Coming off of last week’s disappointing 4-1 defeat to Toronto FC, Fire head coach Carlos de los Cobos will likely make some lineup changes for Saturday’s match against the Kansas City Wizards at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
“Maybe we’ll play with two forwards,” de los Cobos said on Tuesday. “We need to find a good result. The last match was the first match that we didn’t look good. Even [when we were] losing at the beginning of the season ... the team played good. But this last match was different. We didn’t deserve a good result because we played bad.”
In other words, we could be seeing both Brian McBride and Collins John in the starting lineup Saturday night. The ex-Fulham forwards haven’t started a match together since April 10 – the last time the Fire started a match in a 4-4-2 formation.
Injuries may also play a role in who finds themselves in the starting eleven on Saturday. Right defender Tim Ward is doubtful for the match after he left Tuesday’s training session with a left calf strain. Midfielder Justin Mapp, who missed last week’s game, is questionable for Saturday with a left hamstring strain.
If the injured duo is unable to go, defender Dasan Robinson would likely start in Ward’s place and winger Julio Martinez could get the nod in Mapp’s stead
