Fire knows defense must improve
After five games the Chicago Fire is in first place in the Eastern Conference, one of just three undefeated teams in Major League Soccer and leading the league in several categories, including goals scored.
There's a feeling, however, that something is not quite right. Specifically, what's wrong with the defense, the strength of the 2008 team? The Fire (2-0-3) already has allowed 7 goals. It took twice as many games to reach the 7-goal mark in 2008.
The answer, Fire players and coaches say, is nothing that can't be fixed quickly and easily.
In essence, the team hasn't played ugly when it should have played ugly.
"Credit this group - they want to play attractive soccer," coach Denis Hamlett said after Tuesday's practice. "That's led by No. 10 (Cuauhtemoc Blanco), and it's a good thing.
"That's a good thing to have, but we have to make sure we have to get the right balance, that we're not leaving ourselves open in the back to situations where now we can be punished. ...
"A lot of the onus is how you play at home, because I can guarantee you on the road with a 2-0 lead we're not going to be thinking about going forward to get that third or fourth goal. We're going to be thinking about 'let's get out of here with those 3 points.' "
That was the problem Saturday, when the Fire played very well for 75 minutes, taking a 2-0 lead only to watch Kansas City earn a 2-2 draw.
"It's tough to swallow, especially now that we have to go back where we were last year," defender Gonzalo Segares said of this Saturday's game at defending MLS Cup champion Columbus. "Our own mistakes are killing us right now."
"The last couple of weeks, teams aren't necessarily beating us, we're beating ourselves because we're making bad mistakes or we're losing our discipline," added 2008 MLS goalkeeper of the year Jon Busch. "We've just to tighten up in the back. We know that."
It's about discipline and concentration. It's about getting a lead and holding it instead of trying to expand it. It's about not getting overconfident with a lead. It's about playing ugly when you have to and walking away with 3 points and a good feeling.
"We can be very good, and we can make life difficult for ourselves," Hamlett said, sitting on a couch in the players' lounge at Toyota Park. "We just have to be mindful of the situations in the games, what is required in those circumstances. If you want to be a championship-caliber team, a team that's going to win, then you have to understand those situations and how to close out those games.
"There are a lot of positives that I think we need to make sure we talk about and not focus on the things we need to address. At the same time we do need to address those things."
This is still a very good team. There's a lot of quality and depth on this roster. The defense that was so good most of last season is back this season and even made a good addition in Tim Ward.
"Are we going crazy about it? No," Busch said. "It's just a point where we're not as tight as we'd like to be. But at the end of the day we're still in first place. We haven't lost yet."
oschwarz@dailyherald.com