GAME PREVIEW: Chicago at Dallas, 04/02/2005

Okay, I think I'm mentally coming to terms with the fact that Major League Soccer gets rolling this weekend. Of course, it's hard to judge the competition right out of the gate unless you've been poring over preseason press releases, and I haven't. Still, there's a little bit to go on for the Fire's season opener.

Projected lineup:

G Thornton
D Brown Gray Curtin Griffin
M Mapp Armas Marsch Guerrero
F Jaqua Herron

I'm assuming that Guerrero's tweaked hamstring isn't enough to take him out of the match. If he can't go, Justin Mapp probably switches back to the left, and Thiago gets the go on the right.

Looking over Dallas' roster, they've got a potent offense, if the unfamiliarity of a new striker (Carlos Ruiz) and one who's been away from the team training with the U.S. team (Eddie Johnson) doesn't prove too much of a hindrance. The midfield, with the exception of the always dangerous Ronnie O'Brien, looks a little long in the tooth, while their defense seems a bit green once you get past Steve Jolley.

Off the top of my head, we hold the advantage in goal, and they may hold a slight advantage when you match their offense against our defense. Again, they're potent but potentially unorganized, and we're not full strength, but still experienced, in MLS at least. Conventional wisdom has our offense versus their D as mostly a wash, but conventional wisdom may be wrong there. So it's going to come down to the midfield, and as much as I like O'Brien, apart from the fact that he plays for Dallas, I think Chris Armas and Jesse Marsch are going to let the league know they're both back and ready to go.

I also want us to punish whoever starts in goal for thinking they're better than Henry Ring, who was traded to Dallas and subsequently and ingnominiously let go. Last I heard, Ring is exploring non-soccer careers. At least until some MLS goalie gets injured or starts to really, really suck. Somewhere, Bo Oshonyi's ears are ringing.