SoccerBlogs

Game: Philadelphia Union vs. Chicago Fire

Where: PPL Park, Chester, PA

When: 7:30 PM ET

Channel: The Comcast Network

Commentators: JP Dellacamera and Alejandro Moreno

Meet the Opposition: Hot Time In Old Town

Philadelphia Union starting XI: (4-4-2) Zac MacMath; Raymon Gaddis, Bakary Soumare, Amobi Okugo, Sheanon Williams; Brian Carroll, Danny Cruz, Kleberson, Michael Farfan; Jack McInerney, Sebastien Le Toux

Philadelphia Union bench: Chris Konopka, Chris Albright, Keon Daniel, Leo Fernandes, Roger Torres, Conor Casey, Antoine Hoppenot

Chicago Fire starting XI: (4-4-2) Sean Johnson; Wells Thompson, Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry, Gonzalo Segares; Dilly Duka, Logan Pause, Jeff Larentowicz, Joel Lindpere; Patrick Nyarko; Chris Rolfe

Chicago Fire bench: Paolo Tornaghi, Michael Videira, Corben Bone, Brendan King, Alex, Quincy Amerikwa, Sherjill MacDonald

Prediction: The last time these two squads met, the Union won but things could have gone better.

This is Soccer. This is Chicago. (photo: chicago-fire.com)

Each and every week, OTF's writers and contributors chime in on the state of the Fire...

Game: Chicago Fire vs. Philadelphia Union

Where: Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL

When: 1:30 PM ET

Channel: NBCSN

Commentators: Arlo White and Kyle Martino

Meet the Opposition: Hot Time In Old Town

Philadelphia Union starting XI: (4-4-2) Zac MacMath; Gabriel Farfan, Amobi Okugo, Bakary Soumare, Raymon Gaddis; Brian Carroll, Keon Daniel, Michael Farfan, Danny Cruz; Conor Casey, Jack McInerney

Philadelphia Union bench: Matt Kassel, Roger Torres, Chris Konopka, Sebastien Le Toux, Chris Albright, Kleberson, Antoine Hoppenot

Chicago Fire starting XI: (4-4-1-1) Sean Johnson; Gonzalo Segares, Austin Berry, Jalil Anibaba, Wells Thompson; Dan Paladini, Logan Pause, Joel Lindpere, Dilly Duka; Chris Rolfe; Patrick Nyarko

Chicago Fire bench: Corben Bone, Quincy Amerikwa, Paolo Tornaghi, Alex, Maicon Santos, Michael Videira, Yazid Atouba

Prediction: The Union continue to run out a formation and starting XI that has been show time and again to not work.

Allez Fire! (image: twitter.com via @MLS)

OTF Editor Scott Fenwick brings you the Fire week in review, player and coach interviews, and gets you match prepped for Chicago's trip to Canada's sin city...

Perhaps this week's trip to La Metropole will show us whether the Fire have indeed turned a corner.

Walk away. Move on. (photo: media.zenfs.com)

OTF Editor Scott Fenwick thawed himself out on Sunday night and watched the tape on Monday night. Here's his take on Chicago's latest bungle...

Let's start with some positives, shall we?

• My fingers have sufficiently thawed, allowing me to work the keyboard properly.

Anibaba and the Men in Red: 'D' up (photo: zimbio.com)

With a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work, Chicago Fire earned a point in Kansas on Saturday...

Yes, it is true, the Fire have no goals. And yes, it is true, only about 1/3 of the parts seem to work at the moment.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Jalil Anibaba will not be the only member of the Chicago Fire training with Atletico Madrid in the coming weeks.

Austin Berry, the recently-named 2012 MLS Rookie of the Year, will join Anibaba as Fire players who will practice alongside the likes of red-hot striker Radamel Falcao and centerback Diego Godin at Atletico this offseason.

Sooooo...Atletico Madrid apparently likes the Chicago Fire's young defenders.

The Men in Red announced this morning that 2012 Rookie of the Year Austin Berry will spend two weeks training with Atletico Madrid from November 25 to December 9.

Berry will join second-year defender Jalil Anibaba, who is there until December 2.

