The MLS season is coming to a close as playoffs and teams are fighting to clinch a spot in the playoffs. The Chicago Fire FC are on edge about their chances in the upcoming playoff series. Battling at the bottom end of the table against the Nashville SC, New York Red Bulls and Montreal Impact make the Fire’s chances almost little to none with three games left on the schedule ranked at 10th place out of 14 teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Fire has been dealing with closing matches this entire season. We saw this last Wednesday night as the Fire played against the first place team, Philadelphia Union and fell to them 2-1 while dealing with a player down the entire second half and a controversial penalty call early in the first half which led to the first goal for the Union. With a record of 5-7-9 they are tied for the third most dealts in the Eastern Conference. In soccer, the difference between a tie and a win is two points, which can be vital when fighting for top spots on the table.

Although finishing games has been a struggle for the Fire, there is a bright light on the offensive side with the signing of Slovenian striker Robert Beric.  He has put up 10 goals in the season as he ranks 4th in the Golden Boot race between the Eastern and Western conference and has the 3rd most shots on goal in the entire MLS.

This season for the Fire is nothing like we’ve seen before, from the numerous amount of foreign signings that occurred, to the revamp on the management side. With all the changes this season the Fire is still growing and learning as a team. Even their home stadium has been moved to downtown Chicago at Soldier Field which broke headlines back in October of last year.

There have been some struggles this season, but the future of the Fire is looking bright. From the mass amount of homegrown signings such as Gabriel Slonina, Allan Rodriguez, Alex Monis, Brian Gutierrez, Javier Casas Jr, Chris Brady, who all had came up from the roots of the Fire academy. To their new home and the signing of Beric the Fire’s future is looking good. The Fire will go head to head Wednesday night against Minnesota United FC at 7:00 pm in a cross conference matchup which is set to be a good test between the two sides.