Match Day #3 Preview and Random Thoughts
On Sunday the Fire travel to the mile high state to take on the Colorado Rapids. The Fire are coming off their first win of the season while opening their home slate last weekend. The Rapids come off an embarrassing loss to the Redbulls at Redbull Arena last weekend after starting the season with 2 wins. This can be a tricky game for the Fire to go in and steal all 3 points from the Rapids while playing in Colorado. I know people say that the altitude should not be a factor but unfortunately it is. The problem that I see the fire having if they cannot control possession is that certain midfield players will be fatigued rather quickly in the second half. The players that I’m concerned about are Pardo, Grazzini, and Pappa. Pardo came off in the second half of last week’s game with apparent fatigue; hopefully he can go the full 90 this weekend. Grazzini came off also last week after almost completing 90 minutes, a feat he rarely accomplishes since joining the Men in Red. As for Pappa, we all know rarely goes the full 90. If the fitness of at least Pardo and Grazzini does not hold up for the majority game the Fire are going to have a tough time controlling the game and dictating the way that they want to play. With that being said I do believe the Fire can control this game as long as they play smart, make good passes to each other’s feet, make Colorado’s back line work, and let the ball do all the work. Here is the lineup I would like to see:
Tornaghi
Gargan-Anibaba-Gibbs-Segares
Pardo
Robayo-Grazzini-Pause
Oduro-Nyarko
I know after Pappa’s good game offensively last week, I think that having him off the bench would be a good thing especially if Klopas has to take off Grazzini early in the second half. Even though Johnson is back and unavailable for the weekend, I would actually like to see Tornaghi stay in the net for the foreseeable future. He has put in 2 solid games so far and looks very comfortable commanding his 18 yard box.
I see the Fire going into this one and having a hard fought game. I can see goals coming from Nyarko and Pardo as the Fire win 2-1.
Random Thoughts
· The league suspended and fined Houston’s Colin Clark for verbally abusing a ball boy. He specifically used a gay slur that was caught on cameras last Friday when Houston played at Seattle. Good for the League to suspend him because there is no place in soccer for this.
· The Fire announced a summer friendly against Aston Villa on July 21st. Well this is different from what we have seen in the past. Too bad we didn’t have the chance to take on AS Roma who announced a stop in Chicago to take on an unnamed opponent on July 22nd.
· Johnson is back from the Olympic Qualifying a little sooner than expected.
· Fire Reserves won their first game against RSL this week 1-0 behind a goal from Corben Bone.
· After seeing 2 games played with the new home jerseys, I can say in my own opinion that I don’t like them. I thought they would grow on me, but every time I see that navy stripe I don’t like it even more. I don’t see why something that was synonymous with the Fire home jersey had to be changed after 14 years. Some people say that it is only a stripe, well that’s the problem it is not. It is part of the history of the Fire. The Fire were known in some of the songs that were sung by the fans as “the boys in red and white” not “the boys in red and navy”. But nothing anybody can do about it now.
Predictions
FC Dallas over DC 3-1, TFC and Columbus tie at 1, Redbulls beat Montreal 2-0, Vancouver over Philly 3-0, San Jose over Seattle2-1, RSL over Portland 3-1, LA over New England 3-0, SKC over Chivas 2-1
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