Bet on continuity came up snake eyes for the Fire.
Chicago Fire FC play at Soldier Field, but have not justified having 25,000 per game with their play. Yes, over 30,000 came to this home finale against Real Salt Lake, but even their own press release mentioned the word, ‘distributed‘. In fact, it was only one other match where they drew over 15,000 at Soldier Field–the September 26th goalless draw with Nashville played one day after a college football game.
The pitch was in a horrible condition that day. Also horrible was the fact that they had to play eleven of their last 15 matches away from home and ended up having one of those four home games at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview as the Bears have a five-day window before their home games at Soldier Field. Eleven was also the number of midweek games they had and that will hopefully be reduced in 2022.
The first eleven matches of this past season saw the Fire go 1-8-2. It all went downhill after the 12th minute of the opening match against New England. A 2-0 lead after 11 minutes became a 2-2 draw after minute 28. From there, missed chances to score and defensive lapses took their toll early and save a 2-0-2 run in August, they would proceed to lose their next four and ultimately miss the playoffs for the tenth time in 12 seasons.
Ultimately, that cost Raphael Wicky his job and some feel it should have cost sporting director Georg Heitz his job as he bet that a largely unchanged roster from 2020 would be a year better. It was a team that was built without a core to build around. The few positives of this season include the play of 17-year old goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina and Federico Navarro. Other than that, there really wasn’t that much. A lot of that is on Heitz. There are a lot of promising homegrowns on the roster right now such as Slonina, Mauricio Pineda, and Brian Gutierrez. But it’s clear the Fire need much more than that–especially from its designated players. Nine players were shown the door after the season ended including Robert Beric–opening up a designated player spot. Another one may open up if Gaston Gimenez’s option is not picked up.
Chicago Fire FC have made improvements off the pitch, but the on-pitch product has not nearly made as much improvement.
I mentioned back in September that owner Joe Mansueto needed to come to the conclusion that what’s going on now with the Fire is not working and needs to spend the money necessary to attract front-office people who are much more well-versed in Major League Soccer and who in turn can bring in players who know how to win and can genuinely bring the Fire back to where they were in their first nine seasons of existence.
Next year will be the Fire’s 25th season. The Daniel Burnham quote, “Make no little plans” holds true if the Fire are going to return to relevance. Assuming he is still with the club, Georg Heitz needs to get the coach right (MLS experience strongly preferred) and they need to get the players right. The fans are desperate for a winner and demand that the club make the big plans to improve the product on the pitch.
