The Chicago Fire will finish up their 2021 season in a place they’ve never been before on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Lower.com Field to take on bitter rivals the Columbus Crew for a third and final time this year.
The match - along with all of the other Eastern Conference matches across MLS - will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT as a part of Decision Day 2021.
Here is what to expect heading into game 34 of 34 this weekend…
PLAYOFFS
The Fire were knocked out of playoff contention a few weeks ago after their valiant 2-2 draw in New England, while Columbus were all but mathematically eliminated after the New York Red Bulls drew Atlanta United on Wednesday night. That result officially made it impossible for Columbus to leapfrog the Red Bulls (who are in seventh place) on points, and can only beat them on goal differential. Right now, the Crew have a differential of -1, while RBNY have a differential of +6. This would require some variation of a +7 result from the Crew, in addition to a loss from RBNY alongside both Montréal and D.C. United not winning their matchups.
It feels safe to say Columbus will likely not have an opportunity to defend their 2020 MLS Cup throne, but the Fire do have an opportunity to officially eliminate them with a draw or win.
An elimination would mark the second time in Crew head coach Caleb Porter’s career that he has won an MLS Cup and then failed to qualify for the playoffs in the season following. The same happened after winning it all in 2015 with the Portland Timbers.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHAMPS?
We talked about this earlier in the year, but Columbus were bitten by the injury bug in all the wrong places this year.
Forward Gyasi Zardes missed two large stretches. Left fullback Milton Valenzuela was injured for the majority of the season, forcing Pedro Santos to play in that position. Artur - their version of Federico Navarro – has been injured for almost the entire season. Every team, of course, goes through injuries and has to figure out a way to deal with them, but it certainly hurt the Crew in a year in which they also had to balance Concacaf Champions League in the earlier stages of the campaign.
This was also supposed to be a breakout season for Aidan Morris, a homegrown product who started and performed beautifully in the MLS Cup last year. However, he was cut down by an ACL tear in the first week of the season.
Their slew of injuries and the rotation it required could have played into their stretch of one win in nine games earlier this season, which featured six-straight losses. One of those was a 1-0 defeat to CFFC at Soldier Field on Aug. 15.
Last year, the Crew were a team that conceded the second-fewest goals in the Eastern Conference, and this year they find themselves in eighth in that category.
Defender Jonathan Mensah is not having the same type of MLS Best XI campaign that he had last year. The carousel of fullbacks and centerbacks has certainly attributed to this dip on the defensive side of the ball.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
The Fire and Crew split the last two games at both the Historic Crew Stadium and Soldier Field. The final game at “The Old Lady” was a match dominated by the Crew from start to finish, and featured two goals from Zardes, who is currently nursing another injury.
The Fire failed to truly threaten the home side for the majority of the 90 minutes, but flipped the script in August when the Crew came to the Windy City.
The most recent iteration of this fixture was more controlled by the Fire, as they put on a cohesive defensive performance and were able to find the breakthrough in the second half thanks to some good play off the bench from Brian Gutiérrez and a tidy finish from Luka Stojanović.
The Crew put a flurry of chances together in the final moments, but the defense, Bobby Shuttleworth, and frame of the goal stood tall as Columbus struck the post off a deflection in the dying moments.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It is difficult to predict just exactly what or who we’ll see on Decision Day given the fact the Fire have officially been eliminated and the Crew are essentially in the same boat barring a colossal defeat and three results going their way.
However, it is the final game of the season, and no one wants to head into the cold months of the offseason with a loss on the tip of their tongue.
I can’t believe we are about to put a bow on 2021, but here we are. This season has been full of ups, downs, and everything in between. Here’s to a final win this year and to many more next season.
Tony Meola and I will have the call one more time from Lower.com Field on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT on WGN and CFFC Live.
