Getting off the topic of the "Hauptman Letter Debate" for a minute, some important info came out today regarding next Wednesday's MLS expansion draft. Here's the info, per Steve Goff (and NaperSteve -- who provided the tip):

Philadelphia will select 10 players; current clubs must submit their 11-man protected list by Monday afternoon; no club will lose more than one player, which means five teams won't lose anyone; Generation Adidas and home-grown players [(for the Fire that means Baggio Husidic and Patrick Nyarko] need not be protected; developmental players claimed must be offered a senior contract; clubs must protect designated players that have no-trade clauses.

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On Tuesday, the Fire distributed a letter that owner Andrew Hauptman wrote to fans of the club. The letter, which ran a relatively short 293 words, was sort of Hauptman's wrap on the season. It details how he felt after the Real Salt Lake game and reminds fans that the club is already working hard to bring a championship back to Chicago next season. Click to continue reading...

It's pretty easy to see why this season was a frustrating one for Fire defender Gonzalo Segares. After being a stalwart in the backline for years for the Fire, Segares was forced to the sidelines this year, only playing in 12 regular season games due to a combination of injuries and national team call-ups.

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The Fire's front office brass and Denis Hamlett are scheduled to have a sit-down in the next couple of days to discuss the Head Coach's future at the club.

"We're supposed to have a meeting in the next couple of days," Hamlett said on Tuesday afternoon. "We spoke yesterday and decided that we want to sit down and have a discussion.

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Hey everybody, I have had an insanely busy last couple of days so unfortunately I wasn't able to write a full entry for this morning. However, I didn't want to leave the site blank for you guys so I thought I'd share a short -- yet loaded -- question with you all.

You can check out the poll after the jump.

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MLS announced it's 2009 Best XI today and one Fire player, defender Wilman Conde, made the list. It's the first time on the Best XI for the 27-year-old Conde, who made the list despite missing 11 regular season games due to injury.

The honor caps a solid season for Conde, who was a rock in the back for the Fire and even contributed two goals and two assists on the year.

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It goes without saying that Saturday night's playoff elimination at the hands of Real Salt Lake was an incredibly gut-wrenching defeat for the Fire. It's tough any time a team bows out of a competition due to penalty kicks, but this one was especially painful for Chicago - who has now been eliminated from the Eastern Conference Final in three consecutive seasons.

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A common saying amongst those in the soccer world is that a penalty kick shootout is a cruel way to decide a match.

After Saturday night, the Chicago Fire knows that saying back to front.

120 minutes of action saw the Fire and Real Salt Lake knotted at 0-0 so it all came down to a penalty shootout.

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Three big saves by Rimando in the penalty shootout keeps the Fire out. Ned Grabavoy nails the winning penalty kick after Fabian Espindola misses his chance. The Fire fell victim to a peculiar directional bias that made them test Rimando low on his left as Thorrington, Pause, and Prideaux became predictable.

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A trip to the MLS Cup is on the line as the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake are almost set to face off in tonight's Eastern Conference Final at Toyota Park. Who will advance remains to be seen, but I'll be here to take you through the whole day with Fire Confidential's second All Day Blog.

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The Fire couldn't have asked for much more from last Saturday's 2-0 win over New England.

Advance in the Eastern Conference playoffs? Check.

Do it against a bitter rival? Check.

And do it all in style? Oh my, yes. Check.

That's what can happen when the Fire plays some of its most inspired soccer at the best time of year before a packed house at Toyota Park.

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Tickets for the Saturday night's Eastern Conference Final between the Fire and Real Salt Lake sold out today. The sellout is the second consecutive for the Fire - who will sell a very limited amount of standing room only tickets for the game.

If you're sitting on some cash, you can buy the so called "FieldSide West" tickets for $250 a pop.

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After up and down regular seasons that saw one team consistently dissatisfied with its results and one team barely scrape its way into the playoffs, it's only fitting that the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake take each other on. Both teams will enter the Eastern Conference Final feeling that they have something to prove - Chicago wanting to live up to the hype that built up prior to and during the season and Salt Lake wanting to prove they're first round win over Columbus was more than merely a fluke.

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With only three days remaining before they take on Real Salt Lake in the Eastern Conference Final, the Fire is looking for all of their injured players to return to the field to help Chicago advance to its first MLS Cup Final since 2003.

Unfortunately for the Fire though, it doesn't appear as if all of their banged-up players will be available on Saturday night at Toyota Park.

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Lost in the shuffle of the Fire's thrilling Eastern Conference Semifinals victory was the fact that the team announced the 2009 awards on Friday night.

Wilman Conde, Brian McBride and Logan Pause were the recipients of the honors, which included Team MVP, Team Golden Boot Winner, Team Defender of the Year and U.

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After aggressively challenging New England keeper Matt Reis for a ball in the 52nd minute of Saturday night's decisive Game 2 victory over the Revolution, Fire forward Brian McBride had to be taken off of the field due to injury.

McBride, who missed 8 weeks earlier this year with a torn right labrum, picked up a knock on his IT band in the collision, stiffening his leg to the point that he wasn't able to effectively run.

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When their season on the line, the Fire needed a big-time performance from the back line in Saturday night's second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New England Revolution. And did the defense ever deliver, putting together a comprehensive performance to shut down (and shutout) the Revolution and pave the way for the Fire to get into the Eastern Conference Final.

