My Chicago Fire Off-Season Wish List

With the season almost over and the team already out of the playoffs it is time to start looking at making the adjustments necessary to improve our team for 2011.  Here is my thought and wishlist position by position:

Goalkeepers:  Keep starting Sean Johnson, he has the ability to develop into a fantastic keeper.  Andrew Dykstra really is as good as a backup that you could ask for in this league and we don’t really need to do anything new here.

Back line:  Kinney needs to continue to get starters minutes on the right and Siriboe needs to have the same in the middle.  Gonzalo Segares will be ready to perform on the left next season and either Krol if we can keep him or Umanzor if we can’t will be good or servicable backups respectively.  Meanwhile Dasan Robinson will continue to function and a backup center back.  This leaves us with our needs:

1. we need a top center back, a real leader for the whole defense.

2. we need backup center back and right back capable of filling in at any time.

Midfield: We will break down the midfield by position.  First I will say I think we need to let John Thorrington go, it is just not ok to continue paying someone to hardly play all season.

CDM:  I really think we should consider starting Bratislav Ristic here.  It is obvious he can function out wide in the midfield, or on the defensive line.  I think he could be an upgrade on Logan Pause, a player capable of not only protecting the team defensivly but helping push the transition into the attack.  Logan Pause should stay on as depth here, he is perfect for this…the player who does not hurt his team but doesn’t really having the skill to create going forward.

Wingers:  I think both Patrick Nyarko and Marco Pappa should come back as starters as our wide midfielders.  However, we need to find depth to fill in should these two falter or get injured.

CAM:  Freddie Ljungberg has at least one more good season in his legs and considering his skill set it would be best if we kept him on and put him in that attacking midfielder role.  We have decent depth here with Husidic, Lowry, and Bone all capable of stepping in.  Both Husidic and Lowry have had some good moments during the season this year and Bone hasn’t really had a chance yet..but he needs to get that chance.

Strikers: My gut says start next preseason with Nery Castillo in the withdrawn striker role with Collins John up front as the target striker.  It is clear that Castillo has the skills but with such a lack of condition when he came to Chicago he hasn’t really had the opportunity to gel on the field, next year is his chance.  As for John I believe that he needs consistent minutes to hit his form and he has not had that this year, I say we give him the chance next year to see what he can do if he finds his form.  Calen Carr can go, as he really hasn’t proved anything to me, but that means we need to pick up #3 and #4 striker who are capable of stepping into the starting lineup at any given time.

So it seems to me that Chicago could really turn around next year without much change to the starting lineup.  The players we have used at the end of this season are starting to play some decent football and with 1 or 2 adjustments to the starting line-up and quite a bit of additions to the substitutes bench we should be competitive next year.

Fire Officially Miss Playoffs

 

After the weekend of MLS play the teams making the playoffs are almost set in stone.  A number of normally successful teams are now out of the 2010 MLS Cup including the Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution and Chicago Fire.  With Chicago missing the playoffs for the second time in the clubs history most fans are now looking to next season.

However, just missing the playoffs is not enough.  Should Colorado lose out the rest of their games (a definite possibility) and Chicago win out the final three games on their schedule (also a total possibility)…Chicago will have missed the MLS Cup playoffs by a single point.

Soon I will take a look at my wish list for Chicago during the offseason so stay posted and we will look forward to the off-season.

Fire settle for Draw in Colorado

This weekend the Fire made the trip to Colorado to take on the Colorado Rapids during the second weekend of MLS league play.  In what was the home opener for the Rapids the Fire once again struggled with both injuries and their ability to find creative offensive play.

Missing from todays match were starters M John Thorrington and D Wilman Conde.  Thorrington was sorely missed in the central midfield and the Fire struggled to find any sort of cohesion in the middle of the park.  The 1st goal of the game by Colorado’s Jamaican international Omar Cummings came down to a lack of defensive pressure from CJ Brown and rookie Kwame Watson-Siriboe.  Conde truly in the man that make this defense run.

Otherwise the game was played decently well on both sides of the ball with striker Collins John scoring his first goal in MLS off of a corner and Brian McBride slicing a PK past Colorado keeper Matt Pickens and into the side netting.

Image from mlssoccer.com

Hopefully Thorrington and Conde will be healthy for the home opener to replace to offensively challenged Logan Pause in midfield and bring stabilty and fight to the Fire’s defensive structure.

