With J Hutcherson -- A trophy is on the line at Toyota Park, with Chicago and home field advantage looking to finish off the SuperLiga against Tigres (8pm - TeleFutura). In the current atmosphere of club friendlies as the biggest draw in American soccer, it's nice to have something to play for.
Fire coach Denis Hamlett isn't even gifting us the expected 'focusing on the League' preliminary excuse. Chicago is expected to be at full strength against an in-season Tigres. Win or lose, Chicago is treating this game as one they earned and well worth their time. That's how a tournament gets established, and becomes well worth our time.
Frustration soccer can be very effective, and the real test for Chicago is making adjustments while keeping shape. Advantage Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who has had enough experience watching clubs fall away when things aren't working while his team takes the game.
What Chicago needs to avoid is spraying shots simply because they can't develop at the top of the box. Too many MLS teams consider that taking opportunities rather than limiting them. 20 shots a game when only a few end up on frame is sloppy soccer, and against better teams all it really does is open you up to counters.
The argument against that is to gesticulate wildly in the direction of the corner flag, but very few MLS clubs are scary from corners and Chicago isn't one of them. The Fire usually end up with more corners than shots on goal, yet their corners to goal ratio hasn't been high. They're almost always double digits on shots taken, while seldom getting more than five of them on frame.
If you're Tigres scouting Chicago's last game, you see a team squandering chances. Yes, they beat RSL 1-0 but they wasted eight corners and put five shots on goal from 13 taken. Meanwhile, Chicago scouting Tigres' last game sees a team that put eight of their ten shots on goal and only had two corners in a 3-2 win... over Chivas... at Jalisco. Keeping the Fire staff up at least a couple of nights? Chivas ended that game with 14 corners and couldn't turn any of them into a goal.
For all the talk of the job Chicago's defense has done in recent weeks, they're meeting a team equally adept at keeping the ball out. If Chicago follows Chivas and can't punish Tigres for using the backline as an extra defender, it's going to be a tough night.
What Chicago should be hoping to see is closer to Apertura week one, when Tigres drew 1-1 at home against Puebla. They still kept their total shot number low (7), but couldn't keep as high a percentage on frame (3) while getting nothing from seven corners. Their goal came from a free kick in the 73rd after Puebla scored from a penalty in the 53rd and went a man down three minutes later. That shows what the frustration game can do to Tigres, home and a man advantage for the better part of a half, but only able to come up with an equalizer.
Styles make games, and there's the potential for some very good soccer tonight.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
