Match Day #6 Rewind and Match Day #7 Rant

Match Day #6 Rewind and Match Day #7 Rant

                Well on a cold and chilly night in Chicago the Fire fell to the Seattle Sounders 2-1. I’m not going to go into details about the game because we all know what took place. The Fire started the game off really well, creating multiple attacks that flowed through the midfield as best as I’ve seen this season and then Seattle scored the first goal. The half ended and the game went 180 degrees in the wrong direction in the second half. Apparently “Fat Sigi” changed his tactics and took the Fire’s game plan and threw it in the garbage. Seattle pressed high and took the Fire’s midfielders out of the game which resulted in the defense being under pressure and having to launch long balls towards Oduro. Frank apparently had no tactical change to counter this. This was pretty much what the Fire were doing this until Seattle scored their second goal after sloppy play in the box. After going down 2-0 they finally realized a sense of urgency. Well, Pappa scored a lucky goal off a direct corner kick. At the end of the game there was a scuffle that I did not see but it resulted in Frank and Anibaba suspended for this Friday’s match.

                The Fire travel Friday to the Home Depot Center to take on the Fake Goats. Instead of going through the normal clichés of what the Fire have to do to win so I’m going to keep it nice and short. The Fire, in my opinion, have to win this game. If you want a game that is key to getting their season back on track and create some good momentum going into a tough stretch of games this is it. They have RSL on the 9^th, SKC on the 12^th, Timbers on the 20^th, FCD on the 23^rd and the Crew on the 26^th. That is a tough stretch for any team and the Fire need to try to get as many points as possible from this stretch. The coaching staff needs to figure out how to change up their game plan when the opposing team’s figure out that hack a Grazzini, a deep defense and high pressure will take the Fire out of their game plan. I know they can get 3 points on Friday if they play the way that we all expect them to but this past Saturday was an example of how this team can regress back into a team that will miss the playoffs for a 3^rd straight year. Expect more from me Saturday when I have a little more time to write more in-depth about the matches.