Team news and the way these fixtures have panned out has not been kind, so I am sticking with one game, I have a lot of ideas for tomorrow and we are already involved today, so am happy to leave it at that.
Philadelphia Union-Chicago FireBit of a dilemma here, I am keen on Fire for this, I think they now match up very well against Union, who won a pair of back to back meetings between the teams earlier this season. Since when of course, Chicago are much changed and improved with their new additions (Bakary Soumare and Mike Magee), despite their continued inability to keep a clean sheet, which we have discussed a lot in recent weeks and that sequence is now up to eight in MLS starts alone . They get another new player tonight with Ecuadorian international Juan Anangonó, who's paperwork has now been completed. Anangonó described himself as "fast, strong, and good in the air and a player that can finish well ,while having the ability to adapt in any formation. " He definitely doesn't lack confidence and said he can play alone up front or in a two , or 4-3-3, he looks a good fit with Mike Magee and/or Chris Rolfe, who are both very mobile.
Whomever plays up front tonight, could get a lot of joy, Union have been guilty of a lot of individual errors recently and gave both Chivas and Houston a huge amount of space at the back to exploit, neither really made that count, but Fire have the movement to do so. The visitors only poor performance in the last two-three months was the 3-1 defeat at Vancouver and we highlighted their big defensive problems ahead of that. Goalkeeper Sean Johnson (17 conceded in 14 starts), is back from international duty now and that is another major boost, Soumare only joined Fire from Union after the second meeting and will be able to give the low down on his former team mates. Hosts will be without midfielder Keon Daniel (17-0-1), they have only beaten Chivas in five starts without Daniel and are 1-3-5 when he plays 20 minutes or less.
Fire need a result as they are still five points off the play off spot and that is a priority, they have the offensive ability to press and draw this Union defence all over the field , so what is the dilemma ? Fire have a home MLS Cup semi final in midweek and with it a shot at Champions League football. However, they look set to field a full strength team this evening, so I have to go with this, but have reduced stakes slightly.
1.25 units Chicago Fire +0.25 ball 2.06 asian line/Ibramarket.
Good Luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment