The Kansas City Wizards media guide lists the dimensions of CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 110 yards long by 70 yards wide. Some would argue that the listed figure is a bit generous, but regardless of whether or not the published dimensions are true, one thing is for certain: Kansas City’s field is one of the smallest in MLS.
Just how will the stadium’s unique dimensions fit Carlos de los Cobos’s style as the Fire head to Kansas City for their Saturday evening matchup? The visitors need to adjust in all three thirds of the field beginning on defense.
The Fire’s back line will be looking to bounce back after last week’s humiliating 4-1 defeat at Toronto FC. If they are to do so, they will need to be on high alert at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, where a seemingly harmless clearance can turn into a breakaway.
“When the forwards get a ball they’re in a potential space to shoot,” Fire defender C.J. Brown said. “So we’ve got to be on top of each other and on top of their forwards as much as possible.”
The small field will also affect how the Fire distributes the ball out of the back.
“When you’re looking to play long balls it’s kind of tough,” Brown said. “Especially when you have a Collins [John] or a Patrick [Nyarko] up top who can really get by people, you don’t have that space [to play long balls to them] anymore. But if we play quick on the ground that favors us.”
Given the small size of the field, the play in the middle should be pretty compact. It should be a physical, scrappy affair with no players afforded a lot of time or space on the ball.
“It’s going to be one of those games where a lot’s going to be dictated by second balls,” Fire midfielder Logan Pause said. “You got to play fast you, got to think fast, you got to be ready for second balls bouncing in and around the midfield.”
But other than a heightened sense of awareness, the Fire midfield doesn’t plan on adjusting their usual game plan too much.
“We’re going there to obviously get three points, that’s not any secret,” Pause said. “We’ll deal with that a little bit later in the week talking about dimensions and stuff like that but it doesn’t really change a whole lot of what we’re trying to do.”
Kansas City’s small field means that the Fire offense will have an opportunity to attack any time they pick up the ball in the Wizards’ half. Throw-ins turn into free kicks, free kicks become even more dangerous, and a simple turn can turn into a full-blown chance.
Those opportunities offer the Fire forwards a chance to have a breakout game, assuming that they are able to manage their opportunities properly.
“We just got to manage the game a bit differently than usual,” Fire forward Brian McBride said. “Sometimes we’re going to need to be more direct because the space isn’t going to be there to play in but we also have to be aware and not lose our shape and cause ourselves problems.”
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com.
