Toronto Fire vs Vancouver Whitecaps 7/23/20 - MLS Picks & Predictions

On Thursday, the Chicago Fire FC play the Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the third and final match in the group stage of the MLS is Back Tournament. Chicago Fire is currently in third place in Group B with one victory and one loss on three points and a victory is needed to keep their hopes alive of reaching the knockout stage. Chicago opened their play in the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Seattle but was held scoreless in a 2-0 loss to San Jose

The Chicago Fire is one point behind the second-place Seattle Sounders and four points behind first-place San Jose. If the Chicago Fire are able to draw and Seattle loses Chicago would finish second in the group standings having beaten Seattle head-to-head and would move on to the knockout stage. A victory would put Chicago Fire at 6 points and Seattle would have to defeat San Jose in order to finish ahead of Chicago.

Vancouver has yet to post any points after two matches having lost both. Vancouver opened its play in the tournament with a 4-3 loss to San Jose followed by a 3-0 loss at the hand of Seattle. Vancouver’s offense is averaging just 1.5 goals per game while its backline and goalkeeper are allowing an average of 3.5 goals-per-game. 

Vancouver's only goals of the tournament were scored in its first match by Ali Adnan, Judson and Cristian Dajome. Over its last four matches played, dating back to February, Vancouver has one win and three losses. Over that span of four fixtures, Vancouver has scored five goals, while its back line and goalkeeper have allowed 10.