Source: Chicago Fire
Frank Klopas and the Fire technical staff committed highway robbery yesterday. Not only did the
Fire pick up Corben Bone and Kwame Watson-Siriboe in the draft much, much later than they were
projected to go, but they also began to fill two of the team's bigger needs in the process.
In November, ESPN.com's Bill Simmons - affectionately known as the "Sports Guy" - published
The Book of Basketball with one goal in mind: to answer every question that could ever be
posed about the NBA. One of those questions deals with what Simmons calls "The Secret." Simmons
learns of the "secret" on the deck of a Vegas topless pool, where he and Isaiah Thomas (the Hall of
Fame point guard and former GM who was a longtime object of barbs in Simmons's columns) are hashing
out their differences.
Apologies for my absence this weekend. I was at a conference in St. Louis and had no internet
access for the better part of three days. It was awful.
I will be attending this morning's introduction of Carlos de los Cobos and plan to post shortly
after the press conference ends. Stay tuned.
The Fire formally introduced Carlos de los Cobos as head coach today, unveiling the 51-year-old
Mexican manager in front of a crush of media members and fans. I'll be transcribing the 45+ minutes
of interviews I got from the press conference later on this afternoon, but I wanted to share a few
quick observations now.
In the last 20+ years, every one of the so-called "major" sports leagues in America has gone
through some sort of work stoppage. Whether it was the NFL in 1987, MLB in 1994, the NBA in 1998 or
the NHL in 2004, every stoppage damaged the respective leagues. Attendance declined, playoffs were
canceled, interest levels dropped and it took time (and in the case of baseball, two steroid-fueled
power hitters) to get the leagues back to their pre-work stoppage levels of success.
With the draft set to get started in less than 20 minutes, it's about time I started live
blogging the event. The Fire has the 13th, 22nd, 29th, 45th and 52nd picks in this year's draft;
which contains four rounds and 64 picks. I'll be watching the event live on ESPN2 beginning at 1
and hopefully some of you choose to follow along right here.
When Denis Hamlett was let go by the Fire on November 24th of last year, my personal reaction
was a bit mixed. I thought it was the right move for the Fire, but I was a bit sad to see Denis go.
Though he could be pretty harsh to some journalists on the Fire beat, Denis seemed to take a liking
to me (something I attribute to the fact that I'm young and seem completely non-threatening) and we
became something like friends by the end of the season.
A couple of news items for you to chew on this afternoon...
MLS just released the full 2010 schedule and -- at first glance -- the Fire's looks relatively
back heavy. The Fire plays 10 of their 30 regular season games in the final two months of the
season, finishing up with three games at Toyota Park.
I might not have been at practice yesterday, but I have a few updates from Wednesday's training
session thanks to the email report of a faithful reader who attended the session. Here we go...
John tearing it up --
Apparently, it hasn't taken trialist Collins John long to get acclimated to the Fire.
Normally I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. I used to make a couple every year, but when I
realized that I fell back into (most) of my old habits by January 15th, I kind of gave up on them.
But this year I'm going breaking my self-imposed resolution moratorium in order to focus on a few
changes that I want to make on this very website.
MLS announced yesterday that the 2010 MLS Cup will be played at a neutral venue. League
officials had apparently toyed with the idea of moving the championship match to the higher seed's
home stadium but nixed that possibility with yesterday's announcement. No word as of yet in regards
to where the match will be played.
The Washington Post is reporting that former El Salvador coach Carlos de los Cobos is the
leading candidate to become the Fire's next head man.
Should De los Cobos be coming to Chicago he likely wouldn't be coming alone. Another report from
the Washington Post has De los Cobos's hiring hinging (at least in part) on the Fire's ability to
sign 24-year-old Salvadoran winger/forward Julio Martinez.
Left back Gonzalo Segares is close to signing a deal with Cypriot team Apollon FC. The two sides
have reportedly agreed to terms with the 27-year-old Segares needing only to complete a physical
for the deal to become official.
"I talked to his agent and I talked to Gonzalo and I think they're pretty close to an agreement
with Apollon," Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas said.
So far this offseason the Fire has parted ways with former head coach Denis Hamlett, seen
Brandon Prideaux retire, lost David Myrie in the expansion draft, and watched as Cuauhtemoc Blanco,
Chris Rolfe and (now) Gonzalo Segares left to ply their trade abroad.
They have yet to bring in anyone new.
I'm sure many of you have heard of Megabus, the bus company that offers really low fares to and
from cities across the country. And if you've heard of Megabus, you've probably heard that they
offer free wi-fi on all of their buses. Well I'm currently on a Megabus (going to St. Louis for the
weekend) and there is no Internet connection.
According to a report by Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star, the Fire and Carlos de los Cobos
have agreed to terms for the former Mexican international to become the fifth head coach in team
history.
De los Cobos, who had been rumored as the front-runner for the job for about a week, most
recently managed El Salvador's national team, guiding them to a fifth place finish in CONCACAF
qualifying.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back
the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and
strong and cunning.
- Carl Sandburg, from his poem "Chicago"
I went to three international games at Soldier Field this summer.
The MLS SuperDraft is tomorrow people. It's going to be a big day for the Fire, who will have to
wait until the 13th pick to make their first selection. I'm going to be live-blogging the whole
damn thing and I'll be having a good time with it, so be sure to check it out.
If you plan on checking the draft out during your lunch break (it starts at 1 p.
Despite it coming out over a week ago that Gonzalo Segares had agreed to a deal with Cypriot
side Apollon FC, the 27-year-old left back -- whose contract with the Fire expired at the end of
the 2009 season -- has yet to put pen to paper and sign with the Mediterranean island club.
