It’s been a while now since the Fire’s 2-0 thrashing of D.C. United, but the passage of time hasn’t made that victory any less impressive. As a said in the immediate aftermath of the match, this was the Fire’s most complete performance of the season, and even against a bottom-dwelling side, the Fire deserve a lot of credit for thoroughly dismantling a team that does possess a lot of quality.
While every man in the squad deserves credit for Chicago’s best ever start to a league season, nobody is more deserving of plaudits than head coach Denis Hamlett. I would still argue that he has yet to prove himself from a tactical standpoint - some of his lineup decisions have really left me scratching my head. Nevertheless but the coach has managed to keep his players motivated and playing at a very high level over the season’s first seven games – a combination teams often struggle to achieve early on in an MLS season. The Fire have also displayed wonderful organization on the pitch all season long, thanks mainly to Hamlett, along with veterans like Cuautemoc Blanco and Diego Gutierrez. Furthermore, the Fire have even drawn attention from the national media for having perhaps the best team spirit in MLS – a characteristic of the team that I agree on and that I think really bodes well for Chicago’s prospects this season.
To be frank, the Fire have been playing some of their best football in recent memory and it looks like team chemistry may be at an all-time high. The Fire’s combination of talented young players like Chris Rolfe, Bakary Soumare, Justin Mapp, Chad Barrett, and Gonzalo Segares, and experienced veterans like Blanco, Gutierrez, and Jon Busch has been a revelation. Additionally, the Fire still have a number of potentially key contributors who haven’t made much of an impact this season waiting in the wings, in the form of defenders Wilman Conde, Dasan Robinson, and C.J. Brown, and forwards Patrick Nyarko and Andy Herron. The way things have gone for Chicago in recent weeks, somebody new has come up with a big contribution right on cue whenever the Fire need it, and a string of wins has been the result. Chicago has been as impressive as anyone in MLS so far this season and are without question contenders for the Supporters Shield and MLS Cup.
With all that said, though, it is too early in the season for fan’s to make an awful lot of Chicago’s torrid start. It’s understandable that Chicago have been the darlings of the national media all week, after all they have to write something, but it’s easy to forget that we’re still only a quarter of the way through the season. Remember, last year’s MLS Cup Champion (and today’s Fire opponent) Houston Dynamo got off to a rather slow start in 2007, and let’s not forget that the Fire were in last place in the Eastern Conference midway through the season before eventually making it to the conference finals. Chicago looks great right now, but the playoffs are still 23 games away and every roster in the league will look different by summer’s end. The Fire will surely endure injuries, goal droughts, and harsh refereeing decisions within that time. It’s great that the Fire have a head start on everyone except Columbus towards winning the Supporter’s Shield and making the playoffs, but whether or not this season goes down as a historic one for the Fire will be decided in October and November. Just saying.
A few notes:
- Pedro Gomez reported during the Fire’s win over DC that Wilman Conde is once again unhappy in Chicago, this time due to the fact that he hasn’t played. Conde has drawn the criticism of numerous fans for airing his dirty laundry in public, but in this case I sympathize with the Colombian defender. As he has pointed out, if he’s really so good that the Fire won’t trade him, why has he only appeared in one match? I can understand that Hamlett wants to keep in tact a backline that has only allowed three goals so far this season, but Conde needs to play and there are other ways to get him on the pitch. I would love to see Conde come in for Mapp at left-mid when the American is inevitably subbed out at around 70 minutes of any match the Fire are leading. Conde actually played occasionally on the left wing under then coach Juan Carlos Osorio last season, and bringing in a quality player with an excellent defensive prowess would make a lot of sense while the Fire are trying to hold on to a lead. Another option would be for Conde to come on as a defensive midfielder either as a partner for Logan Pause, or as a late replacement from the holding midfielder. The point is, it’s a huge waste for the Fire to spend the amount of money they are on Conde on somebody who doesn’t play, and I think the defender has a lot to offer the team. Here’s hoping that he gets in today against Houston.
- Stephen King and John Thorrington will both be unavailable for today’s match, which means the Fire will have to find a new player to use on the right wing. I’m expecting Hamlett to move Chris Rolfe back to that position and insert Tomasz Frankowski as a second forward along side Chad Barrett meaning that the Fire will be using the same 4-4-2 formation that they did over the first 5 games of the season. My hope, though, is that Hamlett will simply insert Calen Carr into last week’s lineup as a right midfielder, which would allow Chicago to stick with the same 4-5-1 that has worked so well over the last two weeks. In that formation, Chris Rolfe is asked to cover a lot of ground as the forward most midfielder on offense, and a defender behind Blanco and Barrett when Chicago does not have the ball. Rolfe has fulfilled this role very well, however, scoring against New England and performing well in both matches. We’ve already seen Calen Carr perform adequately on the right wing at times, he started in that position during Chicago’s playoff series against DC last season, so I think using him at right mid is Chicago’s best option. If the Fire revert to a 4-4-2, however, I feel as though the squad is weakened offensively and defensively.
On defense, the Fire are worse off in a 4-4-2 because Blanco is asked to defend behind Barrett and Frankowski, meaning that the Fire basically have a really weak defender in the center of midfield. Let’s not forget the way that teams like San Jose penetrated into Chicago’s attacking third seemingly at will earlier this season when the Fire used this lineup.
In addition to being weaker defensively, however, I feel as though the Fire’s 4-4-2 lineup, with Rolfe on the right wing, doesn’t meet its potentially offensively. This is due to the fact that Rolfe, who is easily the team’s best goal-scorer, can’t get forward enough to make himself much of a goal scoring threat, because he has to cover defensively for the likes of Barrett, Frankowski, and Blanco.
Here’s hoping we don’t see Frankowski in the starting lineup tonight.
- Cuautemoc Blanco’s goal won Sierra Mist Goal of the Week this week, as expected. All-star voting has opened on mlsnet.com, so now is a good time to log on start voting for your favorite Fire stars to participate in this year’s event in Toronto. In my opinion, Blanco, Soumare, and Segares all deserve strong consideration for their play so far this season, while guys like Rolfe and Mapp still have a shot if their production picks up over the next month or so.
- The tables have turned considerably since Chicago and Houston last met in Chicago, when the Dynamo thrashed the Fire 4-0 at Toyota Park. At the time, Blanco had yet to join the Chicago outfit which was near the bottom of MLS, and the Dynamo’s new signings Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya were helping Houston kick start the run that would end in their winning the MLS Cup.
Now, however, the Fire sit in second place in MLS, while Houston, without the players I just mentioned, only got its first win of the season last week. Still, there’s no denying that the Dynamo possess more quality in their team than their results this season would indicate, and Fire fans should hope that tonight’s match doesn’t turn out to be a breakout game for player’s like Dwayne DeRosario, Brian Ching, and Brad Davis. I’m expecting a hard fought match, with the Fire hopefully managing to pull out the win. Whether or not Rolfe is given enough freedom in attack will likely determine tonight’s outcome.
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