There's been a lot of talk about this Fire squad being the deepest in the team's history. With that in mind, Backdraft ventured to Toyota Park this morning to watch the Reserve team in action against DePaul University.

The game featured the season debuts of two players, one who has been with the Fire for ten years, and another who had never before pulled on our red jersey.

We also saw the future of the Fire with a strong performance by Patrick Nyarko (right), and perhaps someone soon to belong to our past, thanks to another curious outing from Wilman Conde.

Read on for the full report and photos.

As professionals playing against amateurs should be expected to do, the Fire dominated the first half, with Mike Banner and Patrick Nyarko attacking with poise down the wings. In the middle, 2008 second round SuperDraft pick Peter Lowry distributed the ball intelligently alongsider newcomer Lider Marmol, whose huge frame and smart positioning stalled DePaul's midfield.

Marmol wins a header

Upfront, Andy Herron awoke from his season-long slumber after a sluggish first few minutes struggling to chase long balls, holding up the ball deftly and combining well with Nyarko.

Herron opened the scoring in the 18th minute, after Nyarko won the ball, flicked it past the floundering defender, and laid it off for an easy run and finish by the Costa Rican.

Herron rarely worked with his strike partner Tomasz Frankowski, who belied his poacher's reputation by dropping deep to collect the ball and move it on effectively. He remembered his life's calling late in the first half, when after some excellent build-up play by Herron and Nyarko, he ghosted in to the near post and headed home from Austin Washington's pinpoint cross to make it 2-0.

Tomasz Frankowski calls for the ball

At the back, the Fire had little to do, though Dasan Robinson organized the younger players with vocal command. Rookie Austin Washington looked composed and comfortable on the ball at right-back, and captain Daniel Woolard was industrious on the left.

Wilman Conde had little to do at center-back, and in the second half, swapped positions with Lider Marmol, who proceeded to dominate in the air at the back. Conde then picked up where he'd left off the night before against Houston, with overly aggressive play and impetuous decision-making preceding his substitution in the 70th minute, when he was replaced by Brian Plotkin.

C.J. Brown then took the field in place of Andy Herron, and it was as if he'd never been away: the Fire's captain moved smoothly, and reminded us of his defensive gift to make the difficult look easy thanks to his outstanding positioning and strength.

Worryingly for the Fire, Frankowski hobbled off the field with what appeared to be a lower leg injury in the 60th minute, receiving lengthy treatment off the field subsequently.

The Fire wrapped up a slightly disappointing and low-key second-half up when late substitute Kai Kasiguran bundled in a rebound after Mike Banner's free-kick had been parried into his path.

It's never easy to draw conclusions from a match against college opposition, but Fire fans should look forward to what ought to be impending first team debuts from the powerful Lider Marmol and the sprightly Patrick Nyarko, as well as the potential return of CJ Brown. Young talents Lowry, Washington and Banner also did little to hurt their chances as well, and Robinson is clearly in good shape to step in at the back if needed.

And though Conde continued to remind us of his considerable physical talent in flashes of dominance, his head remains in the wrong place: at the end of the game, he ignored entreaties to warm down with most of the team, walking off the field immediately and heading into his car. Fortunately, the Fire's demonstrated depth suggests he will not be greatly missed.

See more photos from the game here

TrackBack URI for this entry

3 Comments

Ben May 18, 2008	As much as I want to like Marmol, it's sad to see him wearing #23. Does Conde have any chance here?
Flanagan May 19, 2008	A more poignant question is: does Conde even deserve a chance? I would argue a granite NO. Conde's scant appearances highlight the improvement of the entire team. He looks out of place when he steps on the field, especially Saturday night. His first touch symbolizes my feelings concerning Conde: inconsistent, infruiating, rather aimless. We need to trade him West or sell him abroad. Let's not let him back us into a corner and release him. The front office needs to be brutish on this one. Let's use Conde to lay a marker: the club, the shirt over the player. I truly believe Conde feels he's better than Chicago: the Fire and the fans. I would love for Hamlet to put faith in the young players, produce a fluid blend of experience and youth. He, we, need to think long run and really begin building an organized club again. I'm confident we'll reap the pay-offs. Section 8 needs to reflect this sort of faith as well. I was so proud when we hauled Houston level at 1 - 1. I was a little confused with the substitutions though. They felt too square, near defensive as we removed our better attackers for the bench players. Regardless, if Hamlet can use the loss as a real teaching tool, than the frustration won't have been in vain. It was easy to see that Houston were never too comfortable. They were flopping and diving left and right. On the Houston feed, Dom Kinnear ripped the ref and Blanco, saying he felt the ref was letting Tehmoc off with murder. Didn't look that way to me. I think a blindspot in the league was revealed on Saturday and at our expense. Ref Paul Ward took control of his first MLS match. Ever. Why was he handed the reigns for a match between the second place team in the east, us, and the two-time defending champs, the Earthquakes, er them? Sorry. Across more established leagues, refs are blooded in matches with less big personalities, with less immediate consequence. He fucking ignored Tehmoc the entire match and placated all of Houston soft antics. He was bullied, and he allowed it. He had no foothold in the match. I thought the Earthquake/Dyna-whatever players played with so little class. This mentioned, Tehmoc needs to respond by pushing himself into deeper involvment with the game and his teammates, less involvement with these refs. He was an irate passenger in the second half. His second half impact on the team was negative. It is clear MLS refs have made an across the board decision to crack down on Blanco. It does the team no good to argue about whether this is fair or not. It's happening, and we need to adjust, now. Also, how much did we miss Thorrington's presence on Saturday? He's our player of the season so far, hands down.
raceroberts May 20, 2008	Great post.