None of the Fire, Red Stars, or House AC have a home game until September 17th. The Fire have three road matches remaining on their long road trip, the Red Stars have a pair of away matches themselves coming up, and so do House AC. In the meantime, let’s recap the weekend that was and the news that has come up so far this week.
FIRE: After 692 days, Chicago Fire FC can finally say they won a road match in league play. It’s been even longer (756 days to be precise) that the match meant anything as that match on October 6th, 2019, against Orlando City was dead rubber. Still, that was a well-played match by the Fire who felt like that road win was going to come during this road trip. With that albatross off their back, they once again have something to build on and need to treat the rest of this road trip as building something out of Legos and not a Jenga tower that is lacking stability.
The Fire have two weeks to prepare for Sporting Kansas City.
RED STARS: Yes, it was against lowly Kansas City, but the Red Stars did put out a great offensive performance that was sorely needed. What was also sorely needed was a good defensive performance as they got a clean sheet out of it. It does put the Red Stars back in the playoff places as they go on a two-match road trip starting this Saturday against Gotham FC (6pm CT, Paramount+). There will be a familiar face heading to Gotham as we learned this week.
PARKINSON BECOMES GOTHAM COACH: Chicago Red Stars assistant coach Scott Parkinson has left to become the new head coach at Gotham FC. Parkinson succeeds Freya Coombe who left to take the head coaching role at Angel City FC.
“I am incredibly grateful to ownership for this opportunity,” said Parkinson. “The evolution of this club on and off the field has been truly remarkable to watch, and I’m excited to be part of the next chapter. It’s an honor to work with such a talented and dedicated group of players. The potential here is limitless, and I cannot wait to get to work.”
Parkinson will not be in the technical area against the Red Stars on Saturday. He had been an assistant since 2020 and before that was an assistant with the Utah Royals.
LUEBBERT LOANED TO CLUB AMERICA: Also on Tuesday, the Red Stars announced that forward Sarah Luebbert to Club America of Liga MX Femenil for the remainder of the 2021 season. Luebbert has made five appearances this season for the Red Stars with one start.
HOUSE AC: A better performance, but a similar result as House AC lost to Detroit City FC, 1-0, at SeatGeek Stadium on Sunday night. House AC are still a team finding their feet a bit in NISA against teams who have been there for a while like Detroit who brought an impressive following with them on Sunday.
They go on the road this Saturday to take on Michigan Stars FC in metro Detroit.
CALVO, GIMENEZ GET CALLLUPS: Fire defender Francisco Calvo and midfielder Gaston Gimenez will be on international duty this week. Calvo and Costa Rica have three matches starting away to Panama on Friday, then hosting Mexico on Sunday, and finally home to Jamaica on Wednesday in the new Octagonal.
Gimenez and Paraguay also have three matches upcoming this week. That starts with an away trip to Ecuador on Thursday, then home to Colombia on Sunday, and finally home to Venezuela the following Thursday. Paraguay currently sit sixth in the CONMEBOL table on seven points from six matches. The top four in CONMEBOL automatically qualify for Qatar 2022 while the fifth-place team will face an intercontinental playoff.
