With trophies on the line, Fire have limited time to find form

By: Dieter Kurtenbach | July 6th, 2010

The Fire are wallowing in the middle of the MLS table, and without a spark to push the team to a higher level, they might remain unmistakably mediocre.

The loss of John Thorrington will, of course, be major for the Fire. But the new 4-5-1 formation is allowing Marco Pappa to create more opportunities. At this current juncture in the fixtures, the only offense that is being created is coming from the foot of Pappa, and, well, Pappa can’t do it alone.

Chicago is a strong enough team defensively to stay in games, but offensively, they need better performances by the attacking midfielders and most importantly Patrick Nyarko.

Pappa has been carrying this team on his back—Brian McBride is not finishing with the swagger you would like to see, but he is still doing his part. Nyarko is qualifies for none of the above.

The new 4-5-1 formation is Fire head coach Carlos de los Cobos’ way of forcing Nyarko to find his form. The formation gives Nyarko more room to roam, create the play and set up his teammates. Nyarko doesn’t have to score the goals, he doesn’t have to be the talisman—those roles are filled by Pappa and McBride. Nyarko does have to be an integral part of each game, a player that forces a marking. He is not such a player currently, and he might find his way out of de los Cobos’ favor if he doesn’t kick into gear soon, especially with Thorrington and Collins John nearly ready to join the lineup.

On to the next one:
The Fire are a good enough team to contend for hardware this year.
But after they were eliminated in the US Open Cup’s round of sixteen by a third-tier team for the second consecutive year (catch all of that?) the Fire will now focus their full attention on gaining ground in the Eastern tables and on the upcoming SuperLiga matches.

SuperLiga starts next Wednesday and the Fire have drawn a tough, but winnable group. The fellow American team in SuperLiga Group A is the New England Revolution, who are struggling with D.C. United at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Without Taylor Twellman, the Revs are punchless. With him, it’s still a weak jab.

That said, with the Fire’s current form, the Revs are just shy of equal, as evidenced by the 1-0 win in New England on June 27.

If the Fire can find their top form, they are the cream of the crop in Group A, despite that fact, both the Mexican sides will be tests. The Fire start their SuperLiga campaign against Monarcas Morelia, who were semifinalists in both the Torneo Apertura and Bicentenario. Manarcas are not a strong regular season team, but they are adept at tournaments. The Fire match up favorably with them on paper, but much like the Charleston Battery, who have a history of strong US Open Cup runs, some teams just play better in knockout tournaments. Manarcas is one of those teams.

The other Mexican side in Group A is Pumas, who had a rough Apertura, but came on strong in the second half of the year, finishing fourth in the Bicentenario classification phase and first in their group play afterwards.

The games will be the first for the Mexican sides since May, when Pumas lost in the quarterfinals of the Bicentenario tournament and Monarcas lost 7-1 to Santos Laguna.

The Fire have an opportunity to catch the teams in rusty form, and need only beat New England again to advance to the next round.

Given the Fire’s current fitness, that might be a tall test, but with all three games being played at Toyota Park, they might just get a much needed boost. Furthermore, at this juncture in the Fire’s season, more games are a good thing. The Fire need to find a groove, and such a groove is usually not found during practice.

The Fire’s first opportunity to find form will be on Thursday, when they take on defending MLS Cup Champions Real Salt Lake.

RSL is coming off a 5-0 Friday-night drubbing of the Revs at Rio Tinto. Robbie Findley, who was a surprise addition to the U.S. World Cup team, returned and scored for the Royals, and adds a further dimension of treat for the Fire backline, who’s recent form has been of the ‘bend-don’t break’ variety.

That said, if the Fire can find a way to win, the confidence boost would be huge and could propel them into a winning streak.

Now would be the time to have one, with two trophies that up for grabs and one month to establish a position of contention in both.