Chicago Fire midweek training: 3 takeaways from Week 2
2. An unexpected strength
Although not normally an issue for sports teams in Chicago, the Chicago Fire have a recent history of being unable to put together a defense. They’ve had problems with center-backs and depth across the backline, and this season looked set to be another in which they would see the goals flow in. Except this past game, I honestly see no reason why it shouldn’t have been a shutout. Yes, Orlando City scored a goal, but the Fire showed great promise in their defensive structure.
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First, Dom Dwyer’s goal was pretty much a freak accident. Very few strikers would commit to such a dumb move that would normally cause injury to the goalkeeper and possibly result in a very harsh booking. The reason the opportunity came up seemed to be that there was no communication between goalkeeper David Ousted and center-back John Kappelhoff, who both seemed to be trying to let the other one take the ball. This resulted in Dwyer flying in, studs up, to flick the ball over everyone. It’s a freak incident.
The saddest part of that goal is how great the defense looked the rest of the game, which is more pertinent in forecasting for the remainder of the season. Orlando’s newest signing Nani was fairly muted and the Fire’s own new signing Marcelo looked outstanding. Not only is his ability to recover and defend valuable, but his passing and offensive awareness is incredible when he moves forward.
Even Jorge Corrales, who would see a red card for a denial of a goalscoring opportunity, still had a much better game than we’ve seen from him earlier this season and in the preseason, even with the red card. The defense showed significant improvements here. Depth is still a concern, but there is reason to hope that it can be an unexpected strength of the season to come.