Fire Preview: KC At Home

By: irish_steve | April 17th, 2009

The Fire go into this game as 1 of the only 2 undefeated teams in the Eastern Conference on the back of a 3-3 draw against San Jose in sunny California. The Fire welcome back Wilman Conde and Johnny “Hot Rod” Thorrington from injury and suspension respectively. Both men’s presences were missed in San Jose where defensive mistakes resulted in the Fire giving up 3 goals in a game for the first time since October of 2008 against Toronto. Last season the Fire tied 2 and lost 1 against KC. Last season’s game in Chicago almost exactly a year ago resulted in a 1 nil win for KC.

Justin Mapp and Brandon Prideaux didn’t have great games against San Jose last week and I expect both men to be replaced by Chris Rolfe and John Thorrington. All the indications are that Blanco will start on the bench. I think we will see the Fire lining up like this:

——————————Busch—————————————-
Ward————Conde———–Bakay———————–Sega
Rolfe————-Thorrington——–Pause——————–Pappa
——————-Nyarko———-McBride

The Fire have given up a goal in the first half in 3 of the 4 games so far this season, a stat that Dennis Hamlett will surely be looking to change. As we have noted time and time again, the Fire’s home form last season was not up to scratch and they will be looking to build on the impressive 1-0 victory of New York 2 weeks ago. As for KC, they are 2-2 this season and are coming off the back of a 1 nil victory over previously unbeaten Seattle. Casey Keller was sent off early in the encounter and KC won the game on a fluke Davy Arnaud goal. Arnaud is the danger man for KC, scoring 3 goals in 4 games from midfield so far this season. KC have a wealth of attacking options with Arnaud, Claudio Lopez, Hercules Gomez and former Fire favorite Josh Wolff. Their backline however is very suspect, with Jimmy Conrad anchoring the otherwise suspect backline.

Prediction: With the Fire back to its first choice starting 11 this weekend I’m expecting nothing less than a home win. 2-1 Fire with goals from Chris Rolfe and Nyarko.

Fire fans who aren’t going to the game can watch this on FSC with kickoff at 7:30.