Two struggling Eastern Conference teams face off in Toronto when the Fire and TFC battle to turn their early seasons around. In an effort to install his preferred system incorporating the Dutch style of "total football" Aron Winter's side has looked disjointed, sloppy, and down right bad at times through a 2-4-4 start. Playing a 4-3-3 formation, Winter still lacks the talent to make Toronto a legitimate playoff contender and the organization acknowledged as much by dealing Dwayne DeRosario to New York on April 1 for Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman, and a first round draft pick. A clear nod towards building for the future.
Winter has juggled his regualr line up a bit too, sometimes out of necessity. Toronto is going through an incredibly busy portion of the season playing 7 matches in the last 22 days. Only goalkeeper Stefan Frei, midfielder Jacob Peterson, and defender Adrian Cann have seen action in every MLS match so far. In their 1-0 loss in Dallas on Wednesday night the back line featured Borman, Cann, Dicoy Williams, and Richard Eckersley from left to right. Mikael Yourassowsky has aslo seen time as a starter and utility man but he is on the injury report as doubtful.
The three man midfield centers around Julian de Guzman in the middle but their most impressive player is the one acquired for DeRosario. Tony Tchani, a 22 year old 6'-4" youngster appears to have a bright future in MLS usually lining up on the right side and initiates the attack for Toronto. Peterson is the starter on the left side.
Winter's starting three forwards aren't always the same and he may make some changes again considering that TFC has another mid week match coming up this Wednesday. Of late the first choice three has been Nick Soolsma, Alen Stevanovic as the center forward, and diminutive rookie Joao Plata. Plata was named MLS player of the week after Toronto's 2-1 win against Houston last weekend. Former Galaxy forward Alan Gordon was also in the mix before picking up an injury.
The Fire back line will likely see one change as Cory Gibbs is fit and ready to return to the line up. Gibbs will likely start in place of Yamith Cuesta, who filled in admirably while he and Josip Mikulic missed time due to injury. The first choice defensive unit of Anibaba, Gibbs, Mikulic, and Segares will be on the field together for the first time since the April 17 match against Los Angeles.
Toronto's three man midfield seems to be a good match up for the five man set that De Los Cobos seems to currently favor. An attempt to switch to a 4-4-2 late in the Vancouver match did not show positive results so I'd expect that DLC will stick to the 4-1-4-1 that held possession for most of the first 75 minutes last Saturday. Logan Pause is still out of action with a hamstring injury so unless there is a game day change of thought Daniel Paladini and Corben Bone will probably get another shot in the middle. Baggio Husidic is also a consideration. Marco Pappa, Dominic Oduro, and Gaston Puerari should fill out the middle again. Patrick Nyarko is not available due to concussion symptoms, a troubling thought given his history with this issue.
Diego Chaves will play in the lone forward spot but newly acquired Cristian Nazirit will be available on the bench. Nazirit is still trying to regain full fitness after some considerable time out of game action.
Injury Report
FIRE - OUT : Mike Banner M (L achilles tendinitis), Steven Kinney D (R acilles repair), Patrick Nyarko M (concussion); DOUBTFUL: Marko Maric M (L ankle sprain/contusion); QUESTIONABLE: Logan Pause M (R hamstring strain), Sean Johnson GK (R quad strain)
TORONTO - OUT: Elbikay Bouchiba M (R knee surgery recovery), Alan Gordon F (abductor strain); DOUBTFUL: Mikael Yourassowsky (R knee tendonitis); QUESTIONABLE: Keith Makubuya F (abductor strain), Gianluca Zavarise M (abductor strain)
Referee
Elias Bazakos
Prediction
I'm getting tired of typing this but Toronto is a team the Fire should be able to beat. Of course I've said that numerous times over the last few weeks and the result hasn't come to pass.
A struggling team, schedule congestion, and some apparent internal strife with defender Nana Attakora who's been glued to the bench since a 3-0 loss to DC United are all reasons to be hopeful for a Fire victory. Winter claims that Attakora's play has kept him benched but Toronto media is speculating that the defender's refusal to sign a contract extension could be the reason for his fall out of favor.
The Fire are a better team than Toronto and could easily come out with all three points but Toronto is a difficult place to play. They are 2-1-3 at home allowing only six goals.
Fire 1 Toronto 1
The Rest of the League
New England 1 Vancouver 0 - Another short turnaround for the Whitecaps after playing on Wednesday night. The Revs however are not in good form.
Colorado 1 DC 0 - Interesting match up with the defending champions taking on a Charlies Davies led United.
Dallas 1 Philadelphia 0 - The Union has had difficulty scoring all season and a gift from Los Angeles saved a point for them on Wednesday night at home.
RSL 1 Houston 0 - Even without Morales, RSL is close to unbeatable at Rio Tinto.
Los Angeles 2 Kansas City 1 - Sporting has been idle for quite some time. Maybe they should give away free subs for every KC win.
Columbus 1 San Jose 1 - This one isn't exactly the picture of attractive soccer.
Seattle 2 Portland 1 - This one should be fun to watch.
New York 2 Chivas 0 - The Red Bulls should be too much for a Chivas side that has managed to win 2 of their last 3 matches.
Filed under: 2011 Regular Season
Tags: Chicago Fire, Toronto FC
I am afraid that the Fire's lack of a true distributing central midfielder coupled with their woefully sad tendency to plan down to opposing teams will lead to a draw, at best. Your dig at the KC sub shop was the lone bright spot in this look ahead, Guille. Are they being run by Mike North and his Webio people?
The only thing more brutal than Webio was Monsters and Money in the Morning.
More things to look for......TFC has only ONE clean sheet in their last 16 games and Stefan Frei leads MLS in saves so the Fire should be able to generate plenty of scoring chances. Actually finishing those chances of course will be key.
According to Jeff Crandall, rumors surrounding Giovanni Hernandez are untrue.
Fire line up has Cuesta and Gibbs at center back. Not sure why Mikulic is sitting yet.
Not sure why we have three defenders on the bench either. Couldn't Ferrari go? Apparently Nazarit had trouble with his visa to Canada.
Hernandez tweeted the Fire offered him a contract, but he hasn't signed.
Para lo que me han preguntado si tengo ofertas de otro equipo. Si, tengo una oferta de Chicago Fire (E.E.U.U) y m