The center of the Fire back line took a bit of a blow earlier this week with the news that Arne Friedrich’s return to the field was now undetermined after suffering an injury setback with his hip.
The team’s defensive woes got a bit worse Friday when head coach Frank Klopas acknowledged Steven Kinney has also suffered an injury reoccurrence to his right quad which will leave him unavailable for selection Saturday.
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“I think he tried yesterday and he kind of pulled the same thing,” Klopas said. “He was coming along fine everyday and he was participating more in training and yesterday we had a setback with him in the same spot.”
After a two-year absence from the game following recovery from a ruptured Achilles, Kinney made his return to the field in the team’s first two matches of the season before suffering a quad injury.
With Friedrich and Kinney out for an undetermined amount of time, the Fire are admittedly short at the back and Klopas acknowledged Friday the team is looking at options to bring in defensive reinforcements.
“We’re looking for sure if we can get a guy that can bring quality there and help us and also provide some depth because we’re a little bit thin right now.”
Earlier this week, Fire President of Soccer Operations Javier Leon said the club was looking at the possibility of bringing former Fire defender Bakary Soumare back to Chicago.
Because of a lack of playing time, the Malian international has expressed interest in leaving the Philadelphia Union but a high salary cap number could be cause for concern.
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In the meantime, should something happen to one of Jalil Anibaba or Austin Berry, it appears veteran left back Gonzalo Segares would move inside.
Segares has played in the middle at times in his Fire career and with the Costa Rican national team.
“It’s good to have that flexibility where guys can play different spots,” Klopas said “But for instance Sega hasn’t played there in a couple years. If you had to do it in the game, you could but ideally it’d be great to have that continuity [at the back].”
