The Chicago Fire look to extend their winning streak to three games when they take on Orlando City on Saturday.
The Fire are coming off back-to-back wins against the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC. In fact, Chicago hasn’t lost any of their last four games, with the other two results being draws against D.C. United and Orlando City, respectively.
Their two latest wins were their first in over a month. More than the wins, it’s the performances the team has put in, which has undoubtedly elevated the team’s confidence.
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“I think when the team plays well, and you get results, I think, for sure, the confidence level goes up within the team,” Frank Klopas said. “I think there’s no secret about that. Results impact the mentality, the mental state of the team. One thing, though, is when we were going through difficult moments, and look, it’s not like we are out of difficult moments, we need to continue to stay grounded and work hard.”
Orlando and the Fire are tied in the table with 18 points a piece. They played each other a little over three weeks ago at Soldier Field and tied 1-1. If the Fire want to turn their season around, they can’t underestimate any opponent.
“We've been working extremely hard (on) how they are going to press us, and we are going to be ready for the match. You know, the team is in a good moment right now, in a good way, not only the players that are starting but I think it's more important that the guys have come in, even the last game, have come in as subs and contributed to the team,” Klopas said.
The deciding factor in the Fire’s last two games is their ability to score goals, which is something the team has struggled with so far this season.
In their last two games, the Fire have scored six goals. To put that into context, Chicago scored six in their previous ten games, dating all the way back to April 6.
Unsurprisingly, it also coincided with Hugo Cuypers finding form. Cuypers, one of the Fire’s marquee signings, has scored in his last three games, doubling his season output in the process.
Offensively, the Fire have shown improvement these past few games, not just Cuypers. They have more of an idea going forward and have done so without Xherdan Shaqiri who is with Switzerland for the Euros.
“We have done a much better job at putting numbers, getting numbers forward, and I think that has helped us with the opportunities that we've gotten. It all starts from there,” Klopas said. “I think it's very important that you know we need runs, we need runs behind. Every time we get an opportunity where we move the ball and we have players that are facing forward with no pressure, then we constantly need runs. We constantly need runs.”
A win for the Fire would bring them up to 21 points and would see them pull ahead of Orlando and back into the conversation for one of the final playoff spots.