GAME PREVIEW: Colorado at Chicago, 05/25/2003

Perhaps the hardest thing to predict going into this weekend's matchup between the Fire and the Colorado Rapids is the Chicago lineup. Part of that is due to the drubbing the Fire received last Saturday from the New England Revolution. Part is due, again, to players not being available to coach Dave Sarachan. And another part has to be due to their opponent, although to say the Rapids have even limped out of the starting gate would be generous.

First off, the obvious. Defender CJ Brown is suspended from the match for picking up a red card last week. In his place, it's more than likely that Evan Whitfield will slide back from his normal midfield position to cover. The red turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Brown, as U.S. coach Bruce Arena picked him for the men's national team match with Wales on Monday largely, if not entirely, due to his unavailability for the MLS match.

Speaking of national teams, midfielder Andy Williams will also miss the match, playing instead for the national team of Jamaica. Considering how much ground the Fire gave up in the midfield last week, conventional wisdom has rookie Logan Pause returning to the starting lineup, although it's possible Sarachan could go with someone more offensive-minded like Craig Capano.

That leaves one more potential absence in forward Rodrigo Faria, who once again spent considerable time during the week with his ailing father in Brazil. This is where things start to get interesting. So far this season, Sarachan hasn't shown enough confidence in rookie strikers Damani Ralph or Nate Jaqua to give them a start. If that trend continues, Razov may run up top by himself, or DaMarcus Beasley could line up at forward, as he allegedly did in the Fire's last home match against San Jose. With the Swiss Cheese that is the Rapids defense, this could be a good time to give the nod to one of the rookies.

And we're still not done. Whitfield dropping into defense opens up the right wing, and Orlando Perez didn't have the most stellar of outings last week, so it's possible that both wings are up for grabs. Justin Mapp will get one of those spots, for sure, but whether it's the left of the right depends on how much faith Sarachan has in Perez rebounding from the Revolution match. It also depends on how the coach sees the matchup with the Rapids. Colorado midfielders Chris Henderson and Mark Chung are dangerous attackers, so the Fire can choose to match up defensively against that threat, which favors Perez staying in the lineup, or try to take advantage of Chung and Hendo overcommitting with more offensive-minded players, perhaps Mapp on the left and Damani Ralph on the right. A lot hinges, again, on whether the rookie coach errs on the side of caution, or pulls out at least some degree of stops going for the win.

The circumstances don't really help. On the one hand, the Rapids have looked pretty terrible so far, so you could easily go for the throat. On the other, they may be bad enough that a conservative approach works just as well. If you had a third hand, it would tell you that sooner or later, the Rapids may fight through for a result. All that said, you're supposed to make your opponent make the adjustments, so with the Fire looking to find ways to score, I expect them to come out attacking. Who, exactly, comes out attacking, I'm not quite so sure.