Both the Chicago Fire and Montreal Impact are coming into this fixture hoping for a better result.

Looking for improvements after previous fixtures

The Fire drew 2-2 in their last fixture against Orlando City. The draw continued Chicago's streak of four games without a win and kept Chicago in the bottom of the MLS table. Chicago opened the scoring with a great effort from John Gossens which pinged off the post and in from a good distance.

But then Orlando SC pegged two goals back via their two best players in Cyle Larin and Kaka to grab the lead. Chicago responded with captain Razvan Cocis scoring an equalizer in the 78th minute. It was great for Chicago to show resilience but if the team wants to start getting better, they need be able to hold leads. 

Montreal had their two-game point streak snapped with a loss to the New York Red Bulls. Ignacio Piatti scored the opener and things looked up for Montreal in the opening 20 minutes. But then the Red Bulls proceeded to score three straight goals, all courtesy of Bradley Wright-Phillips twice and Sean Davis, to rip the game completely away from the Impact.

The loss stung because the Impact is right in the middle of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. They are currently one point behind the Philadelphia Union with a game in hand over them in the battle for the 4th seed.

In fact, a win could have put the Impact at 36 points. That would be enough for a tie with the Red Bulls with a game in hand over them as well. It was a big loss for the Impact. 

The Fire will be looking for a more fluid performance (Photo credit : Dean Reid - VAVEL USA)
The Fire will be looking for a more fluid performance (Photo credit : Dean Reid - VAVEL USA)

Stoppage time goal decided the last match

The last time these two teams met, it was a goal in stoppage time by Piatti which sealed the winner. The Fire held a 1-0 halftime lead and had momentum heading into the final 45 minutes. But Montreal brought on veteran Didier Drogba and the game completely changed the gears. Quickly Montreal equalized and in the 90th minute, Piatti completed the comeback of the three points. He found the ball on the edge of the area, shifted to his right and curled the ball into the top right corner. There was nothing the keeper could do about it as Montreal walked out of Toyota Park with three points. 

Chicago will be looking to shore up the midfield in this matchup against Montreal. Matt Polster is still trying to get back to 100% in terms of chemistry with his teammates and the Fire were exposed in the middle and in the back against New England in their US Open Cup loss a few weeks ago. 

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About the author
Vijay Vemu
Vijay is a sports journalist who covers mainly the NBA and soccer. He is a credential reporter on the Chicago Fire and also covers NBA for VAVEL as well. He is also a editor for Mash Chicago, the publication of the Chicago Tribune. He is also a contributor at SB Nation's Blog A Bull and Big East Coast Bias as well as writing on European Soccer as well. He plans on attending the University of Illnois at Chicago (UIC) in the fall with a major in computer science. You can follow him on Twitter : @VJVemu