It had to hurt. Watching tape of the Chicago Fire's last game at home against Kansas City had to be a painful experience for coach Denis Hamlett and the players. They had to watch as they missed open shots on goal time and again, and they had to wonder how did they lose that game 1-0.
A team that scored four goals in one half against New England two weeks earlier couldn't find the back of the net against the Wizards. Forward Chad Barrett, who has faced criticism for his inability to finish regularly, had two wide-open looks at the net in that game and failed to convert.
Hamlett admitted it was an issue the team had to deal with in order to move on to the next game on the schedule, which is Saturday's home game against the Colorado Rapids.
"The good thing is we created a lot of opportunities," Hamlett said Thursday after a practice on the Toyota Park game surface rather than on the outside practice field. "We just needed to be a little bit more clinical in the final third. From that standpoint, our guys understand the frustration is more in not finishing the opportunities, which is different than when you are not creating chances."
Barrett had five shots but only one on goal and that did not include the most glaring miss, when he put a pot shot far over the bar by one-timing it, a miss that Barrett admitted hurt a lot.
"But it's not as bad as it used to be," Barrett said after the game. "I know I can score. It's just one day -- one bad day and we lose."
"He knows he should have finished those chances," said Hamlett. But the Fire boss said it would be wrong to bench Barrett simply because of a missed opportunity, saying that he would have to bench everybody on the team in that case.
The Fire stand 2-1-1 going into Saturday's home game. After this weekend, the Fire become mostly a road team, with only one home MLS date in May. The Fire enjoys a nice home stadium crowd, with their popular Section Eight crew leading the cheers for the crowd, and knows that they need to show well in this home date before hitting the road.
"We will deal with this game Saturday and move forward," Hamlett said. "When you look at the schedule you see that, but you can't get caught up in that. We know what we need to do come this Saturday."
The Fire still have given up only one goal to an opposition player in four games, and that came on a 50-50 ball misplayed by goalkeeper Jon Busch. The defensive line, led by Fire vets Diego Gutierrez and Gonzalo Segares, has been exceptional in the early going, and with only two goals scored against (one was an own goal) the Fire defense is three goals better than any other MLS team that has played four games.
One addition to that back line this season is Brandon Prideaux, who played one season in Colorado after three seasons with Kansas City and five with D. C. United. He has won the MLS Cup twice, in 2000 with the Wizards and in 2004 with United.
But the Rapids placed Prideaux on the waiver wire after one season and the Fire were quick to pick him up.
"When he became available, we felt we needed to fill that position, because we didn't have a right back who could defend and go forward on a consistent basis," Hamlett said. "He has done well adjusting to our team and he comes to train hard every day."
"Sometimes you don't fit into one team's philosophy but you fit in with another," Prideaux said of his move from Colorado. "I'm definitely happy to be here. It's a great organization from top to bottom, a good coaching staff, and my teammates have been very welcoming."
Prideaux is especially helpful in the wake of C.J. Brown's injured adductor muscle. Brown will remain out until mid-May as he tries to solve his problem without surgery.
But Brown is the only Fire player with health concerns. Midfielder Chris Rolfe, who has missed two games with an ankle strain, trained for two days this week and is considered available for selection.
Kent McDill is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
