The Chicago Fire travel to Atlanta with four games to go and a playoff spot secure but with a tough battle for positioning if they want home field advantage in against their first round opponent. The team is a single point ahead of Charlotte and just two ahead of the hard-charging Philadelphia Union.
That makes three points in the team's second-last away game of the season essential, and, as MLS lead host (and former Fire broadcaster) Kevin Egan pointed out on The Bonfire, the Fire likely won't have a easier chance at a win for the rest of the year: Atlanta United are currently 14th in the East, and while the team isn't yet technically eliminated, nothing but an utter collapse from the teams above them – combined with a miracle by Atlanta – will see them into postseason.
When the Fire last met Atlanta, it was early in the year, and the fanbase still hoped with Tata Martino's return as head coach, the winning form of his Atlanta teams last decade would come back with him.
It was not to be: Even after spending a reported $18 million to bring forward Breel Embolo to the team in the summer transfer window, Atlanta's attack remains disjointed and the production anemic: Despite the profligate spending on their attack, bringing in Embolo just over a year after spending a combined $34 million to bring Emmanuel Latte Lath (now a failed signing, sent away on loan) to the team and Miguel Almirón back, Atlanta have just 37 goals on the year. That's only one more than Sporting KC and CF Montréal for the league's fewest.
Particularly with this game kicking off a three-game week, that makes it a tempting game for Gregg Berhalter to rotate his squad, especially considering the uncertainty around how to get the most of the roster build even as the regular season winds down.
Some departure from the normal XI is inevitable: Jack Elliott, normally the team's captain and a set-in-stone starter, is serving the second of a two game suspension, paving the way for Andreas Hanche-Olsen's second consecutive MLS start, but the question is how much departure from the norm we may see in a game that feels like a very winnable must-win match for the Fire.
The Fire should have full confidence that they'll be able to walk away with three points, but margins in MLS are thin, and underestimating opponents is exactly how trap games happen.
