Chicago Fire Host Orlando in Playoff Wild-Card Clash
The Chicago Fire will look to continue their resurgence — and end another long-standing drought — when they host Orlando City in the Eastern Conference wild-card game on Wednesday night at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
After finishing eighth in the East, the Fire snapped a seven-year playoff drought, the longest in MLS. A win over Orlando would erase another painful streak — the league’s longest active gap between postseason victories, which dates back to 2009.
Under first-year manager Gregg Berhalter, Chicago has enjoyed a breakout season, setting club records for both goals (68) and away wins (nine). The team enters the postseason on a five-match unbeaten run, having rallied to a 2–2 draw against New England Revolution in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
The attacking duo of Hugo Cuypers and Philip Zinckernagel has been instrumental, combining for 32 goals. Despite that success, Berhalter acknowledged that the project is far from finished.
“We have very high expectations, very high standards,” Berhalter said. “But you have to start somewhere. And I think that we’ve made progress this year, certainly across the board. But having said that, I think there’s still a way to go, and we still want to keep improving. I mentioned early on in (a) press conference that I see this club as a sleeping giant, and I really believe that.”
For Orlando City, the matchup marks their sixth straight playoff appearance under Oscar Pareja, though the team enters in mixed form after finishing ninth in the East, a drop from last season’s conference final run.
The Lions have struggled lately, losing two straight and winning only once in their last 10 matches across all competitions. That rough stretch began with a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Leagues Cup.
Still, Orlando’s roster remains one of the deepest attacking units in MLS, featuring Marco Pasalic, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique, Luis Muriel, and Duncan McGuire. Pareja, now in his 13th MLS season, emphasized the importance of learning from the team’s ups and downs.
“You cannot forget about all that happened during the year; the good things, the things that we’re not satisfied with, the mistakes that we don’t want to commit again, but also the many other things that we would like to be repeated,” Pareja said. “But at the end of the day, today is a new journey, a new stage. It’s a game that defines everything.”
For Chicago, Wednesday’s match represents more than just a postseason contest — it’s a chance to redefine the club’s identity under new leadership. A victory would mark the Fire’s first playoff win in 16 years and signal that one of MLS’s founding teams is, at last, waking from its slumber.
