Reading the tea leaves, Part I: Deeeee-fense!

By: Sean | March 10th, 2008

Welp, our Fire are south of the border, preparing for the season in top-secret seclusion by playing friendlies in front of tens of thousands of Blanco fans. At least, that’s what the game summaries say. Since the Tribune’s Luis Arroyave got the Heisman from Señor Blanco, those releases from the Fire PR department are about all the information leaking north to gringo-land.

So, let’s see what they say. Think of this as reading the tea leaves … what lies in the Fire’s future? Attend to the ominous echoes of fate! (Or something.)

Let’s start at the back. I’d start with keepers, but the entire keepers preview looks like this:

‘Jon Busch is established as the starter, with mammoth rookie Dom Cervi waiting anxiously in the wings. If reports out of Nowak’s Olympic camp are to be believed, Cervi will be pushing hard for playing time once his international duties are wrapped up.’

Annnnnnnnnnnd … scene. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now, on to the backline, where there’s actual puzzling to do. Here’s the starters for the last four friendlies, with the most recent one at the bottom:

Diego Gutierrez – Wilman Conde – Bakary Soumare – Bruno Menezes
Gutierrez – Daniel Woolard – Steve Bode – Tim Regan
Brian Plotkin – Gutierrez – Soumare -Austin Washington
Gonzalo Segares – Gutierrez – Soumare – Washington

First thing that jumps out at me is how few of last year’s centerbacks Hamlett seems to rate. I mean, the one constant from game to game here is the presence of a retirement-bound holding midfielder. (This is where a reporter on the scene would make an incredible difference. Who’s hurt? Who’s pouting? Who’s impressing? The tea leaves are unclear.)

Not a lot of CJ Brown – I’m guessing he’s been injured, because he’s played like 45 minutes of soccer over these games. If he’s healthy, ouch. Hopefully he’s hurt and not preparing for retirement with a season as a bench coach.

In the ‘MIA’ column, add a certain Wilman Conde. I understand he had some visa issues that delayed his arrival in Mexico (Bruno Menezes was late arriving for the same reason). I have a hard time imagining he wouldn’t improve the backline. Or is Hamlett planning for life without him? It’s this kind of thing that an actual reporter would report, and that I can’t divine from the team sheets.

So, Austin Washington, huh? We’re used to hearing some noise from Gonzaga this time of year, but it’s almost always the hoops team. The Spokane native came on as a halftime sub in the first two games listed, and then played the full 90 the last two. Is he an outside back? Is he a central defender, and the formation is actually more a 3-5-2? The tea leaves are not clear on these points.

I’m also interested in whether the consistent presence of Soumare and Plotkin, in addition to Gutierrez, means that the Fire are really playing something like a 5-3-2 with wingbacks. Not that I’ve got convincing evidence of it – it’s just what I’d do with Plotkin on the left and Pause on the right. Demand great workrate from them; they’ve got enough skill to contribute to the attack. A three-centerback defense of Conde, Robinson, and Soumare would certainly be above average in MLS.

In general, this looks like a defense put together with an eye toward being complete footballers. A centerback pairing of Soumare and Gutierrez (or Soumare and Conde, as seems more likely if the Colombian is around) certainly has a lot more confidence on the ball than, say, Jim Curtain and CJ Brown.

Please note that all of this is, of course, skewed by injuries and other difficulties. Conde and Menezes were late joining the team because of visa problems. Dasan Robinson’s been dinged up. So, y’know, all of this can and will change.

(Of course, a reporter on the scene would tell us all about these kinds of things, but we don’t have that, do we? Cast your eyes longingly at the details coming from the preseason camps of DC United, or Dallas, or New York Red Bull, or Columbus, or LA, or Houston … ehh, well, we’ll find out soon enough. If the team wins, all is forgiven. And if they lose, well, at least we know it wasn’t the scrutiny that did them in – heh.)

Which brings us to the midfield – ahh, the midfield. We’ll talk more tomorrow.