A Friday Night Lights football match-up is an event, at least when it’s real football. There is no rivalry between Kansas City and Chicago, but every time these two meet you are guaranteed an excellent match. Form-wise, the advantage is in Chicago’s favor. Sporting Kansas City have drawn and lost their last two league games, although they were able to regain their footing somewhat with a win in the Quarterfinals of the US Open Cup. Granted, that win in the US Open Cup was against USL (Division III) side Dayton Dutch Lions, a team that has only one win in their league and has scored a total of 9 goals this season. Still, a win is a win and gives confidence and by this logic Chicago have to be slight favorites. For the first time this season, Chicago is riding back-to-back wins. Not ordinary wins either, but strength of character wins.
Against the New York Red Bulls, the Fire dominated in a 3-1 victory. One of the little discussed aspects of this match was the focus that Chicago demonstrated when the refereeing failed to grant a goal to Dominic Oduro, a goal that everyone but the referees were able to see clearly crossed the line before New York defender William Conde was able to kick it away. The incident sparked yet another round of the goal-line technology debate, a fuss that segued brilliantly into a similar controversy with the England Ukraine match in the Euro 2012 championship. What was lost in this debate was the fact that Chicago was able to keep mentally fixed. They did not allow the no-goal weaken their resolve to score and win. Too often when a penalty isn’t award that clearly should have been or when a no-goal or an own goal occurs the ‘suffering’ team will turn in on itself and fold. A team (and its supporters) can too easily take shelter under the aegis of “We were robbed” or “The refereeing took the match from us.” But Chicago refused and, in fact, became more deadly eventually opening up the game putting it out of New York’s reach.
To match that performance, last week against long-time rival Columbus Chicago held on to win 2-1. When Marco Pappa scored in the second minute and Dominic Oduro made it 2-0 in the 26th minute, it looked like the Fire was on their way to another blow out win. Then Fire left back Gonzalo Segares was red carded in the 29th minute on an unfortunately timed tackle on Crew midfielder Tony Tchani. An injection so early in a match can put a team on its heels and too often leads to desperate play as the reduced squad drop into a bunkering mode with only the hope to save a draw. Chicago, however, refused this mentality. Yes, the red card stopped their momentum (Tchani put the Crew on the board just before halftime), but the Fire gathered themselves up and not only continued to defend their lead but also refused to quit attacking to extend it. Much like the mental collapse that can come when a call isn’t given as happened against New York, the mental panic that can occur when playing a man down have routinely dominated squads. It is an exceptional team that can confront these twists of the game and come out victors, which is why Chicago has to be given the advantage in their match up against Kansas City.
Sporting are a team that has been playing at a very high, very successful level all season. Last week’s brutal 4-0 loss to the beyond mediocre Philadelphia Union was an anomaly; Sporting Kansas City is not a team that loses by that margin. The Union match was a fluke for both sides. When Chicago comes into Livestrong Park they will be seeing a team back to its winning ways and looking to keep a healthy distance between themselves and the Fire. Chicago is looking to break away from the pack in the Eastern Conference—Houston, Columbus, New England, and Montreal are all within three points of each other. Although four points clear, Chicago can be brought back into this quagmire if they do not win against Kansas City. A win for Chicago won’t move them up the standings but it will set them among the top tier of Eastern Conference teams.
It will be tough for Chicago as major pieces of their squad will not be available. As mentioned, Gonzalo Segares will be unavailable as he serves his red card suspension. What this means for the Fire backline is unclear: rookie Hunter Jumper could be called upon to take Segares’s place at left back (a move that I think would be the wisest and easiest), right back Dan Gargan could be moved over with Logan Pause filling the spot vacated by Gargan and Rafael Robayo (playing his natural role as a box-to-box midfielder) or Daniel Paladini (Pause’s usual understudy in the holding midfielder role) would be alongside Pavel Pardo, or Jalil Anibaba can be moved to fullback (a role he played last season) and (if he’s healthy) Arne Friedrich paired with rookie Austin Berry. Options, certainly.
Speaking of options, it turns out Sebastian Grazzini’s contract has been taken up and that he will be with the Fire until the end of the year. This was a move that slide under the wire and it’s a good thing too given that the stalled negotiations had started to attract league notice. Simon Borg in Wednesday’s SmorgasBorg column wrote that “Little do the Fire know that they actually hit the jackpot. They have on their hands a left-footed, creative genius, in many ways reminiscent of D.C. United legend Marco Etcheverry, capable of great passes and great goals who has proven a great fit in MLS and with the Fire since the very first day.” It would be a horrible embarrassment to the team in the eyes of the league to watch Grazzini walk away. That said this hardly puts to bed the drama surrounding the situation. Managing Director Javier Leon spoke about the contract situation making it clear that Grazzini’s option has been picked up (in fact, it had been picked up a month ago which brings into question the entire handling of the situation in the press by the front office) but that Grazzini will not be traveling to Kansas City for “family reasons” and/or because he hasn’t trained everyday this week. Either way you look at it, it is a flimsy premise. I wouldn’t stop worrying about Grazzini’s status until after the 4th of July.
(image courtesy of Brian Kersey/Chicago Fire)
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