Fire Preview 2016: Reconstruction

Piece originally appeared on Windy City Soccer

There were a lot of changes made after the 2013 season, and it resulted in a single-season record for draws. A lot of changes were made after the 2014 season, and it resulted in a club record for losses, the sacking of Frank Yallop, and fan discontent at an all-time high.

Enter new general manager Nelson Rodriguez and head coach Veljko Paunovic. Once again, many changes have been made and some rankled the Fire faithful such as the trading of Harry Shipp. Essentially, this is a true, total reconstruction of the club and it is beginning with a youth movement.

There are just 23 players right now on the roster. Only eleven of which were on the squad last season. With the signing of Arturo Alvarez, just four players are age 30 and up. The Fire have acquired a lot of allocation money both of the general and targeted kind and indeed, there will be plenty of transactions as the season goes on.

With who’s currently on the roster, it’s anyone’s guess who will make Paunovic’s first regular season starting XI on Sunday against NYCFC. Matt Lampson was impressive in goal and saw more time than Sean Johnson at the Simple Invitational in Portland.

The defense remains a bit of a question mark even though Rodriguez made it a priority to improve in central defense. Rodriguez did get two promising defenders in the MLS SuperDraft in January in Brandon Vincent (who earned a surprise US National Team callup that weekend) and Jonathan Campbell. Internationally, the Fire picked up Joao Meira and Johan Kappelhof and they will take time to get acclimated with MLS and each other.

In midfield, Matt Polster has a chance to improve upon a promising rookie season. John Goossens and Arturo Alvarez came in to preseason as trialists and came out as new signings with their impressive play. Then there’s David Accam who when healthy, was spectacular and gave opposing defenders fits (and sometimes red cards). However, that wasn’t all the time and his status is uncertain for Sunday after not playing in Portland the previous week. As far as youngsters go, there’s homegrown players Joey Calistri and Collin Fernandez who may get some important minutes this season.

At forward, there are just two right now in Kennedy Igboananike and Gilberto. Both are Designated Players like David Accam. Gilberto did show some promise late last season, but he and Igboananike need to produce up front if the Fire are to have any chance of doing something. Otherwise, they will join the long line of DPs after Blanco (read:  all since Blanco) that have been busts.

Both Nelson Rodriguez and Veljko Paunovic has preached patience to a fan base that after the last six seasons, have very little if any. However, the Fire’s play at the Simple Invitational in Portland did provide some hope that at the very least, the Fire will be a tough three points. This rebuild is more like what the Chicago Cubs or Houston Astros went through rather than the sudden turnaround that DC United went through from 2013 (worst) to 2014 (first in the East), but even that is qualified by the fact that D.C. won the U.S. Open Cup that year.

However, one thing Veljko Paunovic has that no other coach in MLS has is a world championship through coaching the Serbia U-20s to the Under-20 World Cup title. Nelson Rodriguez has proven to be an outside-the-box general manager and most everything he has done so far has been outside the box. They at least deserve time to get the Fire burning again and back into an elite force. It may take a little time, but there’s nowhere to go but up right now. Rodriguez’s and Paunovic’s task will be to take a few more pegs up than most expect.

Predictions for 2016 Season:

The usual warning stands and these predictions could go wrong at any time.

Eastern Conference:

1. New York Red Bulls

2. Toronto FC

3. Columbus Crew SC

4. Orlando City SC

      5. Montreal Impact

      6. D.C. United

      7. New York City FC

      8. New England Revolution

      9. Chicago Fire

      10. Philadelphia Union

Western Conference

1. Vancouver Whitecaps

2. LA Galaxy

3. Portland Timbers

4. FC Dallas

5. Seattle Sounders FC

6. Real Salt Lake

7. Sporting Kansas City

8. Houston Dynamo

9. San Jose Earthquakes

10.  Colorado Rapids

MLS Cup:  Vancouver over New York Red Bulls