only team in the league mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.

New York is a team that’s been defensively stout giving up the 3rd fewest goals in the league – but still prone to giving up goals off silly mistakes, as cost them the eventual winner against D.C.

Chicago Fire

Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter is aware of the situation the team is in – in a playoff spot, but needing results down the stretch to stay there. To motivate his squad, he told reporters on Thursday, “right before you go into the Arthur Ashe arena that says, "Pressure is a privilege. I told that to the team last week, and basically that's what we've worked for. We've worked to get into this position to play games like this, and this is the best time of year.  When you are playing in November, you're doing something right, and that's what we're trying to do.” The quote is by Billie Jean King, the former world no. 1 in tennis and an athlete who revolutionized her sport.

It’s always a question how much messages from leaders – whether coaches or bosses, teachers, or mentors – actually penetrate. In this case, however, it’s clear that the message has been getting through – about five minutes before, with Berhalter elsewhere, Chris Brady used the same quote to media, saying in response to a question about the demands of the stretch run, “I love it. Pressure is a privilege, and I'm just happy I'm able to experience this with my team.”

There may be a point where the Fire are facing elimination if they do not win – a situation, oddly, that they want to be in, since those November games that Berhalter referenced are single-elimination – or before, facing elimination from postseason contention. Outside of that, however, this matchup, a six-point game against a team where the Fire will feel ill-treated by the result of the reverse fixture in May – is as high pressure as it is likely to get.

Reinforcements, however, are arriving, with Berhalter confirming that both Joel Waterman and Leonardo Barroso have returned from international call-ups in Europe healthy and ready to play on Saturday.

Against a team with one of the best defenses in the league, I would expect Berhalter to stick to the team's guns – trust that integrating Waterman can help raise the team's floor defensively, but most importantly, trust that the team's offense – one of the most potent in the league – can overcome the Pigeons' defense.

Projected Starting XI

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Saturday, September 13, 2025, 7:30 PM CTForecast: Cloudy with temps in the upper 70s at kickoffLocation: Soldier Field, Chicago, ILTV: Apple TV – MLS Season PassRadio: wlsam.com (English), Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).