The Season is over. The Chicago Fire were bounced out of the playoffs by the Houston Dynamo 2-1; on the back of two goals by Will Bruin. Alex stepped off the bench and put one back in for the Fire.

The first goal was on a corner. Brad Davis hit a perfect ball directly onto an unmarked Will Bruin.

It's the 33rd minute. And things aren't going well for your Chicago Fire. The Montreal Impact are up 1 on a goal by Italian Marco Di Viao. The Men in Red have played a flat half an hour thus far, and a goal at this point seemed like a pipe dream. When Chris Rolfe cut through the middle and passed the ball to Jalil Anibaba, we all figured he'd waste the cross like he had before.

The Los Angeles Galaxy crushed Chivas USA, Montreal got a rare away win, and Chicago moved up the standings with a win at Philadelphia in Major League Soccer on August 12, 2012.

Sanna Nyassi would dribble his way for more than half of the field before firing a great shot into the upper right corner.

One of the more insignificant downsides of Saturday's draw, I was a mere seconds away from being able to make a Tony Robbins reference in the headline of this post. I actually saw them preparing the coals for this. They were burning them on a bridge downtown. That's what you get for being stupid enough to listen to Tony Robbins, San Jose.

While some of you are polishing off your morning coffee and maybe even a late breakfast, the Chicago Fire will be kicking off a rare Noon matchup against the New York Red Bulls. As we have stated previously, this match has huge implications on the Eastern Conference Standings. Both teams will be facing sweltering heat in New York, with game time temperatures expected to be pushing the 100 degree mark.

Last Sunday, the Chicago Fire ended the 6 game unbeaten streak of the New York Red Bulls. This Saturday, another team with a 6 game unbeaten streak comes to Toyota Park, where unbeaten streaks come to die. Yes, you read that right, the Columbus Crew are riding a 6 game unbeaten streak. Their streak is not as impressive as the one the Red Bulls had, but it is an unbeaten streak none the less.

Fire forward Dominic Oduro is one player the Revolution defense will have to keep tabs on come Saturday. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)

(Editor's note: Prior to each Revolution match, New England Soccer Today will invite a reporter who covers the Revolution's upcoming opponent to provide greater insight on what to expect on gameday.

The Fire head to Los Angeles to take on Chivas USA this Friday. Kick-off is at 10:00 PM CST with the game being broadcast on ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com. Guillermo Rivera of Fire Confidential confirmed that Austin Berry will start at center back in the place of the suspended Jalil Anibaba. Chris Rolfe will miss yet another game but is making progress.

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY HERE! THE REVS' SEASON HAS STARTED!

Be sure to discuss the New England Revolution's upcoming victory (knock on wood) in the comments section below!

Lineups

Revolution: Matt Reis; Andrew Farrell, A.J. Soares, Jose Goncalves, Kevin Alston; Donald Smith, Clyde Simms, Kalifa Cisse, Juan Toja; Lee Nguyen, Jerry Bengtson

Bench: Shuttleworth, Barnes, Caldwell, Dorman, Rowe, Barrett, Fagundez

Fire: Sean Johnson; Steven Kinney, Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry, Gonzalo Segares; Patrick Nyarko, Jeff Larentowicz, Joel Lindpere, Dilly Duka; Chris Rolfe, Sherjill MacDonald

Bench: Tornaghi, Videira, Paladini, Thompson, Atouba, Alex, Santos

Although many see the MLS draft particularly as a very hit or miss affair, the Fire have always done a great job of drafting players that end up being major contributors to the team. The list is really a who's who of Fire teams, both past and present. Carlos Bocanegra (2000), Damani Ralph (2003), Logan Pause (2003), Chris Rolfe (2005), Sega (2005), Bakary Soumare (2007), Patrick Nyarko (2008), Sean Johnson (2010), Jalil Anibaba (2011), and Austin Berry (2012) is a pretty star studded lineup to have as a draft history.

As we look forward to the end of the offseason and to the start of preseason, we have to wonder what is going through the head of head coach Frank Klopas. What kind of moves will he make? What kind of formations and tactics will he employ throughout the 2013 season? These are the 2 major questions in my mind that I will delve into and try to answer for you.

