The Chicago Fire begin celebration of the club’s 17th anniversary with a late afternoon match Sunday vs. the Montreal Impact at Toyota Park (4pm CT on My50/TWCSC). Here are five things you should know going into the game.
Fire Injury Report
Despite Robert Earnshaw scoring his third goal in five matches for the Fire on Thursday, the Welshman picked up a hamstring injury at some point during Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Philadelphia and is listed as “Out” on the club’s Athletico Injury Report.
Fire midfielder Razvan Cocis continues to recover from a facial fracture suffered in last Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Houston Dynamo and also seems unlikely to play a part in this Sunday’s contest.
Lineup Shifts
With the team playing its third match in a week and second in four days, the Fire coaching staff admitted squad rotation was part of its plan earlier this week.
We saw some of that on Thursday when Yallop rested the likes of Gonzalo Segares and Matt Watson. In Segares’ case, he was replaced at left back by midfielder Alex, who has perhaps become the Fire’s ultimate utility player over the past few years, having played in defense, midfield and up top.
The move to left back came after a recent conversation between Yallop said Alex about the fact that played at left back during his time with Swiss side FC Wohlen and the Fire manager felt like the load of games over the week was a good opportunity to see how the Brazilian performed there.
Klopas suspended
Sunday’s match marks the return of former Fire player, Technical Director and Head Coach Frank Klopas to Toyota Park for the first time since his departure from the club last season. Though Klopas will no doubt be in the building, the Fire legend isn’t available to coach the Impact from the sidelines after being dismissed from the team’s 2-0 defeat at Columbus last weekend.
The game will also mark Dilly Duka's first return to Toyota Park since being traded to Montreal in August for Sanna Nyassi. Former Fire midfielder Justin Mapp has returned from injury and could play some part in the game while former Fire defender Krzysztof Krol could also be a part of the Impact's 18.
Klopas and Montreal have gone 1-0-1 in the previous two meetings with the Fire in Montreal this season.
Patrick Nyarko moving up the charts
After a long summer injury layoff, it’s been nice to see Ghanaian attacker Patrick Nyarko eased back out on the field the past month. With Yallop saying he was looking to juggle his lineup, it seems Nyarko could receive his first start since May 18 on Sunday vs. Montreal.
Whether he starts or just comes off the bench, Nyarko will move up the charts in both MLS Regular Season games played and the club’s All Competitions appearance list.
Currently, in MLS Regular Season play, Nyarko sits tied for eighth with former teammate and current Impact midfielder Justin Mapp at 174 games played. On the All Competitions list, Nyarko sits on 197 games played, tied for ninth with Diego Gutierrez.
Of course if Nyarko can play in three of the team’s four remaining matches this season, he’ll become just the ninth player in Fire history to play in 200 competitive games for the club
The Others: C.J. Brown (372 GP), Logan Pause (334 GP), Zach Thornton (276 GP), Chris Armas (272 GP), Gonzalo Segares (261 GP), Jesse Marsch (259 GP), Chris Rolfe (209 GP), Justin Mapp (208 GP)
Fire Weekly Podcast
On Saturday’s edition of Chicago Fire Weekly on ESPN 1000, myself, Fred Huebner and Kevin Egan talked about the team’s past two matches before welcoming #cf97ThirdKit designer Freddy Christiano to talk the debut of his jersey on Sunday. Then we welcomed Impact TV analyst Olivier Brett to preview Sunday’s match against Montreal.
