BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Chris Rolfe played in the midfield for much of his first stint with the Chicago Fire and during his time with Danish club Aalborg BK. If he wants to see the field during the Fire's final five games of the season, he might have to slide back from the forward spot he's occupied for most of the last two seasons.
With the emergence of recently-acquired Designated Player Juan Luis Anangono as a starter, Rolfe has been relegated to a bench role during the Fire's last two games. If oft-used substitute Quincy Amarikwa is healthy going forward, coach Frank Klopas said he may deploy Rolfe more in the midfield, as he did late in Saturday's 3-0 loss to Columbus.
“He's played there. I think a lot is going to also depend on where Quincy is this week, because he had a little tweak with his knee, so it depends where he's at,” Klopas said. “But yeah, Chris can play, I think in the last game he came in in the middle, or up top, so it gives us a couple of different options with him.”
Amarikwa was held out of Saturday's game and Sunday's reserve game after hurting his knee in training last week, but he said he'll be good to go on Saturday against Montreal.
“I think I'll be back at the end of this week,” Amarikwa said. “I think I'll be good to play this weekend.”
The 2012 team MVP knows competition in the midfield is fierce, with four players vying for two starting spots on the outside. But Rolfe's comfort and ability out of the midfield gives the Fire another option coming off the bench.
“We're pretty good in the midfield, so we don't need any more competition than we have, but if that's where they want to play me, we've talked about that a number of times,” Rolfe said.
