BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The Chicago Fire could be without midfielder Sebastián Grazzini for Saturday’s season finale against Columbus.
Grazzini, who is not listed on the injury report, didn’t train on Wednesday due to a hamstring injury he picked up in the final minutes of last weekend’s comeback win at D.C. United, in which he scored the dramatic equalizer. The Argentine missed games on Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 with the same injury.
Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas told reporters on Wednesday that the playmaker is day-to-day with the knock.
“He’s got an issue, a hamstring that he hurt last time out,” Klopas said. “He got it really late in the game at DC when he went in on a slide tackle. He was out here earlier today doing some light jogging. He tried to open it up a little bit but he was still feeling it.”
Watson-Siriboe returns
Center back Kwame Watson-Siriboe is back in Chicago following a lengthy loan stint at second-division club FC Tampa Bay.
The second-year defender was loaned out on June 3, playing in 10 games for the NASL club, which lost in the first-round of the playoffs to the NSC Minnesota Stars.
Klopas said that Watson-Siriboe, who came back to the Fire last week, improved while on loan, but that he’ll need to make additional steps forward if he wants to crack Chicago’s deep center back rotation.
“It was important for him to get games,” Klopas said. “I think he did improve but he has to continue to get better from a technical standpoint and ... speed up in his decision making. But for sure, playing those games I think has helped him and also given him more confidence.”
Kinney has surgery for sports hernia
Fire staff told reporters on Wednesday that defender Steven Kinney, who has not played this season due to various injuries, experienced another setback in the form of a sports hernia.
Kinney was sidelined for most of this year with a ruptured Achilles suffered in the final game of the 2010 season. The second-year right back had a promising rookie campaign, playing in 13 games, 10 of which were starts, and scoring one goal.
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com.
