Looking at the standings after the Fire's 1-0 loss to D.C. United late Saturday night, I came to
the conclusion that any hopes the Fire had of taking the 2009 Supporter's Shield (the honor given
to the league leaders at the end of the regular season) had burned out. The Fire had dropped
another 3 points at home and the two squads in front of them - Columbus and Houston - were facing a
pair of winnable games on Sunday.
Wondering how the recent moves of Chris Rolfe and Bakary Soumare to Europe will impact Brian
McBride's offseason decision? Well, I asked the 37-year-old McBride - who is in the last year of
his contract with the Fire - just that question after the Fire's practice last Thursday. Here is
what the Arlington Heights native had to say.
The Fire and Houston are set to kick off in a little more than three hours, so it's time for me
to get the Matchday thread going. The Fire need a win to keep pace with first place Columbus, who
beat San Jose 3-0 yesterday. I'll be posting some thoughts I have on the play in the comments
section (In real time no less.
The Fire pulled off a wild one tonight - getting three goals in the last 20 minutes to defeat
the Colorado Rapids 3-2. "This was a test for us, this was a test to see what kind of character we
have," said a very happy Jon Busch. "Everybody stepped up. We got behind the eight ball a little
bit but we didn't hang our heads.
After his poor performance in the Fire's 2-0 defeat to the L.A. Galaxy last Wednesday night,
center back Dasan Robinson was pretty upset. But the 25-year-old defender - who got beat on both
Galaxy goals - bounced back in a major way Sunday night against the Rapids, playing solid defense
and scoring a stoppage time winner to cap a miraculous Fire comeback.
A huge Eastern Conference battle is on the slate for the Fire this weekend, as they will take on
long time rivals D.C. United at Toyota Park on Saturday (7:30 on FSC). The Fire and D.C. have
already met twice in 2009, and the Fire hasn't fared as well as they would've hoped, drawing once
and losing once to the 5th place United side.
Coming off of last Sunday's thrilling, come from behind 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids,
the Fire put in a very disappointing performance tonight, falling to longtime rivals D.C. United
1-0 at Toyota Park. Bryan Namoff scored the lone goal of the match in the 11th minute, when he
flicked home a fantastic Christian Gomez free kick from the top of the 6 yard box.
Hey everybody, I thought I'd share a few links with you all as the weekend slowly comes to a
close. As I mentioned yesterday, the Fire is hosting a FIFA Soccer 10 launch party Monday night at
the Hancock Center Best Buy starting at 4. If you go you'll not only get a chance to play the game
before it come out on Tuesday but you'll also get a chance to play in a 32-man FIFA tournament and
meet Fire forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
With two playoff spots remaining and six teams in the hunt, things could get a little dicey in
MLS this weekend.
Colorado (40 points) is the only team that controls its own destiny and if they get a win at
Real Salt Lake tonight (9 p.m. on FSC) they will clinch the 3rd or 4th seed in the Eastern
Conference.
Here is an interview I did with Fire rookie midfielder Baggio Husidic prior to last Saturday's
game against Real Salt Lake. Baggio, , who grew up in Libertyville and played at UIC, touched on a
bunch of subjects in the interview including his play with the Fire this year and his early years
spent in Bosnia, Germany and eventually Chicago.
Fresh off a crushing penalty kick loss to Tigres UANL in Wednesday's SuperLiga final, the Fire
is looking to turn it around on Sunday night when they take on the MLS leading Houston Dynamo at
Robertson Stadium in Texas (7:30 / DirectKick)....
The Fire and Real Salt Lake are set to clash tomorrow night for their second meeting of the
season. The Fire was victorious in the first matchup between the two teams, getting a goal from
Patrick Nyarko to defeat RSL 1-0 on August 1st at Toyota Park. What's the main difference between
tomorrow's match and the teams' first meeting?
