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Chicago Fire looks to shore up its defense on the road

At home the Chicago Fire's defense has been nearly impenetrable.

On the road it has been very penetrable.

"The numbers obviously tell that, but we also know that the defense is capable of defending well no matter where we play," Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said. "This year I think we had (3) shutouts, which is the proof of that."

The Fire has allowed 10 goals in its first seven games of the season, but 8 of those goals were scored in the team's three road games. The Fire allowed 4 goals against Atlanta United after going down a man early in the game. Last Friday it gave up 3 at Toronto FC, including 2 to forward Sebastian Giovinco, one of the top players in the league.

"For the most part the defense has been pretty solid," midfielder Dax McCarty said. "It's just a matter of tightening a couple of things up and making sure that when dangerous players get around our box we step up to them and don't give them opportunities to make plays."

"The last one against Toronto, I think we could do better, for sure, definitely, and we addressed that. We're working on that," Paunovic added, noting that the team worked on aggressiveness and defensive commitment in Wednesday's training session. "I expect to see that in the next game against Red Bulls."

The Fire (3-2-2, 11 points) will try to change its road fortunes when it plays at New York Red Bulls on Saturday (6:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet) in the second game of a three-game road trip. The Fire is winless on the road, and the Red Bulls are undefeated at home.

One important aspect of the defense is the partnership in the middle between Johan Kappelhof and Joao Meira. Both are in their second seasons with the Fire, but this is the first year they've been paired together at center back consistently.

"It's getting better and better," Kappelhof said. "We know from each other what we like and what we want. We help each other. Especially in the home games we did great. I think we can still improve in the away games. There's a lot to improve. We're not there yet."

LampStrong:

Backup goalkeeper Matt Lampson, a Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma survivor, has been active throughout his career in cancer charities through his LampStrong foundation.

Now his foundation is making Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago $20,000 stronger.

"I think it's going to be a big-time change for them. It's going to help a lot of people, and I'm very excited to see it start working," Lampson said.

The money, he said, is "targeted specifically for healthy living lifestyle for hematology and oncology patients. So basically exactly where my niche is and what helped me get back on the soccer field, that's what I'm going to be helping people do. Just get back to as healthy a lifestyle as they can post-cancer treatment."

Lampson was the MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year in 2016.

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