Chicago Fire: The other team with axes on their socks. Photo credit: Kari Heistad.
By Matt Hoffman
The lack of a credible “socialist party” is to blame for failure of soccer to flourish in the United State. That’s the position David Goldblatt takes in his book, “The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer”.
What great timing then that just as the book was released, America elected Barack Obama who, wrongly or rightly, gets accused of being a socialist a lot.
Note: You could read that article or Forbes.com which will likely give you a wily, random quote and complain that you have an Ad Blocker, but this video is actually much more funny.
Since Obama took office in 2008, MLS average attendance has skyrocketed from from a league that had fourteen teams and averaged 16,460 fans per game to a league that boasts 20 teams and averaged 21,574 (Source: Wikipedia).
MLS attendance since electing Barack Obama.
Yes, this is silly conjecture. Even if Obama were a true “socialist”, the United States is far from being a socialist country. Socialism, or lack of it, is an interesting idea, but Goldblatt would even agree that there were other mitigating factors (distance for instance; the book’s previous owner helpfully scrawled, “Australia, USA = Far from England” in the margins).
Obama is well known for his fondness for all things Chicago sports. Obama does love to tout the glory days of the Chicago Bulls, and even started a minor Twitter fracas over his baseball bias. Obama couldn’t help himself when greeting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau playfully taunting his peer:
*”Who is better at hockey? … Where is the Stanley Cup right now? I’m sorry, is it in my hometown with the Chicago Blackhawks? In case you Canadians were wondering, ‘Where is it?'”
Obama hasn’t spoken much about the Chicago Fire, though. It’s quite unlikely the ever upbeat President would find a polite quip about a team cursed with only competing for MLS Cup in their inaugural campaign and losing Google Keyword Searches to a television drama that’s like ER but with big red trucks.
The Chicago Fire has made one playoff appearance since 2010. In 2012, Chicago lost to Houston in a one-game playoff series which Chicago hosted. There was a brief flicker there when Mike Magee came over in the Robbie Rogers trade but the Fire have never truly been the same since Magee’s infamous day off.
Enough was enough and the Fire underwent a massive housecleaning in the off-season. Nelson Rodriguez once said it was his dream to run his own club, gets another shot and will hopefully have more time and better resources than he had in his nine month stint at Chivas USA.
Similar to the purge that transpired with his control at Chivas USA, purged fifteen players from last year’s squad. Of the 23 players on the current Fire roster, there are nearly as many players who are new to the club who finished with the team last year.
The early returns have not yielded a “worst to first” transformation like Colorado. Instead they remain rooted to the bottom with ten points over the course of eleven matches.
So poor have the Fire been that their win over fellow basement dwellers Houston Dynamo was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back, pushing Houston’s coach, Owen Coyle, out the door.
In many ways it’s understand according to Transfermarkt, Chicago has one of the league’s youngest squads. Chicago’s results, youth, and the inexperience of the club have colluded to give the team the lowest market cap amid MLS franchises.
As such the team shows impatience on the ball, pushing it forward instead of letting the play build. Communication lapses among the back line leaves room for channel runners to find seams. Probably not the best time to have a goalkeeper controversy. A survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Matt Lampson has 45 saves over the course of nine games. Sean Johnson has returned to the lineup and had three saves in the shutout against Houston. Amid all this, it has been rumored that Chicago is also apparently a suitor for Brad Guzan.
Matt Lampson (green). cleans up for a back line that keeps him fairly busy as he’s battling New England’s Diego Fagundez for the ball. Photo credit: Kari Heistad
Not much has gone right for Chicago since Portland was “promoted” to MLS play in 2011. This is probably no more apparent than the fact that the Chicago Fire has never defeated Portland. In their six game head-to-head history, the Timbers have four wins and nearly double the goals (eleven versus six).
Chicago has no delusions about who they are. Rodriguez would often say his goal for his year for Chivas USA was that team would not be a “easy three points.” This philosophy still holds true for Rodriguez and Fire manager Veljko Paunovic.
“We weren’t a winning team, just two wins,” Paunovic begins, “But we are very tough to play, we are very tough to beat, we are very tough to score a goal on. That’s our identity and we built on that.”
It’s a work in progress. The Fire were poor defensively two weeks against New England allowing Kei Kamara far too much room, freedom, and opportunity. Paunovic acknowledges the team isn’t any where near a finished product but it may have turned a corner.
Kai Kamera with one of his four shots on goal against the Chicago Fire in his Revolution debut. Photo credit: Kari Heistad
The Timbers were able to prevail against Vancouver in what was very much a feel good match for the Portland side who experienced their first three game losing streak since Caleb Porter took the helm. But it took four goals to make this happen, and only which came against the run of play.
Chicago has shown an enormous willingness to change up formations and tactics. When you aren’t winning, that might be expected. We’ve seen 4-4-2, the 4-2-3-1 but Paunovic has opted for the 4-3-3 in the last two matches.
Following the match, Chicago will have an extended period of before resuming play in mid-June. No such luck for the Timbers who have a mid-week fixture against San Jose.
Chicago is starting to get it together. While they’ve never beaten Portland, there’s a first for everything. In many ways, this screams “trap game” and elements are present for a Chicago upset.
With six months remaining in office, beating the defending MLS Cup winners may well be the Fire’s last best attempt to get the attention of the Chicago’s most powerful superfan.
