Chicago Fire Vs Chivas USA: Head To Head Preview

On Form

Chicago Fire, by Isaac Heath: After a shaky home debut a few weeks ago in which he let in a goal on a communication error with C.J. Brown, Andrew Dykstra has answered his critics with two straight clean sheets. Chicago’s defense certainly deserves some credit for Dykstra’s success as well. The Fire faithful were beginning to seriously question the release of Jon Busch so the run of shut outs couldn’t have come at a better time for the young goalkeeper.

Chivas USA, by Manuel Carrera: Ben Zemanski and Blair Gavin added another dimension to a Chivas USA offense that struggled to generate a consistent attack through the first for weeks of the season. With Zemanski and Gavin doing the dirty work in the midfield, Sacha Kljestan, Jesus Padilla, and Justin Braun were able to provide a more menacing attack on the opponent’s defense. Additionally, Mariano Trujillo proved a constant threat on the right flank because of the liberty afforded to him by Gavin and Zemanski.

Off Target

Chicago: Krzysztof Krol is the lone Fire member really off target right now. The Polish defender had been playing fairly well and earning the trust of de los Cobos until he lost his mind in the second half against Houston this past week. Krol head butted Landin in retaliation of the striker’s late challenge and was red carded for his efforts.

Chivas USA: Though it was difficult to find too much fault with last week’s performance against San Jose, it is worth noting that the Chivas USA defense had difficulty clearing dead ball situations from the area.The defense has performed admirably all season considering the lack of cohesion, but opponents frequently seem to get an inordinate amount of second chance opportunities against the team.

Tactics

Chicago: De los Cobos will implement a 4-5-1 again after that line up has created 4 goals in the last two games. Sacha Kljestan has seemingly found his form again, so expect him to receive some special attention in the middle of the field from Lowry and Husidic.

Chivas USA: Chivas USA came out in a 4-4-2 last game, though there was a twist. Instead of a Padilla-Braun combination up front, Kljestan made an appearance as a withdrawn striker, out of which he netted his first goal of the year on a beautiful 30-yard blast. Additionally, the former-Akron Zips tandem of Zemanski and Gavin freed many of Chivas USA’s offensively talented players to take more risks.

Intangibles

Chicago: Peter Lowry is starting to make the Fire fans forget about injured John Thorrington and departed Chris Rolfe by playing extremely solid in the midfield for Chicago. The young midfielder hardly saw any game action last year and has really been a revelation for Carlos de los Cobos.

Chivas USA: After the game, the talk around the locker room was the necessity of taking the victory in context and learning to cope with success. Chivas USA must not get too high as they did after they did after their victory against New York, and they must leave the confines of the Home Depot Center.

Prediction