After disjointed effort, Fire looks to pull itself together

Just a couple of weeks ago the Fire had a two-game winning streak and looked as if it was just starting to play the kind of soccer new coach Carlos de los Cobos wanted to bring to Chicago.

A lethargic tie and a 4-1 loss at Toronto later, the Fire is wondering what happened.

"We need more consistency probably," Fire forward Brian McBride said. "I think with the last two games we were pretty disjointed and we need to adapt to certain things. It's been a crazy year in the sense that the weather has been strange with the wind. Soccer sometimes gets affected by that. But we didn't adapt to it the way that we should, especially this last game.

"For us it's more about getting things right, our shape right and probably moving the ball just a little bit quicker."

Injuries continue to be a concern. Tim Ward and Baggio Husidic were hurt at practice Tuesday. Ward wasn't at practice Wednesday while Husidic watched with a walking boot on his right foot. He's considered day-to-day. Ward's status isn't known. John Thorrington remains out.

To prepare for Saturday's game at Kansas City (7:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel) in tiny CommunityAmerica Ballpark, the Fire scrimmaged on a small field.

"We need to improve," de los Cobos said. "We need to play differently. I know that this field in Kansas City is very difficult to play. It's a small field. We need to play with much order because we lost order in the last match. That was the problem."

De los Cobos also tried out a 4-4-2 formation in practice again.

"It's possible," de los Cobos said of using the 4-4-2 this weekend. "I don't know. I'm trying today with two forwards, with Collins (John) and Brian (McBride). But I'm not sure."

Youth team tryouts: The Fire will hold tryouts for its Chicago Fire Academy teams May 24-25 at Toyota Park. Tryout sessions will be for the U-18, U-16 and U-14 levels.

Information is available at chicago-fire.com.