Hey everybody, wanted to pass along a few bits of MLS news before Friday comes to a close and
the weekend really gets going. Two pretty big names in North American soccer made the move from
Europe to MLS today as U.S. National Team defender Heath Pearce joined FC Dallas and Canadian
National Team star midfielder Julian DeGuzman -- formerly of La Liga's Deportivo La Coruña --
returned to his hometown to join Toronto FC as the club's first ever Designated Player.
I was at the Fire's practice session today and picked up a few tidbits of info from the training
session. Here they are......
With only five regular season games left in their season, every remaining match is critical for
the Chicago Fire. Some matches, however, are more important than others and this Sunday's battle at
Toyota Park against the defending champion Columbus Crew (2 p.m. on My50/Telefutura) certainly fits
that description.
The Fire had it all to fight for on Sunday afternoon against the Columbus Crew. First place in
the East, a shot at the Supporter's Shield, home field advantage in the playoffs, you name it and
the Fire had it in their grasp this afternoon at Toyota Park but in the end it all slipped away as
the two sides played to a very controversial 2-2 draw.
With a schedule jam packed with MLS and World Cup Qualifying action, today is a big day in the
soccer universe. Some of the international matches sparking my interest include Denmark v. Sweden
(1 p.m., FSE), Hungary v. Portugal (2:45 p.m., Setanta Sports), Mexico vs. El Salvador (5 p.m.,
Telemundo), Costa Rica v.
Hey everyone, hope your Thursday is going well. I caught up with the recently returned Gonzalo
Segares and Logan Pause (both players had been with their national teams since the end of June for
the Gold Cup) at yesterday's practice and did a little group interview with them. Check it out
below...
Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been named to the Mexican National team roster ahead of
their all important World Cup Qualifier against the United States. Fire defender Gonzalo Segares
was also named to his country's roster; he'll play with Costa Rica when they take on Honduras on
the same day.
With the Fire and Real Salt Lake set to kick off in a little less than two hours, it's high time
I get the Matchday post up, so here it is. I'll be posting the starting lineups for each side
(along with any other random thoughts/observations) in the comments section later on so get ready
for those.
According to a report from Goal.com, Fire defender Bakary Soumare is finally making his
long-awaited move to Europe as he will leave Chicago to join Boulogne-Sur-Mer of the French Ligue 1
for a reported fee of 1.5 million Euros ($2.15 million)....
As many of you have noted, Fire center back C.J. Brown got a little nicked up during Sunday's
match against Colorado. The injury was sustained in the first half of the match, when Brown and
keeper Jon Busch collided in mid-air following a Colorado cross. "Buschy wanted to beat up on a big
guy for once so he chose me," said Brown with a laugh.
Well after months of rumors and a few days of unofficial reports, the transfer of the now former
Fire Defender Bakary Soumare to Boulogne of the French First Division has finally gone
through....
Hey everyone, here are a few notes from today's Fire practice at Toyota Park... Bye-Bye Baky -
As you all know, Bakary Soumare's transfer to French team Boulogne went through yesterday, putting
a close to his Fire career. But what do his former teammates think about the end of the ordeal that
was his final days with the Fire?
There's a full slate of soccer action going on today, with the European leagues in full swing
and MLS in the home stretch. Some big matches today (apart from the Fire-DC tilt...) include
Manchester United-Arsenal (which kicked an hour ago...), AC Milan-Inter Milan (1:45 on FSC), and
Chivas USA-Galaxy (10 on ESPN2).
Here are a few notes from today's high-intensity Fire training session... McBride Back in Action
- Injured forward Brian McBride (torn labrum) was back on the training field today, participating
in his first "full go" practice since having surgery in mid-July. McBride, who isn't listed on the
Fire's injury report this week, looked good in practice and didn't seem to be inhibited by the
injury whatsoever.