Last year I looked into the concept of 'Carryover Minutes' and their relationship to success in Major League Soccer. I define carryover minutes as minutes that come from a player that was on a team the previous year. For example, the Chicago Fire received carryover minutes last night from Sean Johnson, Jalil Anibaba, Gonzalo Segares, Logan Pause, Patrick Nyarko, Dominic Oduro, and Daniel Paladini.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how Chicago doesn't get much respect from media outlets. The roots of this might deserve further treatment than what they will get here but take a look at MLS' top 10 soccer journalists as listed by MLSSoccer.com last August. Seattle, New York, and D.

Coming off a solid 1-0 win against Vancouver, the Men In Red travel east to battle the New York Red Bulls Wednesday afternoon (?!) in a vital Eastern Conference matchup. The Red Bulls also were in action this past weekend playing to a 2-2 draw at home against Seattle. With New York one point ahead of the Fire in the standings and even on games played, Chicago has the opportunity to move into third place in the East.

It's that time again folks. Fire gamedays are always fun, but it's even better when we are facing the Crew. With the game only a few hours away, the cauldron of hate should be bubbling for many Fire fans. Not only are we playing a rivalry match, but we get to do it at home in front of Section 8 and our wonderful fans.

Heading into a big matchup Friday night against Chivas USA, I am back with some hat trick goodies. The customary QOTD will appear at the end like usual. I should have a 3 questions exchange up by Friday, as well as a gamethread for Friday night. And yes, I will be lurking on the gamethread (unfortunately had to miss the thread during the Seattle game but I will be along for the ride Friday night).

Dan Gargan's benching in favor of Jalil Anibaba at the right back position has been a point of contention for many Fire fans. Gargan is a fan favorite due to his gritty style of play and his strong work rate. Most Fire fans argue that Anibaba is not a good fit at right back because his natural playing position is center back.

Last Wednesday's game against DC United reinforced a point that many Fire fans have come to the conclusion of: it's time for Dan Gargan to be re-inserted into the starting XI. Although the team as a whole had an off game against DC, Jalil Anibaba was especially deficient at the RB position. He had a large share of the blame on a couple of DC's goals, and ever since moving to RB to make room for Austin Berry in the starting lineup, he has struggled to be honest.

Last year San Jose Earthquakes physically beat up and outworked a Fire team that could ill afford a loss. It was one of those very questionable losses that you could see coming a mile away. For whatever reason Frank Klopas deployed an odd lineup. Some of this was due to suspensions (Sega was suspended for last year's game in San Jose as well) but others were coaching decisions.

This game made me angry. I left feeling like the whole evening was an exercise in futility. I know the Fire earned a point against a very good team. They left 2 points out on that field for the taking. No matter what any stupid MLS based writer tells you early wins do matter. All the good teams win early, survive the summer, and then reassert themselves before the playoffs.

This game was nuts. Inexplicable referee decisions. Overly physical play. Weird penalties. Poor set piece defending. Golazo! Dives. Goalie Coach ejection. Yellow cards. Two (!) penalty saves. Nerve racking final minutes. All of this resulted in an ugly, but a rather satisfying (Hi Brimstone Cup you sexy thing you) victory.

Gargan leaves the Fire and heads to a high scoring San Jose team for the 2013 season. I was a fan of Gargan, and I still think he should have been in at RB last year. This move seems to solidify the fact even more that Jalil Anibaba will continue to be played out of position at RB in 2013. While Gargan is not getting any younger, he still brings a lot of experience and toughness to a San Jose back line.

It would seem that Cory's season ending injury that he suffered early last season was too much to come back from. I think we can all agree that Gibbs was a great teammate and a great leader. Unfortunately his career was cut short more prematurely than any of us would have liked, but Cory has a nice 12 year professional career to put to his name.

Fire fans will be staying up late tonight to watch our Men in Red battle the Goats for 3 points at the Home Depot Center. The Fire are looking to get back to their winning ways after the heated loss to that team from the West Coast. Chivas will look to rebound from a 4-0 walloping at the hands of the Rapids.