Fire know they can’t afford to have any slipup

The Chicago Fire entered Saturday night’s match against the New York Red Bulls at Soldier Field knowing they couldn’t afford any slip-ups.

Not with an upcoming schedule that consists of three straight road games and no return to their home pitch until the final day of the regular season, all against teams sitting in playoff positions.

And not with Inter Miami’s stoppage-time winner against Orlando City earlier in the day, which saw the Fire drop out of the 10th and final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference before even kicking a ball.

So what’s the mindset for the Fire as they enter the final stretch of the season? Probably the biggest cliche in sports. “The mentality is the same for every game,” midfielder Fabian Her be rs said Friday during a conference call with reporters. “We go into every game to win the game. If it’s at home or if it’s on the road, we always give it 100%. We always give it all our effort. We put everything into it to make the playoff push, to get a win. I think that’s the mentality.”

The Fire conceded a late goal Saturday and settled for a 2-2 draw, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Every upcoming opponent is above them in the standings, and they next play the Philadelphia Union, one of the best teams in the East, before playing Nashville SC, Minnesota United and New York City FC.

“The last five games in the next twoweeks is going to be difficult for us,” Herbers said, “sowe really have to push in those last games to get as many points as possible to make the playoffs. From there, anything is possible.

“Obviously, we don’t want to just achieve the playoffs. Wewant to hopefully have a run and maybe be a little bit of a surprise team that people hadn’t really thought of.”

Complicating matters for the Fire is their lack of success on the road. The Fire are the only MLS team not to pick up three points away from home, something coach Raphael Wicky couldn’t quite explain.

“It’s difficult to give you an answer on that,” he said Friday. “I’m not going to blame the travel because that would be too easy. Does the travel affect most of the teams in MLS? Probably. I think most of the teams would tell you yes, it affects (results) a little bit. But there are enough teams who went on the road and won games. …

“The most important thing is that you go on the road and say, ‘OK, we’re going to try to play the same football as we play here at home.’ We know we often create big chances. We have to convert them. But I wouldn’t blame only the travel. But a clear answer, I don’t have for you.”