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October 21, 2018; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Striker C.J. Sapong (17) of Philadelphia Union and defender Connor Lade (5) of the New York Red Bulls react to a loose ball in the second half at Talen Energy Stadium. Required Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
The last two seasons of C.J. Sapong are similar to those of the Chicago Fire, and Sapong now joins the Fire in hopes of a resurgent season.
In 2017, Sapong had the best season of his career. He scored 16 goals and five badists for the Philadelphia Union. That goal total was tied for the eighth league in the league that year.
The Union did not participate in the playoffs, but Sapong was able to double his goals in goals for the first time in his career and reach career highs in all areas. For most of his career, Sapong seemed to be a complementary piece. That year, Sapong developed at the center of the Union attack.
Meanwhile, the Fire has played in the playoffs for the first time since 2012. After winning one last consecutive place, the Fire had a strong core and a winning product on the pitch.
Sapong and The Fire both experienced a significant drop in 2018. The Fire were out of the playoffs well before the end of the season. Sapong scored four goals and three badists in 29 starts for the Union.
The European Union sneaked into the playoffs last season, but their willingness to treat Sapong so late in the series shows they did not believe this 30-year-old was essential to the team's success. But what can he do for the fire?
Nemanja Nikolic had his own fall in 2018 after scoring 24 goals and winning the Golden Shoe in 2017, but he still finished with 15 goals last season. At 31, he should still be leading the fire in 2019.
Although Sapong struggled to score goals last season, he still played 2,321 minutes. He has recorded at least as many minutes in each of the last three seasons. Unless coach Veljko Paunović plans to move to two strikers, something he has rarely used since taking office in 2016, Sapong will have to accept a bench role.
In pre-season, the fire continued with Paunović's standard 4-2-3-1 formation. This means that Sapong can be stuck in a reserve role. Last season, Alan Gordon and Yurz Movsisyan, the late-season acquisition, were 885 minutes behind Nikolic.
The Fire has just paid at least $ 400,000 to Sapong. It is hard to believe that it would be limited to about 900 minutes in 2019, given the amount the fire paid for it and the height of his salary ($ 525,000 in 2018).
The MLS 2019 schedule is a little tighter, with the regular season ending three weeks earlier and a break from the Gold Cup in June. General Manager Nelson Rodriguez mentioned this by talking about the importance of the depth of the team in 2019. Paunović could be forced to a larger rotation of the team, which would give Sapong more d & # 39; opportunities.
This could also mean that a 3-5-2 training could be used. Paunović used the training from time to time throughout his term, but never steadily. The fire lost outback Brandon Vincent and Matt Polster during the off-season and did not replace them. A 3-5-2 would allow Raheem Edwards, Diego Campos or anyone playing at these locations to have less defensive responsibilities. The problem is that the fire has only three central centers on the list, so it may not be a viable coherent option.
In Sapong, the fire has won a recognized MLS scorer who is a physical presence and gives them another option in the attack. The quotation from Rodriguez's press release on trade talks about it.
"CJ brings a different skill set to our attack options," Rodriguez said. "We can now be more varied in the way we attack."
The role of Sapong remains a question until the season begins. However, given the investment he has invested (in allocation money and salary), it would be slightly surprising not to give him more chances than the reinforcements behind Nikolic in the last two years.
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