Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Things are Surprisingly Looking Up

So it was another week and another come from behind win for the Chicago Fire This week their victims were the Philadelphia Union, who took the lead in the 34th minute when a cross from the right side caused some cunfusion between Anibaba and Johnson. The ball eventually found the back of the net coming off of Anibaba. The Fire had a great response by tieing the goal through great work by Macdonald out on the wing to beat Soumare to the end line which he produced a cross that eventually found the feet of Rolfe who slotted it home. Then right before half, the Fire found the go ahead goal off a corner that met the head of Friedrich and found the back of the net. Did I call for him to score in the game against TFC, sorry I meant the he was going to score against Philly. In the second half the Rolfe finished the scoring by releasing a rocket from just inside the top right corner of the 18 that found Macmath's fingers but was too hot for him to stop. Overall the team responded great to going down and eventually put the game away by controlling most of the possession and limiting the Union to only 2 shots on goal.

So after 2 games of seeing our new DP's I have this to say. I thought that the Fernandez pick up was good to begin with and he has proven his worth through his work rate and ability to provide something that I believe had been missing. That something is the ability to create space and move the ball through quick one-twos with the other mids and forwards. His first touch is something that we had been missing since Grazzini left for "personal matters".  As for Macdonald, I may be wrong about this signing because he has shown good ability to hold up the ball, make some good passes to the other attackng players, and also the ability to create space by using good footwork and his size. This is what Oduro has missing from his game. I think Oduro is one of those forwards that is still very useful to the team but the formation and style that Frank employs is not very suitable to his strengths. Yes I know he had a good year under Klopas last season but at the same the league has figured out how to play him. In this very physical league I think that a forward with size and strength has more of a chance to prosper.

One problem we did have was that Pause had to be subbed before halftime after colliding with Soumare 20 minutes earlier and it was found he broke a couple ribs and had a collapsed lung. You can read about it here. This is a chance for some of the other players to step up that haven't seen the field as much this year due to the consistent play of Pardo and Pause. So I'm looking at you Paladini to step up and sot right in and bring some energy to the lineup.

This week we have the Revolution coming to town for a Saturday night affair. NE looked to be on the up and up but after not winning a game since July 8th and only collecting 1 point in that time frame they are looking to be throwing up the white flag for this season. The main sign of that was by trading Sharlie Joseph to Chivas USA. Joseph was the unquestioned leader of the team and I don't think that the New England mids will be able to compete with ours. Still they do have a couple of strong forwards in Sene and Bengston but I think our back line should be able to deal with them. Our mids will have to shut down the attacking mids of the Revs though. They will have to target Feilhaber and Nguyen to shut down because all of the attacking goes through those 2 players. I still think that we will come out winners by a scoreline of 3-0 with goals from Rolfe, Macdonald, and i think Berry will get his noggin on another one this week.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Short Rewind and weekend Preview for Matchday #23

Last Saturday the Fire looked pretty good despite a few players having off games and not finishing all of the chances we had. The score line didn't reflect the number of chances that fell into the Fire's lap. We beat a team that was on a little roll as of late, as the Fire picked up all 3 points at home against Toronto. They fell behind in the first half due to some sloppy play which ended up being a give away from Pappa. Which in my opinion he didn't have a good night overall despite scoring the equalizer in the second half. The equalizer came from miscommunication in the Toronto back which led Pappa to be able to round the keeeper and from a tight angle put it in. The go ahead goal came in the 84th after Toronto saw a player sent off for a 2nd yellow. Nyarko earned the Fire a free kick on the outside which Pardo sent into the box to meet the head of Berry who put it into the corner past the Toronto keeper who was frozen in place. Berry is going to be a stud in I say 2 years, in which that time he will be a regular for the USMNT and a starter for European league(my best guess would either be in the EPL or the Bundesliga). That was the game because shortly after Toronto were reduced to 9 when a player(can't remember who it was) was forced off due to injury and no remaining subs. This also marked the debuts of Fernandez and Macdonald at home. Fernandez looked good up until a slight knock right before half which forced him off just after halftime. He provided energy and creativity to the attack. The entire time he was out there his work rate was second to none. I believe he can be a Fire legend if he sticks around. Macdonald on the other hand was a breath of fresh air up top. Yes I was skeptical of him signing with the team but what he showed in the 45 minutes was a willingness to do his job. He did almost everything that Oduro can't do. Macdonald held up the ball to wait for support, made some great passes, and was able to hold off defenders with his strength. If he can get into game shape I think that Oduro will be relegated to being a 2nd half sub.

On to a short preview for Sunday's game against Philly. The Fire should be able to take maximum points as the Union look to be playing better after the departure of Nowak. It should be a tough test especially if ex-Fire defender Bakary Soumare is ready to make his first appearance for Philly after signing with the league again. But with no pressing injuries for the Fire, Klopas should field the same team as last week with possibly Oduro starting on the bench in favor of Macdonald. Should be an interesting game to see how much the team has gelled with another week of training with each other. Look for some more opinions and write up next week as I recap tommorrow's match and other random thoughts.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

So the Fire Made Some Improvments and a Quick Look at August

It's been a little while since my last post and alot has happened in between now and then with the Fire. They were able to off load the the other player that needed to go(Robayo), brought in another player in Fernandez by trading MLS funny money to Seattle, and actually played a great game against the leagues best team. So everything that I said in the last post was almost the exact opposite. Chicago found a way to go into San Jose and find a way to dominate and come back home with a point which should have been 3 points but San Jose coach Frank Yallop threw a tantrum to get more extra time and San Jose scored the equalizer. Enough about that, lets move on.

Well the Fire did get rid of Robayo by sending him back home and in his place they were able to get a capable mid that the more I look at turns out to be a great move. They were able to trade for Alvaro Fernandez from Seattle for little to nothing. This is a good move because he can play any position in the attacking side of mid field, he is good in the air, can cross the ball, and tracks back on defense. His mind set reminds me alot of Ivan Guerrero, in that he seems to be a player that plays for the team and doesn't complain. Another good thing is that he will be here through the 2013 season and being 26 there is a good chance that he will be a fixture in our line up for years to come. With Alex struggling to be that CAM that we so desperately need, Fernandez has said that he is most comfortable in the middle but can play on the wings. To me I would rather have Fernandez at CAM than Alex due to the simple fact that Fernandez already has a couple season in the MLS under his belt and he knows what it takes to play in this league. It will be interesting to see how he will be used and hopefully Frank uses him week in and week out in the starting line up.

Here's my look into the crystal ball for the month of August. We have 4 games starting with Toronto tonight followed by a trip to Philly, back home against the Revs, and then finished with a trip to DC. This could be a great month for the Fire as they look to finish strong in the last 13 games, which are all against the Eastern Conference. I would like to see the Fire take all 12 points in the month of August but would be happy with 10 points. To me if the Fire fail to get at least 7 points this month this would make the road to the playoffs much harder as 3 of the next 4 games are against oppents looking up at the FIre in the standings. We will have to wait and see what happens but as for tonight I predict the Fire will take advantage of a Toronto team that played mid week in the CCL and win 3-0 through goals by Fernandez, Rolfe, and the long shot Friedrich.