The Chicago Fire made their first MLS postseason appearance in eight years on Wednesday night, and they made the most of it.
Having last been in the playoffs in 2017, Gregg Berhalter’s side kicked off the 2025 MLS playoffs with an impressive 3-1 win over Orlando City in the Eastern Conference Wild Card game to advance to a series against the Philadelphia Union.
The No. 8 seeded Fire failed to take their chances in the opening half, but found their edge early in the second when Brian Gutiérrez finished off a nice team move, settling a cross from the right side and sending a low half-volley past Orlando’s Pedro Gallese to give his side the lead.
Eight minutes later, Hugo Cuypers doubled the lead for the home side as he stayed on top of a loose ball in the area and managed to block Gallese’s attempted clearance right into the back of the net.
Cuypers put the game to bed soon after, picking up a pass from Philip Zinckernagel and smashing a shot through the outstretched arms of Gallese. Tyrese Spicer scored a consolation goal for the visitors in the 89th minute, but a comeback was out of reach at that point for No. 9-seed Orlando.
Orlando, which had advanced beyond the first round in each of the past two playoffs, had just one win in its last eight games.
The Fire will face a different sort of test in the next round against the Supporters’ Shield-winning Union, who finished with the most points in MLS this season. The first round of the MLS playoffs is best of three, with each team getting the chance to host a home game.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this recap.
