San Jose Earthquakes vs Chicago Fire

San Jose Earthquakes and Chicago Fire are set to trade tackles in a ‘make or break’ Major League Soccer showdown at PayPal Park.

Nailed to the bottom of the Western Conference, San Jose can ill-afford another slip-up if they’re to reignite their hopes of securing a playoff berth for the second season on the spin. A disheartening 2-0 loss at St Louis City in midweek MLS action was San Jose’s sixth on the bounce, leaving them a whopping 19 points adrift of 9th-placed Austin FC. San Jose’s notorious defensive woes have seen them concede a competition-high 56 goals this season. It’s, therefore, unsurprising they’ve leaked 3.66 goals per game on average across their last six league outings. The impending home return can’t inspire much confidence either, with the Quakes suffering four defeats in their five MLS home matches since mid-May (D1), netting under 1.5 goals on each occasion.

In the meantime, Chicago did a stellar job to bounce back from a two-game losing MLS streak, overturning a halftime deficit in a goal-glutted 4-3 home win against Philadelphia Union in midweek. That result maintained Chicago’s recent trend of avoiding draws, with none of their last five league games ending all square (W3, L2). But as his men have won back-to-back league matches only once this season, manager Frank Klopas would appreciate some consistency. Nothing less will do for Chicago amidst their quest to haul back a three-point deficit on the playoff zone in the Eastern Conference. However, they’ve fared terribly on the road this term, collecting fewer away points (7 – W1, D4, L5) than any other team in the east.