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Gregg Berhalter acknowledged his Chicago Fire team are in the midst of an MLS “dogfight” to ensure their spot in the playoffs this season.
The Fire find themselves in ninth place ahead of this weekend’s clash against the Columbus Crew, two points ahead of the New York Red Bulls and also a game in hand.
Chicago responded in style to their defeat to New York City FC with a 3-0 win over Western Conference high-flyers Minnesota United last time out, and are looking to build here.
Berhalter is close to leading the Fire to the postseason for the first time in 2017, but with four regular-season fixtures to come, he wanted full focus from his players.
“It’s just all about this time of the season. Berhalter said. “You’ve got to keep collecting points and keep trying to move forward.
“We know we’re in a dogfight. We know Red Bull won again, and it is what it is. So, we’re going to keep going.
For Berhalter, the win over NYCFC marked his 80th MLS triumph in his 200th match in charge, though he refrained from revelling in the accomplishment.
“It’s another three points to keep us moving and keep us in the picture, so that’s good,” Berhalter added.
We’re dogs. We fight. We push. @Xerox | #cf97 pic.twitter.com/bgZ6WKJaaP
— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) September 21, 2025
But another side with playoff ambitions of their own is the Columbus Crew, who occupy the final play-in spot alongside Chicago, albeit five points clear of the Fire.
A poor run of form has seen them slip out of the top seven, having picked up just one win across their last seven MLS matches (D3 L3).
But for Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy, this was not the time to panic, though he reiterated his desire to see an improvement in results moving forward.
“We have everything in our control,” Nancy said. “This is not like this is the last game, and we have to wait after all the results of the other teams.
“I know that the standings will change or something like that, but again, I’m not watching that. The most important is we know that we have three games coming.
“We know that we have everything in our control to win games. After that, if we don’t win games, I will tell you that, yeah, we didn’t have enough, and we were missing something.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chicago Fire – Philip Zinckernagel
Zinckernagel has been the standout performer for Chicago in 2025, registering 24 goal contributions (14 goals, 10 assists), a total only bettered by five players in the MLS.
But he has not done this alone. Combining with Hugo Cuypers, who has 16 goals to his name, the pair are one of four pairs this season to tally at least 30 goals this season.
The other duos are Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge (36), Cincinnati’s Evander & Kevin Denkey (30) and Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi & Tadeo Allende (32).
Columbus Crew – Diego Rossi
The Crew have a road specialist in their ranks in Rossi, with nine of his 16 MLS league goals this season coming away from home.
It equals the most road goals he has scored in a single campaign, with his nine goals in 2019 as a member of LAFC. His 40 road goals since his debut (2018) are second only to Josef Martinez (48) in that time.
MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS CREW WIN
Columbus have won five consecutive matches against Chicago, scoring multiple goals in each match. It’s the only time in the post-shootout era the Crew have won five straight MLS matches against a single opponent, while also scoring two or more goals in every win.
However, Nancy’s team played out their 11th draw of the regular season against Toronto last time out, with only Atlanta United and Robin Fraser’s side (12) having more this season.
Six of those stalemates have come on the road as only FC Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy (seven each) have earned more road draws in 2025.
Chicago, meanwhile, saw their win over Minnesota bring their season total to 57 goals. It’s the most goals by the Fire in a single campaign since scoring 61 in 2017 and was the team’s 18th multi-goal MLS game of 2025 – their most in a campaign since having 20 in 2000.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Chicago Fire – 30.1%
Draw – 24.9%
Columbus Crew – 45%
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