Starting Line Ups
Fire
GK Johnson
D Ristic, Cuesta, Gibbs, Segares
M Oduro, Pause, Paladini, Bone
F Puerari, Nazarit
Bench : Conway, Robinson, Husidic, Nyarko, Chaves, Videira, Barouch
SKC
GK Nielsen
D Harrington, Besler, Collin, Myers
M Sassano, Arnaud, Zusi
F Kamara, Bunbury, Bravo
Bench : Kronberg, Diop, Stojcev, Cesar, Sinovic, Sapong
Filed under: 2011 Regular Season
Tags: Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City
Fire 3 Sporting 1
Let's hope so. That would be a morale booster. I'd like to see Nazarit open up his MLS tallies and Paladini seems due if last weekend was any indication.
0-0 first half
bone had a nice shot saved by nielsen, and nazarit nearly scored on a header, again saved by nielsen :(
not much flow to the game - chicago keeps trying to move the ball up the center of the field, and a lot of long balls to nazarit that arent successful. best chances so far have come off attacks up the flanks, and then passed back to the top of the box, or crossed to the penalty spot
That was one uninspired half...now I have to listen to Lalas, ouch
When you can't play anymore, you coach, and if you can't coach... you become a commentator.
Will someone stop paying him to commentate, he is brutal!
feel like i am watching a highschool team. Big guy in the middle and 2 fast guys.. everyone else just booting it forward.
puerari has been crap tonite. nazarit hasnt shown much either
nielsen blocks oduros bump over outside the box, red card for DOGSO
i'm going to start a "no more freekicks for nazarit" petition, who wants to sign it?!
There better be a pile of stoppage time here.
Done. I thought one of positives to picking up Paladini was his skill on free kicks. So far I've seen him run over several balls and leave them for others.
well here is my simple analysis of the game. two terrible teams playing terribly. geezus this 2nd half has been painful to watch
Spot on.
well said, though i'd include the 1st half too. why do i subject myself to this crap?
Brilliant move by Nielsen to take that red card, actually.
yaeh, tho the way things were going oduro woulda found a way to miss the shot, or woulda stumbled before taking a shot
if we aren't going win, might as well go back to DLC at least he made the team try to play soccer.. god painful, up a man and still looked terrible..
Harkes said at some point in time that we were seeing these teams "true colors" as bottom-of-the-table sides and he might be right. I also think we saw the "No matter what happens, don't lose" game plan from the Fire. Even so, it wasn't a great game for anyone really. Neither Puerari nor Nazarit looked very good, though they were pretty much stranded up top. I'd like to see the two Uruguayans back together as neither has been particularly productive since their early games together. Oduro blew several good builds and counters; the rest of the midfield was okay, but just didn't connect with the forwards. Bone was maybe the best of the remaining three and I would have rather seen him stay in the 2nd half. Nyarko looked like he would open things up with a few good runs and touches right after entering but then he disappeared. The defense had some shaky moments but was mostly solid; Sega had a great game after a few scary spots in the opening ten, Cuesta and Gibbs were generally effective. Ristic was ok but nearly blew it with a risky challenge on Bravo in the box. SJ looked generally fine but didn't really get tested.
Despite the pre-season hype, SKC doesn't really look all that good. If the Fire had played as aggressively and hungrily as they did against Seattle, they could've easily gotten three points. But then, maybe you can't blame Klopas for playing it safe at the LSP opener. Still, generally a disappointment.
last season nyarko used to run at the defense. this season.... he doesnt really do much of anything.
lol someone is going to be fined
RobbHeineman twitter
Kennedy strikes again....@sportingkc
Should have kept Bone in, left Chaves on the bench, he did more to disrupt the flow then anything, some good runs by Oduro but for naught, seems the only one that knows his position is Barouch,
nearly scored probably on his only touch of the game. Pretty pathetic, having the man on top have one touch of the ball in 23 minutes, that one touch off a rebound. Late in the game he was open for pass but Chaves went the other way to another player that was covered up.The team's passing is miserable, either passing when they should shoot, shoot when they should pass, pass to the wrong player, or passing directly to an opposition player.
Is punting the only way Johnson knows to distribute the ball, less than a 50/50 chance of maintaining possession on long punts, but maybe that's the only way the Fire can get the ball in the oppositions side of the field.
Big step backward from the Seattle game, big lack of coordination and teamwork, especially being a man up much of the second half, feels more like a defeat than a tie.
"What the Hell is Klopas thinking by letting Nazirit continue
to take Goal Scoring Opportunity Free Kicks"?????
That's two poor free kicks right into the wall by Nazirit.
Paladini would be a much better choice isn't that one of
the reasons he brought over to play for the Fire????
I want to see Chavis and Puerari on at the same time with
Orr Barouch and keep Nazirit on the Bench for a game or two.
Nazirit hasn't impressed me so far and I question all the hype.
No goals against this very bad KC defense.
The game in Columbus is looking like as close to a must game as you can get because a loss puts the Fire 11 points behind the Crew.
Lalas is an egomaniacal blowhard who doesn't know much about the game relative to his experience.
Perhaps once the USA has a world class player (besides Mia Hamm) we'll also get greater-than-substandard American commentators.
Can't blame the Fire too much for sitting back trying to stay tight in the back to dull the SKC home-opening momentum. For putting on very little pressure up high, there have been more good counterattack opportunities than you might expect. If it weren't for a few slip-ups (sometimes literally) from Oduro, we might have had some close looks. Still, they need to come out big in the 2nd half and try and impose a little. Kei Kamara looks beat, Bunbury is way off the mark... keep the defense in control, build up a little. Paladini and Bone look pretty good and Pause has had some good touches. Maybe a sub at forward could provide some energy? Wouldn't mind seeing Barouch or a Chaves-Puerari reunion.
Too much bootball. Can someone on this team learn to run a break for the love of christ?