BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Sifting through the figures, it's clear something is not adding up in the Chicago Fire attack.
Whether employing a traditional 4-4-2 or a more fluid 4-3-3, the Fire's attacking players have struggled in front of goal, with none of the four regular central strikers – Quincy Amarikwa, Kennedy Igboananike, Guly do Prado and Jason Johnson – scoring in the team's opening nine games.
Heading into Friday's match at Columbus Crew SC (8 pm ET, UDN/UnivisionDeportes.com), the Fire are tied for the second-fewest goals scored in MLS with just nine, and are third-worst in shot conversion rate, sitting at a paltry 6.6 percent. With those numbers, it's not hard to see why the Fire are well short of where they want to be.
"Yeah, you want to score goals, but as a team you want to win games," Amarikwa, who has started six games this season, told MLSsoccer.com. "I think right now the guys are still trying to build chemistry and get an understanding of what we want to do defensively as a team, so that’s kind of taken away from the forwards getting as many opportunities in front of the net."
Amarikwa, last season's top scorer with eight goals, is optimistic goals will come if the team continues to work hard and create as many chances as it currently is.
"It can be frustrating as forwards not scoring goals, because that’s what you want to do, that’s what you enjoy most about the game, but you also know that it’s a team game and there’s certain things we want to get right as a team first," he said. "If that means goals for us comes later down the road, I think the guys are prepared for that."
A lot has been made of systems, formations and tactics in general, but head coach Frank Yallop has been flexible with his lineups and hasn't been afraid to change personnel depending on the opposition and form.
"I've started both Kennedy and Quincy together a couple of times, once at home and once away, but when we maintain a lot of possession, Shaun [Maloney] fills that second striker role and I think he's good at that and we seem to play a lot better soccer," Yallop said. "Most teams in this league play with one striker with one floating around and we're no different to that. I think the systems get blown a little out of proportion, you just try to play your best players that you think are going to get you a result in the game."
Regardless of how the Fire line up on Friday, they'll face a tough test in Crew SC, who have given up just 12 goals – tied for second-fewest in the East – in 10 games this season.
"I'm open to playing two forwards, we've played one, we've played two, and they've all worked. We've played pretty well with the systems we've had, it's just picking them for the right opposition sometimes."