Fire sign Costa Rican David Myrie

From the Chicago Fire Communications Office:

The Chicago Fire today announced that the club has signed Costa Rican defender David Myrie to the team’s roster. Myrie will be counted as an international on the team’s senior roster and be available to play upon receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC). Per team policy, details of the contract will not be disclosed. Myrie joins the Fire after playing for Liga Deportiva Alajuelense of Costa Rica last season. Before joining Alajuelense, Myrie played for Puntarenas for one season after spending two seasons in Spain with Cadiz of the Spanish third division. The Costa Rican international competed for his country in the 2007 Under-20 World Cup and at the 2005 Under-17 World Cup. “David is a young player with a lot of potential and we are pleased to add him to our roster as the team continues to work toward bringing the MLS Cup to Chicago this season,” said Frank Klopas, Chicago Fire Technical Director. The Fire return to action against the Columbus Crew on Sunday, September 20th at home in TOYOTA PARK (2 p.m. CT, My50 Chicago).

David Myrie

Position: Defender

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 175 lbs.

Birthday: June 1, 1988

Hometown: Puerto Viejo Limon

Nationality: Costa Rica Roster

Status: International

Soumare is Officially going to France

It was announced Wednesday afternoon that Bakary Soumare was officially a member of Boulogne of Ligue 1 the French 1st Division.  The newly promoted club has been pursuing Soumare since the begining of the season and after the altercation with teammate Logan Pause and Coach Hamlett it seemed inevitable that this move was at some point inevitable.  In a statment released by the club Fire technical director Frank Klopas said;

“We would like to thank Bakary Soumare for his contributions to this club and wish him the best in his future playing career.”

It is rumoured that Boulogne payed a transfer fee of $2.15 million for the rights to Soumare’s contract.

MLS Clubs in World Rankings

At the end of July two MLS clubs had made it into the top 350 of the world ranking for club teams.

Houston Dynamo is tied with 7 other teams in 234th. The most notable of these teams are Monaco of Ligue 1 the French 1st Division, TSG Hoffenheim of the Bundesliga German 1st Division and Palermo of Serie A the Italian 1st Division.

Meanwhile DC United is tied with 7 teams in 258th.  The most notable of these are; Deportivo Saprissa the most successful team in Costa Rican history with 28 titles and one of the best in the CONCACAF region, FK Teplice of the Gambrinus Liga the Czech 1st Division and Cagliari Calcio in Serie A the Italian 1st Division.

Battle for the Conference

The next 2 months will be the telling tale when it comes to who will win the Eastern Conference of MLS, and quite possibly the Supporters Shield.  Two teams are leading the way in the East; Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire with 39 and 38 points respectively.  Here is a look at their remaining schedule and what may happen as the season comes to a close.

Columbus-Total Pts Avaliable: 24

Also must play 5 Champions League matches during this time

A 8/30 Red Bull New York

-This should be an easy win for the Crew, but after the Red Bulls good finish this week you never know.  They may go on a run.

H 9/13 Houston Dynamo

-The two top teams meet, Houston has been struggling and the Crew on fire.  However both will be starting to wear down for Champions League play and a draw seems a strong possibility.

A 9/20 Chicago Fire

-A second important match in a row for the Crew, after 0-0 and 2-2 draws earlier in the season you would expect the same.  However if the Fire get Segares, Conde and Ward back from injury and with the Crew having a full schedule I give the Fire the edge.

H 9/26 Los Angeles Galaxy

-The edge goes to the Crew, but as with the Fire game this could be a tie or LA win as well.

H 10/03 Seattle Sounders FC

-A likely Crew victory, the Sounders have struggled on the road this year and that is unlikely to change here.

A 10/10 New England

-An important game for both teams.  New England is making a run and has games in hand.  This will be a tight game.

A 10/17 DC United

-It seems that DC is struggling and unless they turn it around before this, more struggling is likely all they will see in this game as well.

H 10/25 New England

-Another game against New England.  Assuming the Fire have beat the Crew at Toyota Park and gone on a run to take the East already you just have to root for the Crew and hope that New England misses the playoffs.

Chicago-Total Pts Available: 21

H 8/29 DC United

-The way DC have been struggling for results and have a rull group of Champions League games to play you have to think the Fire might take advantage of that.

A 9/12 Real Salt Lake

-After taking Real 1-0 at home, it seems likely that a draw at Rio Tinto is a strong possibility, but based on the Fire’s away record a win is definitely possible.

H 9/20 Columbus Crew

-The most important game left, after 0-0 and 2-2 results already another draw seems a strong possibility.  However if the Fire have figured out the fighting mindset at home that they have on the road and get some of the backline back they have a chance for 3 pts.

H 9/26 Toronto FC

-Another important game against a team fighting for a playoff spot.  Judging by Toronto’s away record the Fire should be able to take this game.

A 10/02 Los Angeles Galaxy

-After a 2-1 win and 2-0 loss it seems this may be a draw between to pretty equal teams.  The Fire’s away record give’s hope that they might pull out a win, but the Galaxy has been playing well.

A 10/17 New England

-A important rivalry game away from home against a team getting on a roll and fighting for the playoffs.  If ever there was a late season away win for the Fire to get, this is the one!