According to a Goal.com report, Fire forward Chris Rolfe is set to leave Chicago in January to
join Danish Club Aalborg (or Aab, as they are more commonly known) on a free transfer. "I'm very
excited, as I think Aalborg is as well," Rolfe told Goal.com. "It's a new opportunity and something
I've always wanted to do.
Despite the fact that nearly all of the top European leagues have the weekend off, today is
still a big day in the world of soccer, as important World Cup Qualifiers are taking place across
the globe. There are also three MLS matches scheduled for today, with the most high-profile game
between Toronto and Colorado.
Now, I know some of you may take a break from soccer on this first Sunday of the NFL season, but
if you still have the urge to watch some of the 'beautiful game' then today isn't a bad day to
watch.Some of today's better games include Fulham-Everton (10 a.m. on FSC), Genoa-Napoli (1:30 p.m.
on FSC), New England-Chivas USA (2 p.
I'll be heading out to the Fire's practice tomorrow and I was wondering if there was anything in
particular you guys wanted to know/wanted me to ask. Feel free to post any questions you would like
to see posed to Denis Hamlett or any player and (if they are reasonable) I'll try and get them
answered for you.
With the September 15th roster freeze deadline rapidly approaching, many of us had been
wondering what the Fire was planning to do with the roster spot left vacant by the departure of
Bakary Soumare. Would the Fire fill it? Would they stand pat? Well, we got our question answered
late last night, when the Fire announced that they had signed 21-year-old defender David Myrie.
There are a full slate of good soccer matches on the plate for today as the European leagues
start to round out of the beginning of the year and MLS continues to inch towards the close of the
2009 season.Some matches that I might be checking out include Barcelona v. Atletico Madrid (3 p.m.
GolTV) and Seattle v.
Just a few quick updates on the injury situations of Gonzalo Segares and John Thorrington to
keep your day moving along... Gonzalo Segares - Segares, who has been out with a sprained left MCL
since August 9th, told me last week that he was targeting this Saturday's game against Toronto FC
for his return and it appears that he will be available right on schedule.
So, I'm about to talk with Denis Hamlett and after I'm done interviewing the Fire's Head Man
I'll be writing the latest edition of the midweek update. I'm hoping to put it up within a hour and
a half or so......
I've already written at length about the Fire's many injury issues ahead of tomorrow night's
game at the L.A. Galaxy, but what of the medical situation of the Fire's opponent? Well, if you can
believe it, the Galaxy is currently in a comparable injury situation to the Fire - as they too have
several key players listed on this week's injury report.
Heading into Friday night's game against the L.A. Galaxy, Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett knew to
watch out for the Los Angeles counterattack. "They're a very good counterattacking team," Hamlett
said of the Galaxy. "They have some good guys [that will] test out our back four." But knowledge
isn't always power, and the Galaxy proved that at the Home Depot Center tonight, scoring a
counterattacking goal to defeat the Fire 1-0.
If someone would have told me midway through the season that the Fire's playoff fate would be in
the balance heading into their final match, I would've have called them crazy. But here we are.
After tonight's 0-0 draw at the Revolution, the Fire find themselves with one game left to play and
their future still uncertain.
Hey everyone, I'm settled in at a very rainy Toyota Park and the Fire and Chivas are almost set to
kick off their all-important match. The Fire will be looking for a win or a tie to clinch the
Eastern Conference's second seed in the upcoming playoffs but Chivas will be gunning for a win to
take the lead in the tightly-packed Western Conference.
David who?
The Galaxy is
offering a sweet deal on tickets for several upcoming games. Thank Mr. Goldenballs, or Mr.
Bush/Obama (whoops! a political reference!), but at these prices it might be worth the traffic
crunch and air quality to head down HDC way.
Will these prices get you to the game?
David who?
The Galaxy is offering a sweet deal on tickets for several upcoming games. Thank Mr.
Goldenballs, or Mr. Bush/Obama (whoops! a political reference!), but at these prices it might be
worth the traffic crunch and air quality to head down HDC way.
Will these prices get you to the game?
