The Fire are at a crossroads. With the rest of the MLS Schedule coming out Tuesday afternoon, we now know what the final stretch run to the end is going to look like. Six of their last eleven games will be at Soldier Field including Wednesday and Saturday, both of which the Fire should be able to beet. So far, however, It’s been one step forward and two steps back. For every good sequence of play with dynamic movement and quality passing, there’s a dumb turnover with the scoring opportunity going in the opposite direction. I, for one, am sick of it.

It is beyond time for this club to show us something. Show us that they’re beyond the wasted potential and might-be’s that all too quickly turn into what-could-have been’s like Fire teams of the past. Show us that the fight on Saturday was not an explosion reminiscent of the Mega Powers but instead a spark of fire and passion that can propel the club to the heights they think they can fulfill.

Show us something. We’re all waiting.

Chicago Fire all-time MLS record vs Houston Dynamo: 7W-8D-10L, 29F / 36 GA, 32 pts out of 75

Chicago Fire home MLS record vs Houston Dynamo: 4W-4D-4L, 16 GF / 17 GA, 17 pts out of 36

Previously on…

The Dynamo aren’t in that good a place right now. They’re 10th in the Western Conference on 15 points which puts them third bottom, and they only have one more win than the Fire. They do however, like to draw a lot of games. they’re tied for the most ties in MLS with 6.

Suggested Lineup

It’s time. Regardless of who was at fault Orlando, Robert Beric has not lived up to the expectations put upon him by the fans and the club. With CJ Sapong coming back into fitness, it’s time to have him start the game. Herbers is back from yellow card jail, so he should replace Collier in the eleven.

Keys To The Match

Selective Memory: The only thing that should matter from a coaches and players standpoint about last Saturday is how good they actually played. They completed 83% of their passes, and had 54% possession on the road. They had several scoring chances not including the goals that were overturned, and were the better team for long periods into the first half and pretty much the entire second until the bottom fell out at the end.

Forget the fight. Forget the VAR decisions, and forget all the other bad things. Concentrate on being that good team that played, and everything should work out against Houston.

Finish Them: Houston just lost their best player. AS of yesterday, Honduran international Alberth Elis is moving on to Boavista FC is Portugal. Coming into the game against the Fire, he had two goals and three assists to help Houston get two of their three wins (both against Sporting Kansas City) and was a pivotal player in the Dynamo attack going back further. It’s going to take some time for Houston to move on and find some production.

The Fire need to take advantage of his absence by piling on the pressure up Houston’s flanks and play a bit wider than they have been. They need to use more overlaping runs with the fullbacks getting forward and either cut the ball back to the top of the box for Aliseda and Medran or fire crosses in for the striker or other winger at the back post to go up and get. It would also be nice if they actually put the ball in the net without hitting the woodwork.

How To Watch

Television: WGN-TV

Streaming: ESPN+

Final Thoughts

If you ignore the scores and just watch both teams play, the Fire are the better team. But as we’ve seen so far this season, being the better team is meaningless if you can’t win games. For whatever reason, I can’t explain, I think the better team wins this game. Fire win 3-1.