There have been six first-half goals scored in the Chicago Fire's last three matches.
The Fire have led, tied and trailed in those matches, resulting in two victories and one loss.
New York City FC hopes to capitalize on the trend of early fireworks as the clubs meet tonight at Toyota Park. Kickoff is 8 p.m. EDT.
NYCFC at CHICAGO FIRE MATCH PREVIEW
The Club has come out the aggressor in the first half of recent matches -- dominating possession, creating chances and pressuring opponents.
"I think we really took the initiative right away to get on the front foot and play in their half," midfielder Ned Grabavoy said of the Club's recent performances. "We’ve even taken the approach to get the ball up and into their end and when the game settles a little bit and it’s easier to play in the second half, which it’s been for our team all season, we’ll build up more possession and pin them in there."
New York City FC has taken a Major League Soccer-leading 173 touches in the opposition box so far this season.
Chicago's last three matches:
DATE |
OPPONENT |
FIRST-HALF GOALS |
HALFTIME SCORE |
FINAL RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4/4/15 |
Toronto FC |
14' - Joevin Jones (CHI)<br>
20' - Sebastian Giovinco (TOR) |
tied 1-1 |
3-2 win |
3/29/15 |
Philadelphia |
37' - Adailton (CHI) |
leading 1-0 |
1-0 win |
3/22/15 |
at San Jose |
5' - Abdul-Fatai Alashe (SJ)<br>
21' - Ty Harden (SJ)<br>
29' - Harrison Shipp (CHI) |
trailing 2-1 |
2-1 loss |
Roster Depth
New York City FC head coach Jason Kreis has praised his squad's depth.
With the Club stricken by a rash of injuries recently, more players have been called to step up. Midfielder
Javier Calle
and forward
Khiry Shelton
made their second-consecutive starts of the season against Portland on April 19. Defender
Kwame Watson-Siriboe
has played 135 minutes in the last two matches, while midfielder
Kwadwo Poku
has logged 61 minutes. Forward
Tony Taylor
made his first-ever start against the Timbers, while midfielder
Pablo Alvarez
made his team debut in that match.
Kreis believes the experience and time on the field these players are getting will pay dividends as the season progresses.
"It’s important. It’s been difficult to take the positives away from so many games without a win now, but one of the positives certainly is guys are getting meaningful opportunities and making positive contributions," Kreis said. "I’ve always felt if we could get through some of that at the beginning of the season we could potentially reap some of the benefits at the end of the season."
Mini-Preseason Mentality
New York City FC and the Chicago Fire come into tonight's match on opposite ends of the scheduling spectrum.
New York City FC had two matches in four days during Week 7 of the Major League Soccer schedule, while the Fire were off. In fact, Chicago was off the week prior and hasn't played a match since April 4.
“I think we’ve worked very hard the last two weeks,” Fire manager Frank Yallop told the club's website. “The guys are calling it a mini-preseason because it’s so long between the games. We really pushed the guys fitness-wise because a lot of guys missed a lot of preseason -- Jeff Larentowicz, (Shaun) Maloney, (David) Accam, I could go on and on -- so I think it was good for us to get our fitness really, really amped up, and we did."
