Fire try to stay hot against Wizards

Soccer Betting Lines

08/22/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mexican international Cuauhtemoc Blanco has needed just three games to turn Chicago into a playoff contender.

Since joining Chicago in July, he has one goal and two assists during a three- game unbeaten streak. His presence in midfield has helped the Fire score five goals - or exactly how many they had in their previous nine games without him.

The Fire had only one win in 12 games before Blanco arrived, but have climbed to within four points of the eighth and final playoff spot in under a month.

But the surge has come thanks to wins over Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake, and a tie against Columbus. On Wednesday night, Chicago visits Eastern Conference rival Kansas City in the first of a home-and-home series.

Chicago may be getting its rival at a good time because Kansas City has lost two straight games - separated by 17 days - to New England. The Fire need to continue their recent hot streak to be considered a threat in playoff chase.

With Blanco directing the midfield, new acquisition Paulo Wanchope settling in at forward and forward Chris Rolfe finally healthy, it's now or never for the Fire, who could also debut Colombian defender Wilman Conde who signed Monday.

Wanchope is Costa Rica's all-time leading scorer and had one of two goals in the 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake last week. Wolfe leads the Fire in goals and assists despite missing 11 games with an ankle injury.

They started together for the first time in Chicago's last game and coach Juan Carlos Osorio is excited about the duo's potential.

"When you have the combination of a target man like Paulo, a real power who's very good at holding the ball up, and you combine that with Chris Rolfe's diagonal runs and him always trying to get in behind the defenders - we're very pleased with the way that has been working out for us," Osorio said.

Although it was in the first month of the season, Chicago has already beaten Kansas City without its new stars. Chris Rolfe and Chad Barrett scored in a 2-1 win in April.

The Wizards still have Eddie Johnson, though. He has 12 goals this season and has been relatively quiet in his last few games. All Kansas City needs to get a spark is for Johnson to find the back of the net.

"We weren't sharp (on Sunday)," K.C. coach Curt Onalfo said. "I knew that it would take awhile for us to shake the rust off."

The only bonus for the Wizards is they don't have much time to dwell on the loss. With three days between games and a game at Chicago on Saturday, K.C. has to focus on this stretch or risk falling into a tight pack in the bottom of the playoff race

"It gives us a chance in three days to turn around and change things," Kansas City's Sasha Victorine said. "Right now, our rhythm is off, and we're still trying to figure out how we want to play and it's the last third of the season. We should have ourselves going in a peak right now.

"It's frustrating."

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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

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