That could all change today though, as Segares has finally arrived in Cyprus and will likely
sign a short term deal after going through some physicals today.
No matter what time of year, no matter what continent you're on, on any given weekend one
can catch an entertaining soccer game. The key is to know where to look. Well, look no further
soccer fans -- I'm starting a weekly feature that will preview (and eventually recap) the weekend's
best match.
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Hopefully you have the day off (as I do...) but if not,
definitely spend a minute thinking about what Martin Luther King did for the people of this country
-- it's a better place because of him.
Secondly, apologies for the delay in posting. I had some stuff that needed to be taken care of
this morning and it prevented me from having a piece ready for the early morning.
Let's rewind to Thursday's draft for a minute. The Fire picked up a couple of defenders, two
midfielders and even a keeper with their selections, but neglected to draft a forward -- seemingly
a position of need -- with any one of their five picks.
On the surface (assuming the Fire took need into consideration when making their picks) not
drafting a forward makes little sense.
Former Fire forward/midfielder Chris Rolfe has kindly agreed to take some time out of his
schedule to answer some questions from you guys.
I'm guessing Chris will have a good deal to say about his new situation at Danish club Aalborg
BK (where the season will resume in the beginning of March), life in Europe, the manner in which
his Fire career ended, and much more, so ask away.
It's finally official. Gonzalo Segares and Apollon FC have put pen to paper and signed a deal
that will bring the 27-year-old former Fire left back to the Cypriot club through the end of their
season.
I know, I know, it's not like this is any sort of surprise, but I thought I'd share the news
with you all regardless.
Just a few quick things I wanted to pass along before heading off to class for the day...
The U.S. National Team is well into its annual January training camp and is set to face Honduras
in a friendly this Saturday at the Home Depot Center. Though the game won't feature any of either
countries bigger names, it's always interesting to see how the National Team is playing -- even if
only for the purpose of seeing who's likely to fill out the World Cup roster.
The Fire announced this afternoon that midfielder Julio Martinez will join the club on loan from
Mexican second division side Club Leon FC. Martinez, who played for Fire head coach Carlos de los
Cobos on the El Salvadoran National Team, for which he has scored two goals in ten appearances.
Former Fire midfielder/forward Chris Rolfe was kind enough to take some time to answer some of
your questions. Here are his responses:
How does Aalborg compare to playing with the Fire so far? Good luck in Europe,
Chris!
-patrickhattrick
First of all, it's somewhat nice to go through pre-season at our home training grounds and to be
in our homes at night.
No matter what time of year, no matter what continent one is on, on any given weekend one
can catch an entertaining soccer game. The key is to know where to look. Well, look no further --
here's a weekly feature that will preview (and eventually recap) my favorite match of the
weekend.
As I'm sure many of you know, yesterday's post was a bit controversial. I attempted to take a
creative look at the CBA and the writing came across a bit poor to some of you -- while others
seemed to like it.
While I'm happy that the piece provoked such strong reactions from some of you, I wanted to say
that I didn't write the piece simply to get people fired up.
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Freddie Ljungberg -- who found himself at the center of a bit of
controversy last week when he didn't show up to the start of the Sounders preseason training camp
-- has said on his website that there will be no lockout or strike beginning on February 1st.
"Based on the latest news I've heard from both sides, there wont be a lock out or strike on
Feb.
The Fire made the official announcement today that defender Krzysztof Krol will join the club on
loan from Jagiellonia Bialystok for the 2010 season. Krol will join the Fire pending receipt of his
Visa and International Transfer Certificate. Terms of the deal, which a Polish report said was for
one year, were not officially released.
The last 18 hours have been insanely busy for me so unfortunately, I don't have a post for you
this morning. I'll be back with a little something this afternoon though, so be sure to check
back.
I'll leave you with the news that the Seattle Sounders have already sold enough tickets to break
the single-season attendance record that they set last year.
It's been a while since I last spoke with Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas so we had a few
things to catch up on when we talked today. First on the list was the Fire's newest player,
defender Krzysztof Krol. The 22-year-old Krol, who the Fire officially acquired on loan from Polish
team Jagiellonia Bialystok, will likely fill the void left by Gonzalo Segares at left back.
In the winter of 2006, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to London to visit my Aunt
and Uncle. In short, it was an absolutely fantastic trip. My family and I saw the houses of
Parliament, the crown jewels, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and even took a short trip up to Scotland.
Truly, it was the trip of a lifetime.
Couple of quick updates...
MLS and the Players' Union have agreed to move the deadline to negotiate a new CBA from February
1st to the 12th. The two sides have engaged in what have been called productive discussions over
the past couple of days and are making progress towards signing a new CBA.
No matter what time of year, no matter what continent one is on, on any given weekend one
can catch an entertaining soccer game. The key is to know where to look. Well, look no further --
here's a weekly feature that will preview (and eventually recap) my favorite match of the
weekend.
Every now and again in the world of sports, a player who was originally expected to be selected
with a top-5 pick will slide way down on draft day. These experiences, which are incredibly
uncomfortable/sad if the player is actually attending the draft (remember Brady Quinn and Aaron
Rodgers?
With only one day left until the Fire officially kicks off its preseason schedule, the time has
come for an assessment of the Fire's offseason. And who better to evaluate the last few months than
the man behind all the moves, Frank Klopas? Take it away Frank...
"I think that we made very good decisions going forward," Klopas said in a phone interview last
Friday.
