Energy should be high Thursday night when the Chicago Fire takes part in their second stadium inauguration of the season as they visit the newly constructed Livestrong Sporting Park, facing Sporting KC in their first home game of the season.
It’s been a grueling 10-game road trip for Sporting KC, who will be looking to reverse their fortunes in their home opener and begin to build positively on their abysmal 1-6-3 record. Similarly, Chicago is still looking for their first win since March 26th, when the Fire opened their season against this same Sporting KC team, coming away with the 3-2 victory. That was nearly 2 ½ months ago.
Sporting KC, playing in front of their hometown fans for the first time this season, will field a significantly depleted side, with a number of players injured or away on international duty, while Chicago is just beginning to see most of their club come back to health, and only Marco Pappa away on international duty with Guatemala.
Chicago enters Thursday preparing to play the second of three games in the course of eight days, having played to a 0-0 draw Saturday against Seattle. Just three days after facing KC, Chicago will travel across the Midwest and take on Columbus Crew Sunday afternoon. Primary in their minds, however, will be coming into another stadium inauguration, as they hope not to repeat the misfortune of their 4-2 loss in this season’s previous stadium opening at JEN-WELD Field in Portland. Chicago most certainly has the tools to beat Sporting KC, as SKC has a league-high -7 goal differential. While part of that number can certainly be attributed to a 10-game road trip, it’s apparent that Sporting KC will give up goals, and has had issues putting the ball in the back of the net.
Chicago, playing in its second match under interim coach Frank Klopas, will look to build on their game last week against Seattle. While the winless streak now stands at ten games, many positives were taken away from the scoreless draw. Increased pressure on the offensive end in the first half, in addition to a change in strategy defensively on set pieces resulted in a tighter squad under Klopas. What the Fire will need to do in order to succeed, however, is finish scoring chances. Numerous build ups Saturday resulted in little, as Kasey Keller again played solidly against the Fire, turning away the few good shots on goal they had. Regardless of who is in goal for Sporting KC, however, it’s safe to say a Keller-caliber GK won’t be manning the nets on Thursday.
The biggest question for Chicago may be whether or not they can overcome a few obstacles. First and foremost, they have to be able to come out strong from the opening whistle in enemy territory. If they come out flat as they did earlier in the season against Toronto FC or Philadelphia, Chicago could be in for a longer night that necessary. In addition, it will be interesting to see what kind of lineup Frank Klopas assembles against SKC. Daniel Paladini, last week’s star of the match, and Week 12 MLS Team of the Week member, may sit out against Sporting after sustaining a foot (heel) injury on Saturday. In addition, it seems that Cristian Nazarit may not be up to full fitness just yet, although his rate of play for the last few games he’s started (dating back to the USOC game against San Jose) has been solid, and he’s nearly found the net on a few occasions. Winger Patrick Nyarko may see more significant time against Sporting than he did against Seattle, where he came off the bench in a reserve role after being released last week from the injured list. It’s entirely possible that Klopas may opt to rest some of his starters on Thursday in lieu of saving them for the game Sunday against Columbus. Such a move might indicate that resting any Starting XI players may be more crucial now, against a team Chicago is looking down at in the standings, than to do so Sunday against a team they are trying to catch for the current final playoff spot.
Regardless of what lineup Frank Klopas presents for his Starting XI on Thursday, however, one thing that’s for sure is that Chicago seems to have some definite goals in mind. Aside from obviously walking away from KC with 3 points in hand, Chicago will want to come out early to establish their attacking game and ball possession. Setting the tempo early has been a positive for Chicago when they’ve done it, and if they continue the trend, the goals will come. Chicago, when allowing the opponent to strike first, is 0-4-2 this season. Similarly, Sporting KC is 0-5-1. So while it’s never safe to say the first team to score will win, the chances are pretty high that if Chicago can establish themselves early and draw first blood, they could go on to take the game. Chicago will also look to put an end to their winless streak, while simultaneously continuing Sporting KC in their losing ways. Chicago is ready to put the first third of the season behind them,
The hopes with Klopas coming in to replace CDLC are that the intensity of the team, the mood in the locker room, and the results on the field would change. One can only hope that with the move during Memorial Day weekend, and with the schedule ahead, Chicago can begin to turn some momentum in their favor, and start a win streak that will carry them into playoff contention as we approach the halfway point of the year.
Prediction: 1-1 Draw
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
