For Chicago Fire FC, it's been a mixed bag to start the MLS is Back Tournament.
It started with a bang, as they opened tournament play with a big 2-1 victory over the defending champion Seattle Sounders. But they followed that up with a dud, falling 2-0 to eventual Group B winners San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.
Even with the disappointing result against the Quakes, the Fire find themselves in solid position to advance as they return to the pitch for a Thursday morning bout with the Vancouver Whitecaps (9 am ET | ESPN, ESPN Deportes in US; TSN in Canada). In Vancouver, Chicago will go up against one of the most depleted teams in the tournament. The Whitecaps are already without five starters that withdrew before the tournament began, and just lost starting goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau to a fractured thumb he suffered in Vancouver's match against Seattle.
A draw would put Chicago in strong position to go through, but they could make it simple, with a win putting them through to the Knockout Stage. With that in mind, midfielder Fabian Herbers told reporters on a Tuesday conference call that the objective is to not leave anything up to chance.
"I think we're going into the game to win," Herbers said. "We're not going with a mindset that a draw could be enough or something like that, we're going into the game to win it. What Vancouver's situation is isn't really important to us, we're just going into it attacking, try to have possession, try to have control of the ball to not give them chances or much space and opportunities to counterattack us. I think the approach will be the same, we could be in for a good matchup for sure. Both teams kind of have to go for it.
"Hopefully we can stay in this tournament. I saw a couple teams packing their suitcases yesterday and already leaving the bubble. We don't want to be a team like that, we want to stay here, we want to go possibly to the very end and make it as far as possible."
While Herbers and head coach Raphael Wicky both said there's plenty they need to work on against Vancouver and, hopefully, going forward in the tournament, Wicky said being in a position where they control their own destiny makes it simple as far as what to instill in his players before the match.
"We are in a very good position," Wicky said. "We put ourselves with the win against Seattle in a very good position. Everything depends on us. We're not depending on other teams, we're not depending on other results. Everything is in our own hands and that's what we're focusing on.
"I expect a team who will defend similar as they did in the first two games, very compact, playing very fast transition with fast guys," the coach added of Vancouver. "I don't expect a lot of changes in the way they play. There's no easy games here, it's not going to be an easy game because they lost two games, it's going to be a tough game. It's a tournament, there's not a lot of rest time between our last game and their last game, so we will see. But I expect a similar style that they did in the last two games."
If Chicago are to make a run in the tournament, they'll have to do so without midfielder Luka Stojanovic. The Serbian was signed ahead of the season and slated to be an integral part of the team's attack, but suffered an MCL injury against San Jose, with Wicky confirming on Tuesday that he has departed back to Chicago for a medical evaluation.
"Unfortunately Luka hurt himself in the [San Jose] game," Wicky said. "He left our camp here today, he's flying back to Chicago and he's going to meet with our doctors as soon as he lands and they're going to evaluate [him]. But unfortunately he's going to be out for quite a while, probably."
