Preview:USA Major League Soccer -- Chicago Fire VS Orlando City

Posted Wed, 07 Jul 2021 10:07:12 GMT        

 

USA Major League Soccer - Chicago Fire VS Orlando City

Match Time: 08-07-2021 04:30 Thursday

Livescore | Match Preview| 1x2 Odds| Match Analysis & Tips

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Match Preview

In this round of USA Major League Soccer, Chicago Fire VS Orlando City at home.Sometimes when things are going so bad, the only place to go is up, and that has certainly been the case lately for the Chicago Fire.After losing three consecutive matches and failing to score in any one of those games, an early own goal by the defending Supporters' Shield winners in Philadelphia appeared to light a spark in this team, who are now unbeaten in back-to-back fixtures, scoring six goals in that span.Manager Raphael Wicky has to be encouraged by the fact that not only have the Fire got themselves out of the Eastern Conference basement, but they have found offence from other sources, with four different players finding the back of the net over the past two games.That must have also been a relief for Robert Beric and Luka Stojanovic, who had been the only players on the team to score this season before their unbeaten run.The past two weeks have gone much better for Chicago, but they still have a lot of work to do if they are to dig themselves out of their current hole, which has seen them collect eight points from 11 matches, sitting eight points back of the final playoff spot, with five teams to catch.Despite having only 35% of the possession against Atlanta, the Fire were able to create many quality scoring opportunities, and they made the most of them, with three goals from their four shots on target.

 

The Lions suffered what they hope will only be a temporary setback last weekend, as they had their three-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the New York Red Bulls.The high-pressing system of New York seemed to create a lot of fatigue for Orlando, who were playing their fourth match in two weeks.However, it is far from doom and gloom for Oscar Pareja and his team, who are in second place in the Eastern Conference, conceding the fewest number of goals among teams in the east (nine) and with a game in hand on the New England Revolution, who are only three points above them at the moment.Orlando will get a much-needed 10-day break following this match on Wednesday, before playing three games in eight days against two teams nipping at their heels in the standings in New York City FC and the Philadelphia Union.One trait that this side have displayed a lot of over the past two seasons is the ability to bounce back quickly following a defeat, having not lost consecutive regular-season fixtures since the 2019 campaign.As they get set to face another non-playoff team in Chicago, they will fancy their chances to get back to winning ways, having won five of their six contests against teams on the outside of the playoff picture and outscoring their opponents 14-3 in that span.

 

Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:Shuttleworth; Kappelhof, Pineda, Omsberg; Sekulic, Stojanovic, Herbers, Medran, Gimenez; Beric, Collier

 

Orlando City possible starting lineup:Austin; Halliday, Carlos, Jansson, Smith; Rosell, Perea; Nani, Pereyra, Van der Water; Michel

 

Odds Analysis

The bet365 1x2 first odds of this game are 2.63-3.80-2.38,the 1x2 live odds are 2.38-3.60-2.70. And the Kelly Criterion is 0.93-0.95-0.94.Therefore, draw is possible in this game.

 

Goalooin Prediction:

Chicago Fire (39.33%)

Draw (26.00%)

Orlando City (34.67%)