Chicago Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter believes it is important his side produce more resilient wins as they did against D.C. United.

The Fire came from behind to defeat D.C. 3-1 last time out, which ended Chicago's three-game losing run across all competitions.

It was also the first time Chicago had won a match when conceding the first goal since March last season, when the Fire won two road games in a row after conceding the first goal in each.

Chicago travel to CF Montreal next, and Berhalter wants his side to continue growing in confidence as they did against D.C.

"It was a very difficult game [against D.C.]," said Berhalter.

"We knew what D.C. was going to bring to the game – we knew there was going to be a lot of physicality, a lot of first balls, second balls, a lot of set pieces.

"There was the goal in the first half that was a second ball from a throw-in that we could have done better. But overall, the guys battled and really hung in there and did well.

"There was a period in the second half where we started to lose the game plan and were playing too central, straight-ball central. There were a couple counter-attacks and we lost a couple balls and things were wobbling a little bit. 

"But I think we steadied and the guys showed their resilience. It’s important to get wins like that for the confidence of the group."

Montreal are 11th in the Eastern Conference, seven places behind Chicago, but will provide a stern test for Berhalter's side.

Montreal have lost just one of their last five MLS games (W3 D1), though they were held to a 2-2 draw against the Portland Timbers on Wednesday, despite taking the lead twice.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

CF Montreal – Matty Longstaff

Matty Longstaff provided two assists against Portland to make it three on the season, to go with two goals, joining teammates Prince Owusu (six goals, five assists) and Wiki Carmona (four goals, two assists) with multiple goals and assists.

Only Inter Miami (six) and the San Jose Earthquakes (four) have more players with multiple goals and assists this season.

Chicago Fire – Hugo Cuypers

Hugo Cuypers has scored in nine straight games after netting the game-winner on Wednesday.

Only two players in MLS history have scored in more consecutive games: Carlos Vela in 11 straight spanning the 2019 and 2020 seasons and Josef Martinez in 15 straight from May to September 2019.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

Montreal drew with Portland on Wednesday despite scoring the first goal of the game for the sixth straight match.

That is the second-longest stretch of scoring first in regular-season play in club history, after a nine-match run in Montreal’s inaugural season from April to June 2012.

Chicago earned a 3-0 home win over Montreal when the teams met in February; it was Chicago’s ninth clean sheet in the fixture since 2014.

That is the Fire’s most clean sheets in MLS against any team during that time.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

CF Montreal – 34%

Draw – 24.2%

Chicago Fire – 41.8%