Chicago Fire Seek Three Points at Columbus Crew SC

The Chicago Fire earned their first points away from home at New York City FC last Friday, but seven days later they’ll be looking to make it three when they travel to face their Eastern Conference rivals, Columbus Crew SC. It’s the second in a stretch of seven straight Eastern Conference opponents and a chance to surpass the Crew in the standings.

Like last week, the Men In Red will be leading off Univision Deportes' "Viernes de Futbol" coverage, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT at the newly renamed MAPFRE Stadium. Visit
MLSsoccer.com/sap
for information on how to view the English-language broadcast of the match and to located UDN on your cable system. 

Chicago Fire head coach Frank Yallop is well aware that a road victory over Gregg Berhalter's side -- even one coming off a 2-0 defeat at San Jose and as depleted as Crew SC currently stands -- would be an enormous lift ahead of Chicago's upcoming two-match homestand. 

"They're a good side and they're good at home, so it's obviously a hard game for us," Yallop said. "We've got to go in there with a good attitude. We'll have the same sort of gameplan as we did [at NYCFC] but obviously cut out our mistakes that cost us goals. It's not a ton of stuff, it's missing game savviness, seeing games out, we've addressed it on tape and on the training field. We've played well enough to get more points than we have, just have to prove it now."

The Fire are optimistic that they'll soon be bolstering their attack with the imminent return of 2013 MLS MVP Mike Magee. After approximately eight months spent rehabbing knee and hip injuries, Magee has returned to training and is hoping to be available for selection before the club's next four matches are complete. 

"He's been working hard with our fitness coach, so fitness won't be an issue," Yallop said Wednesday. "I spoke with him today and said, 'Let's not push it where you're back and then you're out a couple more weeks. He agrees, so it's just slowly building him in, get him on the bench to start with and go from there."

In the meantime, Yallop is likely to be counting on the usual explosiveness by David Accam and the improved form of Kennedy Igboananike to capitalize on the numerous chances being created in the offensive third. Between the boxes, he has options aplenty to pair alongside Matt Polster and Harry Shipp, namely the crafty Razvan Cocis -- who opened his Fire scoring account last Friday in New York City -- and the fully healthy Michael Stephens. 

CHICAGO FIRE at COLUMBUS CREW SC

• The Chicago Fire are 24-14-14 all-time in regular season matches against Crew SC, including a 10-9-6 record in matches played in Ohio. Last season, the teams finished 1-1-1 in three meetings, with the Crew SC claiming a 2-0 victory on May 24 in the lone match played in Columbus.

• This is the first time Fire defender Eric Gehrig will take on his former side. The Crown Point, Ind. native began his professional career when he joined Crew SC in advance of the 2011 season. In four seasons with Crew SC, Gehrig appeared in 46 regular season and two post season matches. The Fire PDL product was selected by Orlando City SC in the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft prior to joining the Fire in a trade on Dec. 10, 2014.

• Fire 'keeper Jon Busch also began his MLS career with Crew SC. In 2002, Busch was selected as the 23rd overall pick in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft by the Columbus Crew. Busch made 84 regular season appearances for the Crew, leading the Crew to the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the Supporters' Shield before joining the Fire in March 2007.

• Fire Technical Director Brian Bliss joined the Fire in Dec. 2013 after six years serving as the Crew's Technical Director. On Sept. 2, 2013 Bliss was appointed Interim Head Coach of the Crew, where he led the Crew to a 4-4-0 record to close out the 2013 season. After playing abroad in Germany, Bliss returned to the United States in 1996 and was allocated to the Columbus Crew, where he made 31 appearances and scored one goal over the course of one-and-a-half seasons.

Opponent Profile:

Record: 4-4-2, 14 points
Last five matches: 3-2-0, nine points
Goals leader: Kei Kamara (7)
Assists leader: Ethan Finlay (5)
Saves leader: Steve Clark (33)

Numbers To Know:

• 15.2 – Shots per game from Columbus, which leads MLS. Kei Kamara has led the hard-charging attack with seven goals in the first nine games of his second stint with the club. He has posted a league-leading 43 shots during his hot start.

• 10 – Goals in Columbus’ last three home games. The Crew don’t stop at “dos a cero” when they are at MAPFRE Stadium. They push forward aggressively and never stop attacking, which has led to a 4-1-0 record there.

• 82.4 – Columbus’ league-leading passing percentage. In the past five games, the Crew have been even more precise, completing over 86 percent of their passes. The disciplined buildup makes their offense tough to stop.

Keep An Eye On:

Even without the still-injured Wil Trapp, there are countless threats for a Crew side that has won its last three at MAPFRE Stadium; Kei Kamara can’t stop scoring goals, Federico Higuain pulls the strings and rarely shies away from unleashing a shot from distance and Ethan Finlay is a productive force in the midfield who has burned the Fire in past seasons. But the keys for this team are the fullbacks. Héctor Jiménez has stepped in on the right following last week's departure of Hernán Grana, joining Waylon Francis, who is a menace going forward. The Crew have relied on midfield general Mohammed Saeid to protect the back line but will be without his services Friday night due to his ejection from the loss at San Jose.