New England Revolution boss Marko Mitrovic says every game for the rest of the MLS season will be played with a playoff-like intensity, though he did not realise his own team had clinched a postseason spot in midweek.
New England boss Mitrovic expects playoff intensity in remaining MLS games
The New England Revolution have sealed a playoff place, and the Chicago Fire are close to joining them ahead of their clash on Saturday.
The Revs beat FC Cincinnati 3-2 on Wednesday, with young United States international Peyton Miller laying on two assists for Dor Turgeman, either side of Joshua Wynder's goal.
They sit third in the Eastern Conference and, having guaranteed a playoff place with five regular-season games to go, are now simply jostling for seeding.
But when asked for his reaction to New England clinching their playoff place, Mitrovic said: "I didn't even know, to be honest!
"It might sound silly, but I'm not checking what's going on around the league. We don't talk about the playoffs."
But Mitrovic believes the rest of the Revs' games, starting with Saturday's visit to the Chicago Fire, will have the feel of a postseason encounter.
"Every game now has a high level of urgency for the teams around it, and you know, at the beginning of the season everyone can see the time that lies ahead, but there is no time left now," he said.
"I feel like now, every game will feel like the playoffs. I think that the last two or three games before the international break, it already felt like teams were playing with a high level of urgency.
"And now everyone's competing to survive and there's no hiding behind that. Every team has to match that intensity that everyone else has."
The Fire are only one place and one point behind New England and only need one more point to secure their own playoff berth, though they were beaten 3-1 by the Philadelphia Union in midweek.
Maren Haile-Selassie put Chicago ahead at Soldier Field, but Jack Elliott's red card in first-half stoppage time paved the way for Philadelphia to fight back, via a goal from Milan Iloski and a brace from Bruno Damiani.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution – Carles Gil
Gil achieved a landmark during the Revs' midweek win, with his assist for Wynder's goal taking him to 10 for the season.
The 33-year-old is just the second player in MLS history to register at least 10 assists in six consecutive seasons, after Preki (eight).
Chicago Fire – Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski will be hoping for a bounce-back performance on Saturday, having only managed one shot with an expected goals (xG) value of 0.1 against the Union on Wednesday.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
Although Chicago were beaten last time out, they were up against a Philadelphia side who are on an eight-match winning run and played the entire second half with 10 men.
So they will be confident of putting up a fight against New England, who have four wins and two defeats in their last six MLS games.
The Revs have managed nine wins, two draws and three defeats on home soil this campaign, with Chicago having five wins, five draws and four losses on the road this year.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution – 39.4%
Chicago Fire – 34%
Draw – 26.6%
