Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Colombian forward Nazarit joins Fire

Fire signing Cristian Nazarit -- Getty Images
The Chicago Fire brought in 20-year-old Colombian Cristian Nazarit on Wednesday -- a 6-foot-1 target forward who recently was playing for Colombian Primera A side Independiente Santa Fe.

In the Fire's grand plan, the club clearly hopes that Nazarit or some other striker will provide scoring power to complement Diego Chaves, who leads Chicago with four goals. Chaves has been a workhorse for the Fire, and for much of the season he has been Chicago's only go-to guy on the scoring front.

Chaves also has noticeably lost some steam in the closing minutes of Chicago's recent games, so adding an offensive weapon -- provided the Nazarit plan comes to fruition -- is a welcome addition for the Fire.

But Nazarit's signing also does not address the Fire's most immediate needs, the biggest of which is an established central midfielder. Even through seven games, the Fire have yet to finalize the look of their middle formation.

The Fire's 10 goals in seven games is pretty much on par with the rest of the league's offenses. Heading into this week, before Wednesday's slate of games, there were four other MLS clubs with that exact goals-to-games ratio, including the Eastern Conference-leading New York Red Bulls.

The major difference between New York and Chicago is that the Red Bulls (4-1-2) have allowed only two goals this season, while the Fire (1-3-3) have given up a whopping 13.

Read more at ESPNChicago.com.

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