Currently in their best form since winning the title in 2020, the Columbus Crew have a chance to stretch their unbeaten run to six matches when they welcome the Chicago Fire to Lower.com Field on Saturday.
Columbus have only lost one of their last six MLS matches played at home, while the Fire are quickly fading out of the playoff picture, going winless in their previous four games.
Match preview
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It is incredible how much one new addition can make to a team, and the Crew are a perfect example of that as their major new signing over the last transfer window has transformed them from an underperforming club into one that right now look primed to make a deep playoff run.
Columbus have earned points in 14 of their last 15 regular season affairs after winning just one of their previous nine as they find themselves in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a four-point postseason cushion.
A refuse-to-lose attitude is how Caleb Porter has described his side's mentality of late, with the Crew claiming 10 points when facing a second-half deficit this season.
While they have shown a ton of resilience, this team have also squandered their share of points from winning positions, dropping 11 when leading in the final 45 minutes of a match.
Three of their next five matches will be at home, where the Crew have posted six clean sheets this year while winning their last three matches played against the Fire in Columbus.
Despite coming up short in their playoff quest a year ago, finishing a point behind the final position in the East, Columbus only dropped points in two of their final seven fixtures of 2021, which, if repeated, would likely be enough to see them in the top seven this season.
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They began the month of August amazingly in a playoff position, but a lot has changed for Ezra Hendrickson and his Fire since a 3-2 triumph over Charlotte FC.
That victory had them in seventh with points in five straight outings, but Chicago are well off the postseason pace at the moment, failing to score for a third successive encounter on Wednesday, drawing the New England Revolution 0-0.
Chicago have only made the MLS Cup playoffs on two occasions since 2010, and they trail Inter Miami by five points for the last spot with six teams to catch and only six games to play.
On the one hand, seeing them qualify for the postseason seems complicated when considering how much ground they need to make up, but on the other, it could be simple as all six of their remaining fixtures are against Eastern Conference teams, four of whom are ahead of them by five points or fewer, so if they can run the table from here on out, there is a good chance we will see them in the playoffs.
Despite a pair of solid offensive outputs at the Vancouver Whitecaps (3-1) and Charlotte (3-2), in general, the Fire have been poor on the road, losing eight times and conceding multiple goals in eight encounters, allowing three or more tallies five times.
For most of the season, the Fire have found it challenging to score consistently, netting the fewest goals in the league (28), while being shut out of 12 matches this year.
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Team News
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Luis Diaz had the winner in their victory over Inter Miami (1-0) in midweek, while Steven Moreira picked up his third assist of the campaign, moving into a tie with Pedro Santos for second on the team, and Eloy Room collected his first clean sheet since July 23.
Cucho Hernandez had a goal involvement in four straight matches before failing to find the scoresheet on Wednesday, as the newcomer is tied with Lucas Zelarayan for the most goals on the team with eight.
Pedro Santos remains out with a right thigh injury, with Home-grown Player Will Sands taking the place of the injured Portuguese full-back, while Porter made two changes to his starting 11 on Wednesday as Artur and Derrick Etienne replaced Zelarayan and Darlington Nagbe.
Gabriel Slonina picked up his 11th clean sheet this year for Chicago in their draw against the Revs, as he currently sits third in the league in that category, posting one shutout fewer than Andre Blake, while trailing Sean Johnson by two.
Goals from Rafael Czichos and Chris Mueller gave the Fire a 2-0 lead heading into the interval when they last faced Columbus back in early July.
Mueller and Jhon Duran collected assists in that game, though the Crew responded with a brace from Etienne and one from Cucho seven minutes from the end to win 3-2.
Czichos missed their previous match with a left knee issue, Javier Casas is questionable with a sore right lower leg, and Jairo Torres has a problem in his left lower leg.
Gaston Gimenez remains out due to a right thigh issue, and Wyatt Omsberg will not be available because of a left foot injury.
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Room; Moreira, Jonathan, Degenek, Sands; Artur, Nagbe, Morris; Zelarayan; Diaz, Hernandez
Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Slonina; M. Navarro, Bornstein, Espinoza; Herbers, F. Navarro; Mueller, Reynolds, Shaqiri, Ivanov; Przybylko
We say: Columbus Crew 1-0 Chicago Fire
Columbus have as much momentum heading into this encounter as one could hope for, while the Fire seem to have lost all of theirs, not to mention the fact that several key players seem to be playing hurt for them which has impacted their performances of late.
The Fire have failed to find the back of the net in their last three visits to Columbus, and they have not been consistently sharp in the final third all season.
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