Chicago hope Earnshaw can fire them to the MLS Playoffs
September 5th, 2025by Neil Sherwin
Despite another less than satisfactory campaign results wise, the Chicago Fire heads into the business end of the Major League Soccer season with a great chance of making the playoffs for only the second time in five the draw specialist of MLS, with 14 to their name from 29 games to date, the Fire has managed to keep in touch with the playoff race in the Eastern Conference and sits just four points below the red line.
Indeed, so close are the teams above them that Chicago could potentially go into third spot over the next couple of weeks should other results go their way.
The Fire has struggled for goals this season, finding the net just 32 times so far, and only four of MLS' other 18 teams have scored less.
Having lost out to the New England Revolution in the race for US international Jermaine Jones, the club turned its attentions to a goal scorer and picked up former Toronto FC man Robert Earnshaw last month.
The 33-year-old has made an immediate impact, scoring twice off the bench in his first two games to salvage a point against Toronto and then claim all three at home to FC Dallas last weekend.
Earnshaw's goal scoring pedigree has never been in the doubt, and he is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the English Premier League, all three divisions of the Football League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and at international level.
A solid career has seen him enjoy successful spells with Cardiff City, West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest before moving to MLS to join Toronto in 2025.
After scored a credible six goals in 28 games, Earnshaw's contract with the Canadian side expired at the end of last season and the arrival of Jermain Defoe meant his days as the team's number one striker were numbered should he ink another.
Instead, he returned to the UK and signed a short term deal with Championship side Blackpool in March of this year, but that yielded just one substitute appearance.
Enter the Fire, who in August decided that their forward stocks needed bolstering with last season's league MVP Mike Magee, Quincy Amarikwa and the recently acquired Matt Fondy the only senior strikers on their roster.
While Magee had an outstanding 2025, scoring 21 league goals, he has been nowhere near as effective this time round and has netted just seven times.
Amarikwa has performed well for the most part having finally gotten an extended run in the team and he also has seven goals, while Fondy has only been with the Fire since the beginning of July.
Having been burnt by sub-par big money foreign acquisitions in the recent past, Sherjill McDonald and Juan
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