Chicago make playoff push, Austin's tactical triumph & more from Matchday 32 | OneFootball

By Matthew Doyle

Let's run through the four-game schedule during the September international window.

Onwards.

Chicago Fire FC 3-2 New England Revolution

I really like watching this year’s Chicago Fire. And I feel that way for the most basic of reasons: when they have the ball, they do a lot of things that make them an attractive soccer team, one that plays the game in an aesthetically pleasing way.

As so:

Because they play this way – they can and often use the ball so well, then are fearless in building out and when in the attack – they beat the New England Revolution at home on Saturday night, and are above the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line (ninth in the Eastern Conference on 42 points). They're nearing a postseason return for the first time in nearly a decade.

I also really like watching this year’s Chicago Fire for the other most basic of reasons: when they don’t have that ball, they do a lot of things that make their opponents an attractive soccer team, one that's allowed to play in an aesthetically pleasing way.

As so:

Because the Fire play this way – they often allow opponents to use the ball so well, and are fearless when building out – they only beat the Revs 3-2. And it was a very hold-on-for-dear-life proposition, as Chris Brady had to make a point-blank save on a late Brandon Bye header to preserve the full three points.

This is, I think, baked into manager Gregg Berhalter’s approach during his first season in charge. Berhalter’s an ideologue, and the idea he has right now is to take the version of the Fire we can all see in that first goal above, and make it the version of the Fire that’s on the field 90 percent of the time. He hasn’t really been willing to give an inch to the God of Pragmatism.

That includes the postgame presser when asked about seeing a 3-0 lead almost evaporate against a Revs team that’s not making the playoffs.

“Well, I think if we start talking about almost, we can say we almost scored six goals, right? Like, it's not really relevant,” Berhalter said. “What happened was we won the game. We had to be resilient at the end. We had to come up with a big save at the end, and we did. That's the most important thing.

“I mean, there's times when you don't get the three points. There's times when you deserve to get it, you don't get it. There's times when you don't deserve to get it, you get it. But today, I thought it was a game we deserved to get all three points. It was a strong performance, and I would only be critical of a couple moments. But overall, very strong performance from the team.”

I don’t disagree with that. But what we’ve seen, time after time this year against the best teams in the league, is that the Fire are easy pickings in the most valuable real estate on the pitch.

If Berhalter doesn’t solve that, Chicago’s potential return trip to the postseason won’t last very long. Or even come at all (they're just two points above the New York Red Bulls, though have a game in hand).

A few other notes from this game:

St. Louis CITY SC 1-1 FC Dallas

St. Louis went up a goal and a man, and then this happened:

I don’t know what to say about this, other than a hearty “well done!” to FC Dallas backup goalkeeper Jacob Jackson, who came on after Michael Collodi was sent off in the 16th minute.

For what it’s worth, Jackson has an excellent shot-stopping record in MLS NEXT Pro. It hasn’t translated to MLS yet – or hadn’t, I guess; we’re working in the past-tense now – but he’s only 25 and I wouldn’t be shocked if he has a real future in this league. This performance will certainly go onto the résumé.

Dallas got their only goal when St. Louis fell asleep defending a throw-in. The point is not what they’d hoped for entering this game, but if you’d offered it to them after going down to 10 men, I’m pretty sure they’d have grabbed it with both hands.

It doesn’t feel like they should be, but believe it or not, Dallas are still very much alive in the Western Conference playoff race. If they win their game in hand on ninth-place San Jose, they’ll be just one point back.

As for St. Louis… I’m sure the fans don’t want to hear this, but they largely did exactly what you want to do when you’ve got a man advantage. They’re just sorta cursed this year.

Houston Dynamo FC 1-1 LA Galaxy

Also cursed: the Houston Dynamo.

This time it was LA midfielder Lucas Sanabria casting the spell when he headed home deep into second-half stoppage time for the 1-1 final, and this is the exact kind of result that will almost certainly haunt a team with the margins this thin. The Dynamo had a chance to climb level with San Jose in the race for the final playoff spot out West, and instead let a heavily rotated, maybe-gonna-win-the-Spoon Galaxy side break their hearts. A 1-1 draw at home, against a team with (virtually) nothing to play for? Cursed.

What makes it worse is how avoidable it was. Houston are at their best when they dictate tempo, keep the ball, and move opponents side to side, which is exactly how they got the opener.

“We have to get out of here with three points. There are a bunch of ways to do that. You can make plays down the stretch, dig out a few balls and defend the box, or you can score a few more goals to make our life easier,” head coach Ben Olsen said in the postgame.

“It does not matter how we win at this point, but we just did not find enough of those moments tonight to see this game out. It is unfortunate, and it hurts.”

Five games left for Houston, and the road is much harder now – dark and full of terrors.

Sporting Kansas City 1-2 Austin FC

And finally, Austin's Nico Estévez had to do a bunch of mixing-and-matching with his injury and international call-up-depleted squad on Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire at Sporting KC, which led to something of a tactical chess match between him and KC interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin.

And that, of course, led to CJ Fodrey’s match-winner on the subsequent corner kick, which marked the first time all year Austin registered a come-from-behind win. And that meant they leapfrogged Portland into sixth place in the West on 41 points.

Is this replicable for the Verde & Black against playoff-caliber teams? Probably not! But the point for Estévez & Co. this week wasn’t to lay the tactical groundwork for November; the point was to – anyway, anyhow – get the kind of result that would make November games a possibility in the first place.

Three points on the road. That’s it. Job well done.