H 10/22 CD Chivas USA

-Chivas come to Chicago to end the season and the Fire if they play strong should eek out a win, however a draw is possible here as well.

Improving the MLS

I know many of us have our ideas on how to improve and grow MLS.  Other than the normal promotion/relegation and single table argument I want to add my thoughts to some things that would really help build the league more in the long term and possibly lead to the ability to change to a single table with more than 30 games a season or allow for a deeper system and possible promotion/relegation in the future (likely at least a decade or so).

-Bring back the MLS Reserve/Developmental Division and tie it into the 1st team.  Have an 11 man reserve squad run by each MLS club instead of having teams in the USL PDL.

-MLS teams own the rights to all Reserve players and can call them up to 1st team duty at any time during the season, offer them a 1st team contract during transfer windows or sell the players for a profit.

-Along with the Reserve division, have a roster size of 23 players with no DP/developmental/international designations.  Along with increasing team depth, mandate 6 players available per game on the substitute bench.  Allow the other 6 players to play with the Reserve team.

By adding the Reserve division and increasing 1st team roster size, there will be an increase in depth, increase in player development, possible increase in MLS and its teams making a profit through selling players, and the ability for 1st team players not starting to play a competitive match with the Reserve team to gain form.

-Tweak the salary cap to allow teams that make money to spend that money.  My favorite option in the hard cap/soft cap rule with a form of luxury tax.  Set a separate cap for Reserve teams no hard/soft rule just a straight cap.

EX: Set a hard cap of $3 million that the league pays under like in the current structure.  Team’s are then allowed to spend above this amount using their own money.  After a team hits say $4million dollars spent they then start to pay 1/2 of every dollar spent as a luxury tax that gets distributed amongst teams spending $3 million or less.

-To go along with the increase in salary cap, eliminate the Designated Player rule and have all first team contracts be for a set amount.  Everything counts towards the cap for every player.  No exceptions for DP’s, developmental players, etc.  Get rid of all these different types of contracts.  Only 1st team contracts, and Reserve team contracts all 1st team contracts apply towards soft/hard cap and luxury tax and all reserve contracts toward reserve team cap.

I think that these changes would see long term benefit for the league as a whole.  You would see more development of players and greater depth on the teams.  The greater depth would help MLS team in international play such as the Champions League.  Also you will have some teams that play a more interesting brand of football and draw in more fans.  This means more profits where those teams go (sorta like the Becks affect).  Meanwhile these teams are still putting money into teams that don’t draw as well are getting this luxury money.  To me these changes seem like a win/win for MLS and the sport in America.

Where is OUR Front Office?

A major problem with the Chicago Fire? Our front office seems dissinterested in the tea, fans and the sport in general.  Here is a letter from the DC United president to their supporters and city at large.  My message, where is the passion from our leadership and team?  The only group that seems to have this passion for the Fire in Section 8 Chicago and they are looked down upon by the Fire organization. Here is a call to arms that Chicago wants leadership that cares!

Dear Washington, D.C. –

We win trophies.

Since our first season in 1996, D.C. United has won 12 major domestic and international trophies and is firmly established as the most successful organization in the history of U.S. professional soccer.

On September 2, at 7:30 p.m. at RFK Stadium, we will try to add a 13th title to the D.C. United trophy case when we defend our championship in the prestigious Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a competition which began in 1914.

Our opponent, Seattle Sounders FC, is new to MLS. They’re in the midst of a great inaugural season and have developed a large and passionate fan base. The Sounders, and its fans, have said that Washington, D.C. and its fans do not deserve to host the match at RFK. They insisted the match should be played in Seattle.

For 14 seasons, our fans have been the standard by which other fans in Major League Soccer are measured.

For 14 seasons, our fans have brought unmatched energy, enthusiasm and passion to RFK Stadium and Major League Soccer.

And now, after 14 trophy-filled seasons, it is time for our fans – for all D.C. area sports fans – to remind everyone who the best sports fans in the country are.

I know not all of you are D.C. United fans. Many of you aren’t even soccer fans, but a challenge has been issued and we expect all sports fans in D.C. to meet it. Join us at RFK. Hear the songs of passion. Feel the stadium bounce. Stand up and cheer. Stand up for another championship. Stand up for D.C.

We win trophies. Join us for the next one.

Kevin Payne
President and CEO, D.C. United

Viewing Party Chicago Fire vs Houston Dynamo

Join with you’re fellow Fire fans at Quigley’s Irish Pub in Naperville, IL for food, drink specials, giveaways, and of course free raffles.  And the most important part, seeing the Fire kick on Houston to earn 3 pts!

When: Sunday, August 9 at 7pm (game starts at 7:30)

Where: Quigley’s Irish Pub, 43 E Jefferson Naperville, IL