Foxborough, MA (My Sportsbook) - When the Chicago Fire and New England square off in a Major League Soccer fixture at Foxborough Stadium on Saturday night, both teams could be playing for a playoff spot.

The Fire (10-7-11) can actually clinch home field advantage for the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series with a win, while New England needs a win a a lot of help to clinch their spot in the second season a week early.

The Fire are actually coming off a 1-0 loss at Los Angeles, extending their winless streak to five games.

"It would be easy to say we don't have our usual 11," Chicago goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "We don't make excuses. The bottom line is we're good enough regardless of who we put on that field to win games every weekend. We proved it again but [the result] is unfortunate. I think we deserve more than what we got [vs. L.A.]."

Now the Fire will be gunning to get a hold of the elusive playoff spot with about a week left in the regular season.

"The most important thing is we control our own destiny," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. "If we beat New England we wrap up the second-place spot. Whatever happens with the other teams, we will deal with it. We don't worry about what other teams do. We've got to take care of our own business."

New England (10-10-8) have won just once in their last seven games, but control the last playoff spot by one point. A result vs. Chicago on Saturday would help erase the memory of a 1-0 loss to Columbus last week while playing up a man.

"A purist would say that you've got an extra man, so you should pass the ball around a little bit better," Revs coach Steve Nicol said. "The bottom line is that we didn't do anything with quality, so our passing wasn't good enough to do anything with that. At the end of the day, they packed it in and we had to try to get scraps. We didn't get on the end of any."

"We have to wake up and realize what's at stake right now," New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph said. "The thing about MLS is that once you get into the playoffs, you can still win it. Once you get in, you can make noise. We just need to get a win next week and try to beat Chicago."

The Revolution will be without defender Chris Albright, midfielder Steve Ralston, and forward Taylor Twellman, while forward Edgaras Jankauskas and midfielder Jeff Larentowicz are questionable, and backup goalkeeper Brad Knighton is probable, all with injures.

Chicago will be without midfielder John Thorrington, while defender Tim Ward is doubtful, and defenders Wilman Conde and Gonzalo Segares are questionable.