The final week of the Fire’s season is a perfect microcosm of 2020. The Fire need results, but can’t be entirely sure of how many games they’ll actually play.
And like everything else, it’s the coronavirus pandemic at the root of all the complications.
As of Tuesday, the Fire’s match Wednesday at Minnesota United (8-5-6, 30 points) was still scheduled. The game is in question because United’s contest last Sunday against Sporting Kansas City was cancelled Saturday due to the confirmation of a second Minnesota player in four days testing positive for COVID-19.
“I think we are just going to prepare as if we’re going to play Minnesota on Wednesday,” Fire defender Mauricio Pineda said. “I think that’s all we could do, just control what we can control, and if we have the game, that’s not really up to us. So we’ll just prepare as well as we can for that and just see what happens with the league.”
Ironically, the Fire-Minnesota match was originally scheduled for Oct. 14 but postponed due to a suspected MNUFC positive. What the Fire (5-9-7, 22 points) would like to avoid is a repeat of what happened last month, when they traveled up to Minnesota the same day as the match per COVID-19 safety protocols, but went home without playing due to the postponement a few hours before kickoff.
Following their 1-1 draw Saturday at Nashville SC, Fire coach Raphael Wicky said he hoped to get an answer by Monday or Tuesday about the upcoming match. Understandably, Wicky wanted to fully prepare for the upcoming week and avoid potentially losing a day of productivity like the last excursion to Minnesota, though he also recognized the inherent challenges facing the league.
“But on the other side, look, it’s not in our control,” Wicky said. “Everyone tries to do the best they can. Everyone tries to keep people safe, and so we trust the league, and yeah, hopefully we get a result and we get an answer sooner than later.”
This match, if it isn’t played Wednesday, would most likely be cancelled and not made up before the regular season concludes this Sunday when the Fire host New York City FC. Like it already does in the Western Conference, the Fire not playing a full schedule would mean playoff qualification in the East will be based on points per game and not points.
As of Tuesday, the Fire were ninth in the conference at 1.05 points per game, percentage points ahead of the 10th-place Montreal Impact. To help their chances of staying in the East’s top 10, it would help if the Fire turn their performances into points, regardless of format.
“I’m happy with what I see from my team and I’m happy with the progress over the last two and a half, three months, the team, I’m very happy with that,” Wicky said. “That gives me a very positive feeling for the future whatever happens. But I’m frustrated that we cannot win these games because we came here to win. I mean, a lot of those games in the last two months, two and a half months, were there for us to win, as well.
“Yeah, that’s frustrating, but on the other side, like I said, I’m very happy with a lot of things I see from the team.”
