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The Fire are finally back in MLS action and looking to climb even further up the Eastern Conference Standings tonight. Currently the Fire sit in 4th on 44 points. However, the Fire match is the only one tonight, and if the Men in Red can gather all 3 points, it would vault us up into 2nd place all alone heading into Saturday's clash at home vs. Montreal. As Nick Fedora pointed out in his match preview yesterday, Toronto will be fielding an incredibly weakened side tonight. Although this game is at BMO Field, there is simply no excuse for the Fire to walk away with anything other than 3 points. Just like the Houston match where they were coming off short rest, Chicago needs to pounce on Toronto early tonight and put them away. It is matches like these, where 3 points are nearly handed to us on a silver platter, that must be taken advantage of. Championship teams take care of business when they are handed a big advantage, and the Fire need to do this tonight to continue our rise to the top and show everyone just how much business we mean.
Tonight could be interesting for a few reasons. Paolo Tornaghi should be in goal due to Sean's travel with the USMNT, and given the fact Paolo hasn't seen action for awhile, hopefully he picks up where he left off. Apart from Sean's absence, we could see a few other players rested with a Saturday match and a busy stretch of games ahead. Given the weakened Toronto side we are facing, even on the road, it would be wise for Frank to rest some starters tonight.
As always, join us for the gamethread tonight to sling some Fire banter during the match. Lineups will be posted when announced. Let's go Fire!
UPDATE
And Frank proves me wrong. SJ will be in goal after all, along with the rest of the 1st choice squad. This further strengthens my argument that 3 points is a must tonight.