San Jose Earthquakes vs. Chicago Fire | 2017 MLS Match Preview

Benjamin Baer

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Chicago Fire
2017 MLS Regular Season
Avaya Stadium – San Jose, Calif.
Wednesday, September 27 – 10:30 pm ET
WATCH: MLS LIVE

Both the San Jose Earthquakes and Chicago Fire enter Wednesday night's matchup with a lot on the line. They are also both coming off multi-goal losses on the road.

The Quakes return home from the nation's capital after losing 4-0 to Patrick Mullins and D.C. United. They do so still sitting above the playoff line. San Jose are currently in sixth place, tied with Houston on points but owning the tiebreaker thanks to their 11 wins compared to the Dynamo's 10. By the time this match kicks off the Quakes could be sitting in eighth place with both Houston and FC Dallas playing earlier on Wednesday evening. With so few matches left, any chance at home must be taken.

Chicago have mostly secured their place in the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs, and can officially clinch a berth in San Jose, but have to be worried about their standing in the Eastern Conference. They currently sit in fourth place after a 3-1 loss at Philadelphia on Saturday; if they stay there, they'd be slotted in for a Knockout Round match at home. But with Columbus continuing to climb up the standings it's a definite possibility that they will not be playing at Toyota Park in the playoffs. Securing that spot will be on the top of their minds on Wednesday night.

San Jose Earthquakes

Suspended: None
Int’l Duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D Harold Cummings (leg surgery), D Marvell Wynne (heart abnormality), M/D Fatai Alashe (quad injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, left to right)
GK: Andrew Tarbell — Kofi Sarkodie, Francois Affolter, Andres Imperiale, Shea Salinas — Danny Hoesen, Jackson Yueill, Florian Jungwirth, Vako — Marco Ureña, Chris Wondolowski

Notes: San Jose have gone unbeaten in their last seven home games (5W-2D). The Earthquakes have doubled their opponent’s output in San Jose outscoring teams 10-5 in Avaya Stadium...San Jose have conceded an average of 1.5 goals against and won an average of 1.4 points per game when David Bingham has started this year (23 games). They have conceded an average of 2.4 goals and won an average of 1.0 points per game when he has not started.

Chicago Fire

Suspended: None
Int’l Duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M John Goossens (right ankle surgery), GK Jorge Bava (left elbow surgery), M Daniel Johnson (left MCL injury), D Christian Dean (fifth metatarsal fracture), M Juninho (left knee injury); QUESTIONABLE: D Patrick Doody (left hamstring injury), M Bastian Schweinsteiger (right thigh injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, left to right):
GK: Matt Lampson— Matt Polster, Johan Kappelhof, Joao Meira, Brandon Vincent — Dax McCarty, Drew Conner, Michael de Leeuw — Arturo Alvarez, Nemanja Nikolic, David Accam

Notes: Over their last seven road games, Chicago has allowed multiple goals six times (1W-6L). In their first eight games, they conceded multiple goals four times (2W-3L-3D)...Luis Solignac’s goal last weekend snapped a seven game MLS scoreless streak. This year, the Fire average 1.8 goals when he is on the field (1,886 minutes) and 1.4 goals when he is not (974 minutes).

All-Time Series

Overall: Chicago 14 wins (50 goals) … San Jose 10 wins (42 goals) … Ties 11
At San Jose: San Jose 8 wins (25 goals) … Chicago 5 wins (19 goals) … Ties 5