PREFACE: Never saw so much poor back pass play in my life, but I digress.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIRE: It was nice of Taylor Twellman to remind Fire fans that the club traded Sean Johnson to Atlanta United (who then flipped him to NYCFC for allocation money) for $100,000 in allocation money in December 2016. Since then, goalkeeping has been a bit of an issue since.
The move to acquire Kenneth Kronholm and then start him ahead of an MLS veteran in David Ousted is looking worse by the minute. Once again, the Fire lost a match where they kept getting in the way of themselves from Kronholm’s howler to being unable to finish their chances (outshooting Red Bulls 26-10).
This should be a better team, but the management has gotten worse so far. Veljko Paunovic deserves to be on the hot seat for this latest slump. This simply cannot be allowed to continue. Otherwise, more people are going to vote with their wallets and no move back to the city, rebranding, or tanking will change their mind until the club starting doing the right things.
THOUGHTS ON THE RED STARS: What a difference Sam Kerr makes! Her hat trick propelled the Red Stars to a 3-2 victory over Orlando Pride on Sunday. In the last three matches while Kerr was represented the Matildas, the Red Stars could not score a single goal and lost all three matches.
It’s now been 500 minutes of play since a Red Stars player not named Sam Kerr scored a goal. Fortunately, there are plenty of factors going the Red Stars’ way. It’s still the first half of the season, the league is still a crapshoot from top to seventh (sorry, Orlando and Sky Blue), and their US National Teams will come back on July 13th at the earliest. Between then and now, there is the matter of a home match on Saturday night against Sky Blue FC which should present an opportunity to correct some issues before then.
GOLD CUP FINAL SOLD OUT: Sunday’s CONCACAF Gold Cup Final at Soldier Field has been declared a sellout on Monday. The Final could see a USA-Mexico rematch of the 2007 Final held at the same venue (or it could feature Haiti and Jamaica).
In the meantime, the Gold Cup Station has set up shop inside the Great Hall inside Chicago’s Union Station. The station is a 10,000-square foot experience that includes soccer-themed activities, a photo-op with the Gold Cup Trophy, and a souvenir shop. The Station is is open 7am-7pm and runs through Sunday. The Final kicks off at 8pm CT on FS1.
Chicago Fire
Chicago Red Stars
