Either continuity works, or Mansueto will need to ‘be prepared to do anything’.
Last week, The Athletic polled 20 unnamed MLS executives on things from who will win MLS Cup, to who had the best offseason, and as to who were the best and worst owners in Major League Soccer. In terms of who was the worst owner, the execs voted for Stan Kronke of Colorado followed by Jorge Mas of Inter Miami and John Fisher of San Jose. As for the best, Atlanta’s Arthur Blank led far and away with as many votes as the three tied for second which included the groups for both Los Angeles teams and the Fire’s Joe Mansueto.
Fire fans may find that a bit curious since the Fire have not made the playoffs since he took full control of the club and that the Fire have only made the playoffs twice since 2010. Since the Fire last won a playoff game in 2009, fifteen teams have joined the league, ten of them have won playoff games, and four (NYC, LAFC, Portland, and Atlanta) have won MLS Cup. The Fire in 2022 became one of five teams ever to miss the playoffs five straight seasons. The goal in 2023 should be to avoid being at least the second to miss the playoffs a sixth successive year (Toronto FC missed the playoffs in their first eight years of existence).
In the Athletic article, Mansueto, one executive said, is “really prepared to do anything” for the Fire. However, Fire fans might disagree with that. Their most noteworthy transactions have been selling goalkeeper Gaga Slonina and forward Jhon Duran for a combined $28 million minimum, but could grow to $37 million. Fans will expect the Fire and Mansueto to make the most of that money to bring in players who can take this team back to contending for MLS Cup and other trophies. Instead, the Fire have mainly added depth pieces to this point such as defender Arnaud Soquet, midfielder Marin Halle-Selassie from FC Lugano, and recently trading for Kei Kamara. The Fire do have a Designated Player spot open as that for an Under-22 initiative signing.
Once again, Sporting Director Georg Heitz is hoping that continuity within the squad works to the Fire’s advantage. They tried that in 2021, and it did not work. A lot is really riding on Shaqiri putting DP numbers to justify his DP salary. A lot also rides on Chris Brady filling in the #1 role; Gaston Gimenez, Wyatt Omsberg, Jairo Torres, Fabian Herbers, and Shaqiri being healthy. Additionally, a lot also rides on either Kacper Przybylko regaining the form he had in Philadelphia and/or Kei Kamara maintaining his (he did score nine goals last season) in lieu of signing a high profile #9.
Scoring goals was a problem for the Fire. They finished nine points out of a playoff spot (by three if we’re going under this year’s format). Winning the two home games against Columbus and Charlotte where they were up 2-0 only to lose 3-2 and any two of the seven 0-0 draws they had would’ve put them in. (Of course, winning four of the 0-0 draws on their own would’ve done it, too.) Defense wasn’t the biggest problem last season, but folding when things start to go against them was. The mentality also needs to be better.
Right now, a lot is being banked on a multitude of players getting a year better and not just a year experienced, plus for Chris Brady–assuming he’ll start out as the #1-keeper–to pick up where Slonina left off.
The fear is that it will all go sideways at some point and the calls will be for Mansueto to really be “prepared to do anything” to rebuild the Fire starting with a rebuild of the entire soccer operations. Fire fans need to see better commitment from Mansueto, who made his money providing investment research, will do the research and make the moves necessary to move the Fire forward.
The continuity gamble only pays off if the Fire do get a year better and make the playoffs–it would give them something to build on for 2024. If the Fire miss out on the playoffs again, then there will be no other recourse but to rebuild and this time rebuild it right.
