BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – When embarking on a major roster reshuffle following the disappointment of the 2014 season, head coach Frank Yallop chose to infuse a distinct international flavor into his Chicago Fire squad. ‘
Nowhere is that overseas flavor more apparent than up top, where the Fire signed Scottish international Shaun Maloney and Ghanaian national teamer David Accam as Designated Players and added Nigerian forward Kennedy Igboananike from AIK Stockholm and Brazilian Guly do Prado from English Premier League side Southampton.
Add in Trinidad & Tobago left back Joevin Jones and Brazilian center back Adailton to a roster that already includes a Jamaican (Lovel Palmer), Romanian (Razvan Cocis), another Brazilian in Alex, another Ghanaian in Patrick Nyarko and an Englishman in Matt Watson, and there is an exciting mix of cultures and talent.
That’s nine nationalities in the Canadian Yallop’s roster, and how quickly the various personalities settle and click with each other could have a huge bearing on how the Fire’s season pans out.
“It’s fantastic, everybody here is great,” Igboananike told MLSsoccer.com. “The players, the coaches, the staff, the board, everybody is great. I think we have really good characters in the team and a great atmosphere, which is very important and will help us play well.”
Accam, who may miss Saturday’s home opener at Toyota Park against the Vancouver Whitecaps (6 pm ET; TSN) due to a groin strain picked up in preseason, believes the increased quality and competition will help push both him and the team forward.
“Competition is healthy for every team, and I always want to compete with the best players to bring the best out in me and to help me bring the best out in other players,” he said. “So it’s great to have good players to compete with.”
Maloney has been impressed by what he has seen of his teammates since reporting for preseason in February, and he thinks the variety, pace and skill in each of their games will create more space for him from his No. 10 creative role.
“Quincy [Amarikwa] is very good at holding the ball up in terms of his power and his strength,” Maloney told MLSsoccer.com. “We only got to see David for an hour or so, but I’ve seen footage of him being very, very quick, and I think that will be a huge asset for us with that pace. Kennedy’s pace is also impressive, which will probably leave a little more room for me just behind them or a little bit deeper than that.”
Not lost in all the new additions is last year’s breakout star Harry Shipp, with Maloney anticipating an impressive year for the second-year Homegrown player.
“He’s an intelligent boy, very good finisher, can see a pass,” Maloney said. “We’ve got similar attributes in the way we play, and I think it’s up to Harry how far he wants to go. I think he’s got all the attributes; he looks like he’s an incredibly hard worker on the pitch, and I think it’s down to him how far he wants to go now.”
For Yallop, his main dilemma now is how to get the best out of his new attacking threats and improve upon a return of just three goals in five preseason games and a scoreless season-opening defeat in LA on Friday.
He’ll have another chance to get it right on Saturday,.
“When you have a lot of new guys, you’ve got to let them flourish a little bit, do their thing and then figure out exactly what their strengths are,” Yallop told reporters on a conference call this week. “If David Accam wants to be one-v-one most of the game, and he’s very, very good at it, we need to make sure that we give him the ball in the right areas.”
