BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Fire Head Coach Carlos de los Cobos has revealed his probable starting lineup for the Wednesday night’s Chicago Sister Cities International Cup match against Paris Saint-Germain at Toyota Park, and it’s a familiar group - for the most part.
De los Cobos’s proposed starting 11 only has two changes from the unit that started on Saturday at Kansas City. Rookie goalkeeper Sean Johnson will likely get the start in net in front of regular first teamer Andrew Dykstra, while Brian McBride will start in front of Collins John.
“Maybe we’ll start with Sean Johnson in the goal,” de los Cobos said. “It’s necessary for Sean [to] play because he doesn’t have opportunity to play [regularly].”
The move to bring Johnson in is obviously a temporary one, as de los Cobos asserted he plans on bringing in plenty of fresh faces during the second half of Wednesday’s game.
De los Cobos’s decision to start his regular first teamers is demonstrative of the serious attitude with which the club is approaching the Sister Cities tournament, which also features Legia Warsaw and Red Star Belgrade.
“Even if it’s a friendly match, we need to take it with all responsibility,” de los Cobos said. “We are representing our club and the fans and we need to take this match with all the seriousness possible.”
De los Cobos will fill out his starting lineup with defenders Dasan Robinson, C.J. Brown, Wilman Conde, and Krzysztof Krol, and midfielders Patrick Nyarko, Baggio Husidic, Logan Pause, Julio Martinez, and Marco Pappa.
The Fire-PSG match (kickoff is at 7 p.m. CDT) will be immediately followed by Legia Warsaw vs. Red Star Belgrade. All four teams will play again on Saturday, with the losers kicking off the third place match at 6 p.m. CDT and the winners playing in the championship immediately following.
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com.
