Fire roster looks to be a good blend

The MLS SuperDraft is history for 2012, and Chicago Fire players are reporting to Toyota Park for the start of preseason training. The club’s roster isn’t set, of course, but it’s getting there.

Here are five thoughts about the Fire before the players and new coach Frank Klopas head south for a couple of months to prepare for the March 17 season opener at expansion Montreal.

1. A good mixThis isn#146;t a lunch-pail team of hardworking, no-skill players, and it#146;s not a squad full of highly technical players. It#146;s a blend, and that#146;s a good thing.MLS seems like it#146;s making a long-overdue move toward more attacking soccer, at least if last week#146;s SuperDraft is any indication.Colorado made the move by replacing coach Gary Smith with Oscar Pareja, and even New England looks like it might change a little with Steve Nicol gone.The Fire got out front of this trend two years ago, but coach Carlos de los Cobos was not the right man at the right time.Now Frank Klopas has a defense that is strong but won#146;t remind anyone of a group of WWE heavyweights. He also has some fun-to-watch players up front in speedy forwards Dominic Oduro and Patrick Nyarko and playmaker Sebastian Grazzini.Newly signed South Americans Federico Puppo and Rafael Robayo seem like they#146;ll be highly technical additions to the Fire attack.2. Where will Jalil Anibaba play?When the Fire picked defender Austin Berry in the first round of the SuperDraft, many saw it as an indication Anibaba will return to right back and let Berry partner with Cory Gibbs in the middle.Maybe.But Anibaba seemed awfully comfortable in the middle at the end of last season, and Dan Gargan brought the kind of toughness and hard-nosed attitude Klopas appreciates to the right side of the back line.Either way, Klopas has options. If center backs Josip Mikulic and Yamith Cuesta remain with the club, Klopas has plenty of quality depth on the back line, especially after drafting highly regarded left back Hunter Jumper out of Virginia.3. Who are the wingmen?The Fire finished 2011 with Marco Pappa and Logan Pause as outside midfielders. However, rumors persist that Pappa might be transferred to FC Twente in the Netherlands, and Pause, a converted defensive midfielder, is not a conventional winger, often tucking inside and rarely sending in a cross.This was the one area of need the Fire didn#146;t address in the SuperDraft. Nyarko could return to the midfield, and there could be more signings to come. But this looks like the biggest area of concern now.4. Who will partner with Dominic Oduro up front?The Fire hopes Oduro#146;s 12-goal 2011 wasn#146;t a flash-in-the-pan season. Maybe Oduro will improve his uneven finishing ability. Either way, he#146;s likely to be in the First XI on Opening Day.Potential strike partners include Nyarko, Orr Barouch and Puppo. We know it won#146;t be Diego Chaves, who, the Fire quietly mentioned on its website Sunday, will not return, following fellow forwards Gabriel Ferrari and Cristian Nazarit out the door.Don#146;t get too excited about rumors that Chris Rolfe wants to return to MLS. The league#146;s allocation rules might make it tough for him to come all the way back to Chicago. Kheli Dube, picked up in December#146;s re-entry draft, remains unsigned.5. Is Jay Nolly an adequate backup to Sean Johnson?Klopas has to figure Johnson will miss significant parts of the MLS season due to Olympic qualifying and (hopefully) the Olympics.That means Nolly, 29, will get plenty of playing time. He has 21 starts in an MLS career that dates to 2005, 14 of those starts coming last year for expansion Vancouver, where he allowed 23 goals and went 2-6-6.The Fire still needs to add a third goalkeeper to the roster.ŸFollow Orrin#146;s soccer reports via Twitter @orrinsoccer.