After a few weeks off for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the Major League Soccer season has resumed with teams striving for the postseason. This weekend’s action is headlined by the Eastern Conference’s second place side battling its third place team, as Chicago Fire travel to the Big Apple to play New York City FC.
Chicago has been the story of the season in MLS as the club went from being one of the league’s worst teams over the last three years to being near the top.
New York City enters the fixture on the back of a midweek 2-2 draw with Toronto at home. The team gave up a 2-1 lead in the 91st minute thanks to a Victor Vazquez penalty. Meanwhile, Chicago hasn’t played since early July, and will be well rested ahead of Saturday’s game.
The rest has been good for Chicago as Bastian Schweinsteiger should be fit. He was injured back on July 7th, but is expected to play this weekend. He has been extremely key to the Fire’s turnaround, and has two goals and one assist in 15 games this season.
Chicago’s defense has been stellar so far, and the team has given up the fewest goals in the Eastern Conference (19). That defense will be tested as New York City has scored the second most goals in the East (38), and the team is led by striker David Villa, who has tallied 13 goals. Yet, the Fire isn’t to be outdone, as Chicago features the league’s top scorer Nemanja Nikolic with 16 strikes.
Zcode Systems scores predictor flatters New York City, and for once, I don’t agree with the prediction. The Blues may be the favorite to win, but a 4-0 scoreline seems a bit much.
According to the Zcode System volatility oscillator, Chicago ranks as one of MLS’s most stable teams. Meanwhile New York City is featured in the top 10 most unstable team’s in MLS according to the volatility oscillator.
The Fire has lost just once all season, but all three losses have come on the road. Saturday’s game will take place at Yankee Stadium in New York, which shows just why City is favored in the match. Making New York City’s chance of winning on Saturday even better is the fact that the team has lost just once at home this term. The Blues one home lost came all the way back in April to Orlando City.
Chicago is the MLS’s top ranked team via the Zcode System teams power ranking, which makes this match even more difficult to predict.
Despite Chicago being a strong team, New York City edges this one for me. It will be a tight affair, but the Blues will come out on top. I expect just one goal to separate these two evenly matches sides.
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