THOUGHTS ON THE FIRE: It’s hard to consider Wednesday’s result a point earned. The Fire dominated the first 40 minutes of the match against DC United and were full value for 2-0. Once Johan Kappelhof went off injured, things fell apart in a hurry. Przemyslaw Frankowski cheaply gave away a ball that led to the first goal and he and Raheem Edwards were outmatched on the third DC goal.
The move to three center backs did not work until two of them combined for the equalizer later. Aleksandar Katai missed four great chances and the Fire again lacked creativity offensively once Gaitan was substituted. That equalizer too random to be creative. Finally, Kenneth Kromholm was not impressive enough to just the “technical decision” to start him ahead of Ousted.
One has to question the mentality of the team right now that they cannot complete more of the chances and why the team goes to pot when a key player is either injured or suspended.
FIRE AWAY TO ST. LOUIS: For the Fourth Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, the Fire are once away heading to St. Louis to face USL Championship side Saint Louis FC at Worldwide Technical Soccer Park on Tuesday, June 11 at 7:30pm. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+. The two sides met in St. Louis in 2017 with the visitors going away 1-0 winners. Here is the rest of the Fourth Round bracket (MLS unless stated; all times CT):
Columbus Crew SC vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (USLC): June 11, 6pm
New York Red Bulls vs New England Revolution: June 11, 6:30pm
Charleston Battery (USLC) vs. Atlanta United: June 11, 6:30pm
Minnesota United FC vs Sporting Kansas City: June 11, 7pm
Houston Dynamo vs Austin Bold FC (USLC): June 11, 7pm
Saint Louis FC (USLC) vs. Chicago Fire: June 11, 7:30pm
Real Salt Lake vs LAFC: June 11, 8pm
San Jose Earthquakes vs Sacramento Republic FC (USLC): June 11, 9:30pm
NYCFC vs North Carolina FC (USLC): June 12, 6pm
D.C. United vs Philadelphia Union: June 12, 6pm
FC Cincinnati vs Louisville City FC (USLC): June 12, 6:30pm
FC Dallas vs OKC Energy FC (USLC): June 12, 7pm
Memphis 901 FC (USLC) vs. Orlando City SC: June 12, 7:30pm
Colorado Rapids vs New Mexico United (USLC): June 12, 8pm
LA Galaxy vs Orange County FC (NPSL): June 12, 9:30pm
Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers: June 12, 9:30pm
THOUGHTS ON THE LEAGUES CUP: Four randomly selected MLS teams (three of whom did not make the playoffs last season) against four Liga MX teams because…reasons. The Fire will likely take this competition seriously because they usually do. They host Cruz Azul on July 23rd in Bridgeview. It would be better if MLS clubs actually beat Liga MX sides in the CONCACAF Champions League and close the gap between what they could be to be one of the best leagues in the world and what they are actually doing.
