The Major League Soccer season is in full swing as both conferences begin to plot their route to MLS Cup glory. It’s going to be a long road for them to get there but with the league being as competitive as it’s ever been, there’s a real opportunity for teams to step up and make a name for themselves. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the upcoming clash between Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake.
Chicago Form GuideFor years now, the city of Chicago has done a great job of producing winners - but in the MLS, it’s been a long time since the Fire have seen any kind of sustained success. Last season, they finish in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. While they did pick up 10 wins along the way, they need a bit more of an edge to them if they’re going to start thinking about the playoffs.
Inconsistency for Chicago has been pretty common for them. They lost to Columbus, then beat Montreal 4-3. They drew 1-1 with New England, then fell to a 3-0 defeat courtesy of Atlanta. They proceeded to edge past Houston 2-1 and in their most recent outing, they drew 0-0 with NY Red Bulls.
Salt Lake Form GuideIn terms of the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake did a solid job of making their way up the table and earning a spot in the playoffs. When they got there, though, there were beaten by Houston in the first round, in a three-game series that saw two matches go to penalties. They have potential, and it’ll be interesting to see how they bounce back this time around.
Across their last six games, Salt Lake’s only defeat was a narrow 2-1 loss courtesy of Colorado. Outside of that, they’ve picked up three wins on the trot against Los Angeles, Vancouver and St Louis, to run alongside draws with Minnesota and Columbus.
Match PredictionChicago and Salt Lake will both have high hopes for what they can achieve between now and the end of the campaign and while their starts to the season have been pretty different, it’s hard to gauge where they’re really at right now. In terms of quality, though, they definitely have it, which is why we’re backing over 2.5 goals scored.
