RSL looks to extinguish Fire in Chicago, skew Fire's stats

Midweek matches always make things move more quickly, and this week is no exception. The boys — or most of them, at least — are off to Chicago to put out the Fire, which, of course, we didn't start. (Can I shoehorn any more references in here? Mrs. O'Leary's cow, maybe?)

Of course, I say most because we know that the inimitable Nick Rimando hasn't traveled with the side — a precaution with his shoulder, really — leaving Kyle Reynish as the obvious man to fill the empty goalkeeper slot. It'll be a nice opportunity for Mr. Reynish to grab some minutes and show exactly what it is he's got.

Oh, I know: We'd best watch out for the Fire hoofing it long(horn) and moo-ving the ball efficiently. It would be an udder disappointment if we drop points, but on the road, you do always have to be on the lookout. It's always interesting, too, when an assistant coach (CJ Brown, in this instance) was a big player for the side you're facing, but I'm certain there'll be no beef between the two. It's awfully re-veal-ing of his personality that he's dedicated to Real Salt Lake. (Go give last night's OnFrame a listen. I'll be here waiting, just chewing my cud.)

What, too many puns? Don't have a cow, man. Oh, I slay me.

Right, so, let's take a look at the respective records of our sides and see what sort of team we'll be playing against in Chicago, shall we?

• The Fire have only played 7 matches (we're at 11), three of which have been at home. Their record at home isn't too stellar: One win (against Philadelphia Union), one draw (against Houston Dynamo) and one loss (against Seattle Sounders.)
• In their home matches, the Fire have averaged 75% passing, have a 74% tackling success rate, and have won 44% of their duels. To contrast: On the road, we have averaged 80% passing, have an 84% tackling success rate, and have won 51% of our duels. In fact, we've won a higher percent of aerial duels, with 52% won, while they've won only 46%.
• On average, 47% of our passing comes down the flanks, while 50% of Chicago's passing comes down the flanks.
• However, while we can look at Chicago's fairly low pass success rate and take some pleasure, they've been excellent at breaking down passing: Opponents at Toyota Park this season have averaged 72% passing success, but we'll certainly be looking to skew that average.
• Chicago has allowed 38 percent of passes against them to be forward-moving, and 38 percent of our passes have been forward-moving. Parity, anyone?
• Chicago has, on average, allowed 7 key passes a match, while we're averaging 8.8 per road match. 

So, knowing there will be at least some rotation, we should be in a situation well-suited to us. We know Chicago's going to be difficult to break down, but who in this league isn't? We saw our side breaking down the barriers without any real trouble against New England, so if we can do that some more, it's hard to look past us for the win.

Right, a rather short one today, but I may have exhausted my ability to speak rationally about this match through all of the puns. I'll have more (analysis, not puns. Actually, probably puns, too.) tomorrow. 'Til then!