THOUGHTS ON THE FIRE: Here is the down and cold part. A 1-3-1 start with four of the matches at home and but for the grace of a Toronto FC team struggling out of the league gate and a Seattle team that just got on the board on Sunday, the Fire would be bottom of the league. Definitely, the quality is not there right now and something needs to be done now to improve the quality before it becomes too late by the start of the Summer transfer window when certain people will become available.
Unfortunately, most of that requires the likes of Grant Lillard, Diego Campos, and even Jon Bakero to grow up in a hurry; and for Katai to regain a starting spot; and for Michael de Leeuw and Djordje Mihailovic to come back from injury; and for someone to form a center back partnership with Johan Kappelhof so that it doesn’t have to be Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The most worrying sign is that the Fire are making moves that remind people of the Blackhawks of the 2000s and the White Sox in the decade after winning the World Series in 2005—nothing recommended for long-term success in that.
THOUGHTS ON THE RED STARS: A more pleasing performance from the Red Stars in Utah. They still do not have their best players available due to injury (Casey Short, Julie Ertz, and Vanessa DiBernardo) and/or international duty (Sam Kerr), but the players on the pitch got a vital result with a pair of home games this week against Houston on Wednesday and Sky Blue FC on Saturday.
That’s all for now. More later.
Chicago Fire
Chicago Red Stars
