Photo Credit: Don MacGregor/Windy City Soccer
The Schlabst Cup (Schlitz + Pabst) is up for grabs in the Fourth Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at Toyota Park as the Chicago Fire take on Indy Eleven of the NASL. It might as well be the Peter Wilt Cup as Wilt was of course President and General Manager of the Fire from 1998 to 2005 and was President of Indy Eleven helping that club get off the ground and towards the top of the NASL attendance table from 2014. Wilt left his Indy Eleven post on May 31st to help Club 9 Sports launch an NASL franchise in Chicago.
Indy recently won the NASL Spring Championship thanks to a 4-1 thrashing of Carolina on Saturday and then results falling in their favor to take the title and a berth in the NASL Championship later this year. Three ex-Fire players currently play on Indy Eleven: goalkeeper Jon Busch and defenders Marco Franco and Lovel Palmer. Their top scorer is Eamon Zayed who scored a hat trick in the win against Carolina. They got to this point in the competition with a 2-1 win over Louisville City FC. Indy recently signed Mexican international Gerardo Torrado, but he won’t play in Wednesday’s match.
The Fire may rest some regulars on Wednesday to give others match fitness, but coahc Veljko Paunovic vowed to field a competitive lineup. The Fire have made the semifinals the last three seasons only to crash out each time.
The four-time winners of the Cup have a record of 26-1-1 in Cup matches held in Illinois. Those blemishes include a loss in the 2013 semifinal to DC United and a penalty shootout loss to Charleston Battery in 2010. The Fire have crashed to lower division opposition six times (1999, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012) at the first hurdle of the proper tournament and made the semifinals 11 times. The only time the Fire did not end a cup run in their first match or at least the semifinal stage was 2008 in the quarterfinals against DC United.
This is the most realistic chance for the Fire to compete for a trophy. A loss here will exacerbate fan discontent like it did the last three seasons after a Cup loss.
Kickoff for the match is at 7:30pm CT and will be livestreamed on www.chicago-fire.com.
In other news, Michael de Leeuw was formally introduced to the media on Tuesday.
“I’m like a ‘9 1/2’ player,” said de Leeuw. “I like the box. That’s more the area where I like to play. I hope to that we play a lot of attack. I’m very happy to be here.
“I spoke a lot with Johan Kappelhof, who said MLS is more physical than in Holland. There are big players here, the level is high. I can adapt between now & my first match July 9. I want to play tomorrow because I want to show Chicago what my capabilities are.”
Chicago Fire
US Open Cup
