Will the Fire start with three center backs again versus Columbus?

Last Saturday, the Chicago Fire started three center backs for the first time this year. They also kept a clean sheet, scored three times and walked away with their first win against a team currently in a playoff spot since June 28th. With a result like that against one of the teams near the top of the standings, is that something we’re likely to see again against Columbus?

Speaking to reporters after the team’s win against Minnesota, Gregg Berhalter made the decision sound like a one-off. “It was really about the shifting of the back line,” the Fire head coach said, “We realized when we played against them last time that they went four, the back line has to make some big shifts, and we figured to put an extra man in there to make it more manageable.”

Effectively, what the Fire did from the previous week’s Starting XI was take Brian Gutiérrez out and put Sam Rogers in. Still, Berhalter said, “There wasn't a ton different attacking-wise, in terms of what we are trying to do. I think personnel is a little bit different, right? Andrew [Gutman] was higher and [Jonathan Bamba] was inside instead of vice versa or one of our attacking mids in the pocket.”

Playing out of that formation, the Fire were able to effectively control the terms of the game, and although goalkeeper Chris Brady was sometimes called upon and needed to be sharp, Dayne St. Clair, his counterpart in the Minnesota net was far busier.

In retrospect, the move shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise, with Gregg Berhalter saying on Thursday that “Every team I've coached, we've used two systems interchangeably. I think it's important to be able to play a five-back system if you need to. Each game dictates something different. Having that in their repertoire could be important.”

Still, the switch to three has risks: putting Jack Elliott, Sam Rogers, and Joel Waterman on the pitch together left the Fire with just one center back on the bench. That was Omar González, who hasn’t exactly been lights out for the team this year.

Sam Rogers is also one caution away from a one-game suspension for card accumulation, putting additional risk strain on the Fire’s depth chart at the position, and although Christopher Cupps has shown real promise, he is just 17 years old and it’s not fair to expect him to be able to consistently step in to big-game moments at this stage of his career and the Fire’s season.

Still, against Columbus? I wouldn’t be entirely shocked to see it again. Although the Loons and the Crew have almost diametrically opposed philosophies on how they approach game management, with the Crew playing a more heavily possession-based system, both teams frequently use similar formations. Like Minnesota, the Crew usually play with three center backs, typically in a 3-4-3 formation that more closely mimics what the Fire did.

Waterman pointed out that even the possibility of a formation shift can complicate things for their opponents. “I think it adds some problems for other teams to face. I think going against Columbus, they have to figure out if we’re playing a back four, back five.”

Even if the Fire don’t start in the formation at kickoff, however, doesn’t mean that that’s the way the team will play all game, with Waterman saying “. We can change mid-game, we can change at halftime if we see different things happening. It's a huge advantage for us to be able to play in different systems against different teams.”