AUDIO: Frank Yallop discusses his lineup selections vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the move of Joevin Jones into the midfield, and his return to San Jose coinciding with the opening of Avaya Stadium.
CHICAGO (March 16, 2015) -- The Chicago Fire were back to work Monday morning, beginning preparations for the club’s third visit to the West Coast in less than a month. The Men In Red will head to the Bay Area and attempt to spoil the official opening of Avaya Stadium, the new soccer-specific home of the San Jose Earthquakes (Sunday, 6 p.m. CT, FOX Sports 1).
Chicago’s participation in the Quakes’ much-anticipated celebration is fitting considering the involvement of Fire head coach Frank Yallop, who managed San Jose to the 2001 and 2003 MLS Cup championships during his first stint with the club before returning for six more seasons as manager starting in 2008.
“When I saw [the schedule], I thought, ‘that’s us,’” Yallop said of the Fire’s appointment as the first official visitors to the new venue. “I did get a little excited, to be honest. To go in there with my new team to compete against those guys is great. It was fantastic to be part of that when I was coaching there, both times, and it’s always a special place in my heart when I look at the Earthquakes family. It’ll be an emotional day, but in a good sense, that I’m very happy for the people that got that done.”
Sitting opposite Yallop on Sunday will be the same man who sat alongside him during the organization’s MLS Cup seasons. Dominic Kinnear, who helped the club claim two more MLS Cups following its relocation to Houston, returned to the Bay Area prior to this season. The veteran manager saw his side take an impressive three points on the road at Seattle Saturday night -- despite playing the final 38 minutes down to 10 men -- thanks to a Chris Wondolowski brace and a match-winner from new Designated Player Innocent Emeghara.
Following an off day on Sunday, Chicago reconvened for training on a 70-degree day at Toyota Park. Frank Yallop spoke to local and national media members via teleconference following the session, providing a few notes to start off the week:
• Newly signed midfielder David Accam, absent from action since suffering a groin strain in his first preseason outing on Feb. 22, was a full participant in training on Monday. His ability to contribute Sunday at San Jose remains to be seen, but Yallop was surely encouraged by the sight of Accam’s darting movements in small-sided games and his aggressiveness during team sprints.
“We’ve had him maybe 70 minutes on the field [in preseason] so to expect a lot from him right now is asking a lot,” Yallop said. “The qualities he has are great, but it’s going to take him a little bit to gain his game sharpness and get our guys used to playing with him.”
• Frank Yallop spoke highly of rookie Matt Polster following the midfielder's first career start Saturday night against Vancouver. Polster was shown a yellow card in the game's fourth minute but recovered with poise and confidence before coming off at the game's hour mark.
"I thought Matt did well," Yallop said. "I felt sorry for the kid. He's enthusiastic, and I don't think any of his fouls were bad. The referee should realize that he should say, 'Just settle down. I understand you're excited.' We're hoping that the officials know he's making his home debut and he's going to be enthusiastic. He handled himself very well after getting an early yellow and played well. The reason I took him out was because of his yellow card and because the referee keeps signaling, if he does one more bad foul he's going to send him off. It kind of changed things for me because I wanted to leave Matt on, I thought he was doing great."
• The Fire announced plans to debut their new Chicago-inspired secondary kits this Sunday at San Jose.
• One other welcome sight on Monday was that of goalkeeper Sean Johnson participating fully in all drills. Johnson was kept out of the lineup against the Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday while allowing an infection in his arm to heal fully. The veteran Jon Busch was a capable understudy for Johnson in his return to Toyota Park, stopping five shots in his 297th career MLS appearance Saturday night.
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