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Patrick Nyarko was elusive and hard to pin down by the Revs

How did Pat Phelan not bury that pinpoint Kenny Mansally cross into the back of the net? It was the clearest look at the goal all night and Phelan heads the ball out. He could have been a hero forcing extra time. As it turned out, the Fire did not have to go through that route.

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What a night at Toyota Park.

After losing the first leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series with New England 2-1, the Fire stormed back in dramatic fashion tonight, getting a 2-0 victory to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals on a 3-2 aggregate score.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco and John Thorrington scored the goals for the Fire, who will take on fourth seeded Real Salt Lake in the Conference Final next Saturday at Toyota Park.

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The Fire meet the Revs today at Toyota Park, 8:30 PM

New England are up 2-1 in the first leg and are in great position to cause the second upset of the playoffs. This match is of great interest for Fire fans because it could also be Blanco's last MLS game as he is out of contract and is returning to second division Mexican club Veracruz.

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It all comes down to this for the Fire. They need to defeat the Revs tonight at Toyota Park to have any hope of advancing to the Eastern Conference Final against Real Salt Lake. Will they do it? We'll find that out later, but I'll be here to walk you through the whole process with Fire Confidential's first all-day blog.

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The Fire came into last Sunday's Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the New England Revolution with high hopes that they could leave Boston with a result.

And though the Fire got off to the right start in the series opener - scoring an early goal to put the pressure on New England - the team was undone by a pair of defensive lapses and ultimately fell to the Revolution 2-1.

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Back in late July and early August - when several Fire players began falling victim to injury - it was assumed that most would be able to return in time for the start of the playoffs.

Now, with the Fire only a couple of days away from the decisive Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series against New England, a few of those players have yet to return or make a significant impact while on the field.

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Hey everyone, I just got off the phone with Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett and I got quite a bit of reaction to the 2-1 Game 1 loss to the New England Revolution.

A lot of the quotes are same old, same old from Denis (funny how that happens when the team struggles with the same problems over and over again.

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Last week I took a look at five key questions that would play a role in determining the winner of Game 1 of the Fire-Revolution Eastern Conference Semifinal Series. Now, with the 2-1 Revolution win in the books, it's time to take a second look at those five questions and see how they played out.

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The Fire headed into Sunday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the New England Revolution knowing that they couldn't afford to give the Revs many set piece opportunities.

"We have to limit their set pieces," Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett said earlier this week. "[We have to be careful on] throw-ins and corner kicks because they do well with those.

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I did not know that the MLS was a giant holding area for players seeking addiction counseling.

Through the Revs vs Fire match, Sullivan and Bretos in their verbiage sprinkled the word "intervention". Even in their word salad, that word stuck out. Whereas Bretos usage was confined to the more physical aspect of the game when a defender cut off a pass or cleared a corner, Sullivan's was a bit more cognitive when he said that Jeff Larontewicz's "intervention" pushed Shalrie Joseph to play better.

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The MLS playoffs have been engrossing and so far the upstarts have given the finger to the favourites.

This time it was the Revs taking it to the Fire who had all their big named players while the Revs have been without Twellman and Ralston. But the Revs African contingent stepped up admirably as Sainey Nyassi, Emmanuel Osei, and Kenny Mensally had a huge game.

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We're finally here.
After 7 months of grueling regular season action, the Fire is just two hours away from kicking off Game 1 of their two game Eastern Conference Semifinal against New England. Today's game should be a hard-fought, physical battle (as it always is between the two long time rivals. Click to continue reading...

Eastern Conference Semifinals - First Leg
New England Revolution vs Chicago Fire
Sun., Nov. 1, Gillette Stadium (2 p.m. ET; FSC/FSE)

DF Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear); MF Steve Ralston (R ACL tear); FW Taylor Twellman (concussion)

That is pretty much the meats and bones of the team gone there.

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After three consecutive years suffering playoff heartbreak against the Revolution, the Fire will try to extend their playoff winning streak against the Revs to two series this Sunday, when the two sides meet at Gillette Stadium for Game 1 (1 p.m. on FSC) of their two game Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup.

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Hey everyone, just wanted to clear a few things up in regards to the Blanco situation.
A source close to the situation told me that Blanco and Veracruz agreed to a one year deal -- which will begin in January -- with an opt out clause for any point in the year. This means that Blanco can choose to leave Veracruz at any point during the one-year deal and either return to the Fire (who will continue negotiating with Blanco and his agent), join another team or retire. Click to continue reading...

The Fire has confirmed an AP report that midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco will be leaving the club at the end of the year to join Mexican second division club Veracruz.

Blanco, who played for Veracruz in 2004, is in the final year of a three year contract he signed with the Fire prior to the 2007 season.

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Hey everybody, I just got off the phone with Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett so it's time for the Mid-Week Update. Here we go...

Injury Updates --

Gonzalo Segares --

Segares, who has been out with a left MCL sprain since August 9th, is getting closer and closer to making his long-awaited return to the lineup.

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Hey everyone, just wanted to open up the floor for any questions you have for Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett. I'll be interviewing him tomorrow afternoon so get your questions posted by noon and I'll do my best to get them answered.
Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow. Click to continue reading...