(Photo credit: Katie Stratman)

Charlotte FC will battle a conference rival for playoff seeding when they host the Chicago Fire on Saturday evening.

Charlotte (12-7-7, 43 points) boasts an eight-game unbeaten streak as the postseason nears. It has scored at least two goals in seven of those eight games, behind team-leading scorer Pep Biel (12 goals) and new arrival Allan Saint-Maximin (five assists).

With Charlotte resting in fourth in the East and just three points from a top-two spot, any win, or conversely, any dropped points, will be crucial as it competes for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Charlotte head coach Dean Smith called the end of the regular season 'squeaky bum time,' noting that his team wanted to preserve its top-four standing.

'We've got to go out and continue to perform and win football games, but you've got a lot of jostling below you that are trying to overtake people, so it's a big time for everybody these last eight games,' Smith said. 'There are 24 points to play for each team.'

The game will occur during the international break. Lead striker Idan Toklomati (nine goals) and Liel Abada (five goals) will travel to Israel to play for the national team, leaving the squad with major absences up top.

Chicago (11-8-6, 39 points), which sits in fifth in the East, will also miss several players for international duty. Star attacker Robert Lewandowski, along with goalkeeper Chris Brady, midfielder Robin Lod and others, will miss action as they compete with their national teams.

'I think it's just dealing with it,' Fire coach Gregg Berhalter said when asked how he planned to address the absences of some of his players. 'We can't make any excuses. We built this roster for a reason, and we still have a strong squad.'

The Fire are winless in their last six league outings (0-2-4). They lost their most recent two games to the New England Revolution and Nashville SC, and they face an uphill battle to unseat Charlotte for a top-four seed.

Despite missing Lewandowski, Chicago can still lean on Maren Haile-Selassie (eight goals) and Philip Zinckernagel (five goals) for offense. Goalkeeper Josh Cohen, who hasn't made a first-team appearance since 2024 with Atlanta United, is expected to start.

--Field Level Media