Chicago Fire FC will host New York City FC on Saturday at Soldier Field, and the meeting arrives with both clubs under pressure for different reasons. Chicago is fourth in the Eastern Conference after a 3-1 win over Vancouver, while NYCFC comes in winless in regular-season play since September 2021 against the Fire.
The match is set for 1:30 PM CT and 2:30 PM ET and will stream on Apple TV. That timing matters because Chicago can tighten its grip on a home playoff position with another result, while NYCFC is trying to protect a wild-card spot. The Fire are one point behind Inter Miami and the New England Revolution, who are tied for second, and the top four in the Eastern Conference get a home playoff game.
Chicago has also not lost to Vancouver in a one-sided recent run that highlighted its attack. Jonathan Bamba scored in the 9th minute with a shot from the top of the box. Philip Zinckernagel added another early in the second half after a give-and-go with Maren Haile-Selassie, and Haile-Selassie scored in the 88th minute after a pass from Robert Lewandowski. Chicago finished with 21 shots to Vancouver's 14 and put 8 shots on target to 2, while Lewandowski now has six goals and three assists in 12 MLS appearances.
The harder side of this matchup is that Chicago has not solved NYCFC in the regular season for a long time. New York City FC has gone 10 straight regular-season matches without losing to the Fire, a run that includes seven wins and three draws, and the most recent meeting was a 3-1 NYCFC victory at Yankee Stadium on July 25. Chicago can point to its current form and its place in the standings, but the record between these teams still tilts toward NYCFC in a way that does not fit the urgency of the race.
NYCFC's own form gives Chicago reason to believe this is the right time to try to break through. Pascal Jansen's team is winless since a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake on September 12, then lost 1-0 to the Red Bulls and drew 2-2 with Atlanta United after leading twice and giving it away twice. One betting preview listed Matt Freese, Aiden O’Neill and Tayvon Gray as expected to miss, and Tomas Romero started in goal against Atlanta in Freese's place. Nicolas Fernandez Mercau still leads NYCFC with 15 goals and eight assists and takes the penalties, so if he is given room on the break, Chicago cannot afford the kind of lapses that led Berhalter to say afterward that the team was unhappy with how it conceded.
That is the edge in this matchup: Chicago arrives with the better standing and the sharper recent result, but NYCFC brings a 10-match regular-season hold over the Fire that has survived longer than any one streak should. If the Fire are going to turn a push for the top four into a home playoff game, they have to do more than outshoot an opponent; they have to finally play through a matchup history that has kept getting in the way.
