Chicago Fire vs. Colorado Rapids - MLS #7: Good, Bad, & the Ugly
by Tweed Thornton on Apr 30, 2011 11:17 PM CDT
in Fire Previews & Recaps
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The Chicago Fire finished with a 1-1 draw against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night. It was a night of firsts as Carlos de los Cobos revisited his 4-1-4-1 formation for the first time this year. Corben Bone and Daniel Paladini started for the first time. Dominic Oduro started at RM for the first time. With Logan Pause injured, Marco Pappa received the honor of wearing the captain's armband for the first time in Pappa's Fire career. With the draw, the Chicago Fire went winless in April for the first time in team history. The usual Good, Bad, and the Ugly is after the break.
The Good
Marco Pappa answered the call as team captain linking up well with teammates and scoring a goal right before halftime. Dominic Oduro looked great on his assist from the wing to Pappa. Oduro made great runs down the wing all night. He might be faster than Nyarko but his dribbling is not as good. Gaston Puerari continued his hustle play. Puerari's lob pass set up Oduro's cross to Pappa. Jon Conway had some good saves. I'm not convinced he should start next Saturday though.
The Bad
Josip Mikulic had to leave the game due to a shoulder injury. Colorado's goaltender Matt Pickens came down on him after a set piece and it didn't look too bad. I'm worried that Mikulic is fragile player. The defense continues to look day and night different when Mikulic is on or off. Daniel Paladini was fairly mediocre tonight. Yamith Cuesta and Gonzalo Segares had a dispute on coverage after Andre Akpan slipped through the defense to score his goal for Colorado. The team gave up a goal after having the lead... again. Diego Chaves had too much confidence tonight. He took two shots from outside of the box when the Fire had numbers on Colorado. He is the one scoring goals so I'll give him a pass on the first chance but not the second.
The Ugly
Oduro looked solid on the wing but he also took two shoots that went nowhere near the goal. In both chances I would have liked to have seen him pass. Fans who rail against Nyarko for not shooting enough, well look at the alternative. Corben Bone was essentially invisible. However, I think the decision to start Paladini and Bone together deserves to be in 'the Ugly' itself. Chicago lost possession to Colorado 64% to 36%. Mike Videira is not an automatic starter at this point but if Logan Pause is out, why not start Videira? Videira has at least connected with Pappa, Chaves, and Puerari this year. This was a random lineup and the possession numbers show it.
Final Thoughts
At least the Fire came away with a point tonight. You usually would take that if you put out an unfamiliar lineup against the defending MLS Cup Champions on the road. Carlos de los Cobos needs to figure out what he is going to do with the central midfield. If he wants to start Dominic Oduro, what about keeping Gaston Puerari in the midfield but starting Oduro up top? We saw a lot of different attempts to resolve questions but I don't think we got too many answers. The work in progress continues. Hopefully the team can take three points next Saturday when the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps visit Toyota Park.
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Re: Videira
You don’t start Videira because he is a turnover machine. If you noticed Paladini didn’t have a glaring turnover in the defensive end. After watching the game once I thought Paladini played well in his holding midfielder role. When he got the ball he made a good pass and didn’t turn it over. Looking at possession stats for the Fire are completely misleading, this is a team that wants to absorb pressure and counter. What was so awesome about Colorado’s possession? They didn’t create a lot of chances.
Yes Corben Bone did suck but frankly that shouldn’t surprise anyone as he hasn’t had a decent half at the professional level yet. I don’t know why DLC started him with Husidic RIGHT THERE.
You are dead wrong about Oduro. Good game from him.
Paladini
I’ll have to watch again, but I’m pretty sure it was a Paladini turnover that led to the Rapid’s goal. It was orange boots for sure, so either Paladini or Pappa.
It was an odd sequence where a Fire player cleared the ball only to have the ball bounce off a teammate’s shoe and into Rapids possession again. Rough bounce either way.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
by Tweed Thornton on May 1, 2011 3:04 PM CDT up reply actions
Oduro
Agree about Oduro. He had a great game. I think if he can start seeing himself as a midfielder and start looking to hold the ball and pass instead of looking at goal, he’s dangerous. I wouldn’t return him to the top.
Oduro had a great game overall but the two shots he took were ugly. That’s all I was saying. If he would have passed instead of shoot, I think those opportunities would have been much better. Yes, hindsight is 20/20.
I would have started Husidic over Videira over Bone but I was trying to approach it from the mindset of CDLC. Carlos has Husidic low on his depth chart. I agree with Husidic over Videira personally.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
by Tweed Thornton on May 1, 2011 3:02 PM CDT up reply actions
Conway
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’d give him the start again. He hasn’t really been tested, and it’s probably nothing Johnson couldn’t do… but there have been fewer goals caused by keeper with Conway in net. Sean will have to earn his spot back by outplaying in practice.
It’s a tough call because Conway has brought in two points and stopped the bleeding but he isn’t going to lead the team to elite status. Do we want to play for the playoffs this year and maybe next or do we want to build a core that can compete for many years to come (and take some bumps along the way)? I’d rather go with the latter but Carlos de los Cobos has a job to save.
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by Tweed Thornton on May 1, 2011 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions
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