LA and Rapids Reviews and DC Preview

By: Matthew | August 29th, 2009

Fire Fans,
We have two new bloggers for the site: Joe and I. We will be posting for the Fire. Please comment and let us know what you want to see. Also feel free to agree or disagree. Lively conversation would be a nice thing to see on the site.

For my first post, I will go over my first two visits to Toyota Park. I live in the Detroit area, but am extremely loyal to the Fire. I try to watch every game, either live or as a rerun. For the last two, I was lucky enough to be at both games live. After quickly reviewing both games, I will get into a preview for tonight’s game against DC.

For the LA game, my two friends and I road-tripped for the night to see the game. The twelve hours of driving was so worth the game even though it was not the best played game. The Fire never really had all that many great attacks. The passing was sub-par. The Beckham-less Galaxy were playing with such confidence. Their passing just tore us apart.

Even though I visit Chicago often, I never seem to be in when the Fire are playing at home. So I took advantage of the $10 tickets for the game against the Rapids. The emotions which surrounded this game were unbelievable. After losing earlier in the week to LA and slowly moving further away from the top of the east, we needed a win. The first half was one to forget, play went back and forth with no goals and few good opportunities. The second half started with a bang, and a bad one. We conceded two goals, but we still were not out of it. The Fire are one of the best late game teams in the MLS. I heard a stat recently that the Fire have more goals after the 75th minute than any team in the MLS.

Blanco’s PK was what really turned the pace around. The Fire started playing with confidence, passing the ball well, taking and making opportunities. The second goal was bouncing around the box until Banner ripped a shot past Pickens. Both teams fought until three minutes into stoppage time and Robinson pounced on a loose ball in front of the net. I screamed and jumped after that goal like a little girl at a Jonas Brothers Concert. It was the definition of an epic match.

My first experiences at Toyota Park were great. I was able to sneak into the extremely lively Section 8 at both games, thanks to no security checks at the section entrance. Standing, screaming and cheering for my team was such a rush. The park is also beautiful! I have made two trips down to Crew Stadium with my friends and it looks like a dump compared to the pristine aura of Toyota Park. It was also great to see all sections involved in the game. I cannot wait to go back.

So what should we take from these games?

-Nyarko needs to work on his ball control. Both games he would be given a nice ball but would lose it so fast because his touch would be too far.
-Never give up. The team never was really in it against LA, but they fought all the way through the final whistle to win the game. It is such a cliche to say, but this is perfect evidence.
-When Blanco plays well, so does the team. This point worries me since we are most likely losing him next season.
-Playing long balls does not fit our style, especially with Nyarko not playing so well. If he had better touch these past two games, we could have easily beaten both teams. Without McBride, we need another style, like getting fouls or on the ground play which led to all three goals against the Rapids.

So what about this weeks game against DC?
-This season we are 0-1-1 against DC. Lets split the series.
-DC is 5th in the East, but still a strong team. However compared to the rest of our schedule, this should be one of our easier games. The Fire play the #1, 3, and 4 of the East and #2 and 3 of the West in the last two months (six games) of the season. With the standings as they are in the East (1 point shy of first place Crew) and having played more games than all other Eastern teams, we need the three points to help us solidify our chances for a playoff berth.
-We are not the strongest team at home, and DC is weak on the road. We need to take advantage of this to solidify our home record.
-DC’s form is not so good. They haven’t won a MLS match since mid-July. Lets keep it that way.
-The Fire players are fragile. There are a lot of injuries, especially on the back line. However, I would argue that the Fire are one of the deepest teams in the league. It is time for our second string to shine. This will be great preparation for next year, considering we probably will be losing some of our best players to retirement or other leagues.
-I watched part of a mid-week game of DC’s against Toluca in the CONCACAF Champions League. They fell apart at home, 3-1 loss. They are likely to come out mad after that, but we can try to take advantage of their misery if we control the game early.
-They are highest scoring team in MLS, which worries me due to the gaps we have in defense.
-The Fire need to stop the long ball play. It has not been working. Bringing the ball down the flanks and passing it into the middle or running straight at them are our best chances to create opportunities.

Prediction: 2-1 Fire
I think that the Fire will score first late in the first half and then DC will equalize near the start of the second, taking advantage of our injury riddled defense, but the Fire will keep fighting for the third goal and get it around 75th minute. I’ll say Rolfe and Pappa are the goal scorers for the Fire and Emilio for DC.