Chicago opens their home campaign Saturday against a Philadelphia Union side that is struggling in more ways than one. An near sellout is expected when the Men in Red take the pitch for their first home game of the season, hoping to take three points away and stay near the top of an already-struggling Eastern Conference.
While Philadelphia has been known to give Chicago fits over their first two seasons in MLS play, the Union enter Toyota Park Saturday 0-2 on the season, after dropping their First Kick match against Portland two weeks ago, followed by a home loss last weekend against visiting Colorado Rapids. Philly’s offensive woes, in the form of the unfamiliar partnership of Mwanga and Pajoy, will likely run into issues against Chicago’s stalwart defensive core of Anibaba, Gibbs, Segares, and Gargan. If Chicago has an achilles heel defensively, it comes in the form of central marking in the box, as Montreal’s only goal in Chicago’s season opener came at the expense of an unmarked Davy Arnaud. Similarly, Chicago allowed goals off headers in the box during preseason as well. One has to think that the entrance of Chicago newcomer and German international fixture Arne Friedrich will help eliminate that weakness, however the German centerback will not be available for a few weeks, as he works with the team and trainers to gain match fitness after starting training with the club this week. If Philly hopes to have any success against Chicago, it will have to be in the air.
On the offensive side of the ball for Chicago is the Ghanaian pairing of Dominic Oduro and Patrick Nyarko that fans saw during the latter part of the 2011 season. In their opener against Montreal, Nyarko was effective at splitting the Impact defense early, although neither he nor Oduro was able to capitalize on early game defensive jitters. Once the Impact settled in, it became increasingly difficult to create chances and quality shots on goal for Chicago. This week’s Philadelphia defense will likely not give Chicago the same problems, however. A weak backline will have to put in double the work to prevent quality scoring chances from Chicago, be it via the long passes over the top from Pardo and Grazzini that Chicago has become known for, or balls worked into the box through openings on the wing where Chicago hopes to exploit the inexperience and weaknesses of the Union outside backs. With all the buzz surrounding the omission of the Union’s Danny Califf from this weekend’s traveling team, as well as Sheanon Williams being away with the USMNT U23 Olympic qualifying squad, Chicago will most certainly be able to break down Philadelphia’s defense and succeed at getting a few past Union GK Zack MacMath, who’s already exhibited a few shaky moments in the 2012 campaign.
While this game perhaps doesn’t carry the “must win” gravitas that some matches in 2011 carried due to their place in the standings, Saturday’s match against Philly certainly qualifies as a “should win”. If the Fire expect other teams to take them seriously as a playoff contender this year, three points against the Union on their home pitch needs to be a reality. Games like these early in the season can go a long way towards defining the club and building the necessary confidence as the season picks up momentum, especially if Chicago is able to capitalize on the early struggles of many of their conference opponents.
(Image courtesy of chicago-fire.com)
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