They were written off weeks into the season. The team seemed disjointed, lacked cohesiveness, and couldn’t string together two wins in a row at any point during the first five months of the 2011 campaign. Carlos de los Cobos was out, as Fire legend and Technical Director Frankie Klopas took over the team on Memorial Day. Then mid-July happened. Chicago picked up Pavel Pardo and Sebastian Grazzini, along with the addition of Dan Gargan (and Dominic Oduro back on week two of the season). Slowly, things started to shift in Bridgeview.
Don’t look now, but here come the Chicago Fire.
Sunday marked the beginning of Chicago’s most important stretch of games in the 2011 season. Chicago faced New England Revolution, controlling the majority of the game and, with the exception of late-game brace by Ryan Guy, dominated the Revs in a 3-2 victory. Chicago knew they made late game mistakes, although the first goal in most matches should’ve been called off, as Milton Caraglio bumped Sean Johnson off the play, a no-brainer foul call for most referees. Still, Chicago walked away with an important three points, although the New England game was one that was never (and should never have been) a question.
The Men in Red turned around quickly, after a day off Monday, to train-then-fly to the Beehive State and face Real Salt Lake, a strong squad vying for the Supporters Shield at Rio Tinto Stadium. What had Chicago posing as the underdog turned out to be a one-sided thrashing, as an early goal by Marco Pappa would be helped by a 11th minute straight red card received by Kyle Beckerman for a needless and flagrant headbutt to Daniel Paladini, both of which would set the tone for the duration of the match.
Marco Pappa, who had not scored since June 26th vs. NYRB, broke out of his offensive shell, going on to score a hat trick in a game that saw few RSL scoring chances. Marco added to his tally with goals in the 36th and 75th minutes as well, bringing his season total to 8. At the request of Frank Klopas, Pappa had fallen into more of a defensively-minded role of late (something he neglected to do early in the season), as the inclusion of Sebastian Grazzini diminished Pappa’s role as a playmaker. Pappa did well, showing lots of hustle in recent weeks defensively. With Grazzini out of Wednesday night’s lineup, and the addition of Daniel Paladini as more of a holding mid, Pappa was freed up to push more offensively, and it showed.
Chicago played easily their best game of the season, as they fired on all cylinders throughout the match, stringing together long periods of possession and solid passing nearly the entire game. In addition, Chicago was on point most of the night defensively, picking off Real Salt Lake passes nearly at-will. Chicago continued to show composure over the ball, even under pressure, and made few mistakes through the night.
Now the Fire will continue their nine day, 7300 mile roadtrip with a visit to Houston to face the Dynamo on Saturday afternoon. Houston, who sits in 2nd place in the East two points below Sporting KC, is fighting to overtake the top spot from Kansas City, no easy feat given SKC’s current run. They will also face a tough Chicago side who is now becoming the team no one wants to play, as Klopas hoped would be the case earlier in the season, and given their recent strong form. Chicago proved they can walk into a tough stadium and take away points, as they did in one of the toughest places to play in MLS. Chicago will have to be equal to the task Saturday. Frank Klopas said earlier this week that fielding a reserve-laden team on Saturday could be expected, as Chicago will be playing four games in nine days. Last night’s win, however, certainly makes things interesting, as Chicago finds themselves a viable playoff contender, while they simultaneously get ready for the US Open Cup on Tuesday, a game that has been the focal point of many around Chicago soccer for months now.
With Wednesday’s win, Chicago now sits just three points behind 10th place New York, current holders of the final playoff spot. Chicago’s playoff picture is still from the bottom looking up, and they will have a tough road to get to the playoffs if they do make it. DC United faces Philadelphia on Friday, in a game that could help Chicago immensely if Philly can pull off a win. Neither team has played exceptional as of late, with the Union winning just once in their last five games, while DC has won twice in the last five games. United look to have the momentum, however, as their last win was a 4-1 pouncing of the same RSL team Chicago faced Wednesday night.
Portland, who sit directly above Chicago currently, take on Vancouver when they open BC Place on Sunday. Vancouver, who are last in the East, as well as hold the worst record in the league, will have some advantage playing on their home pitch, but a draw seems the most likely scenario, given Portland’s misfortune on the road, and Vancouver’s misfortune playing soccer.
New York stands to gain the most ground this weekend, as they face a Toronto FC side still looking for their identity. Although NYRB will travel to BMO Field, Toronto may not be able to hold them off, unless New York shows the form that’s taken them from the top of the table to barely playoff contenders.
The bottom line for Chicago is that they need to walk into Houston and come away with three points, while hoping New York, DC, and Portland all struggle. With Chicago’s recent run of 5 wins in 6 games, it would seem the most viable threat standing between Chicago and a playoff spot is DC United. DC has two games in hand over the Fire, and are currently two points above them in the table. While there’s at least an outside chance that things are decided by then, it’s almost certain that their head-to-head matchup on October 15th in RFK could decide the fate of either (or both) teams. Either way, Chicago faces a hard road to the playoffs, as all their remaining matches are against currently qualifying sides.
Sandwiched in-between playoff contending games is next Tuesday’s Battle Royale in the US Open Cup final against Seattle at Century Link Field. Chicago, who have had a positive showing throughout Open Cup play in spite of their early season MLS woes, stand to collect their fifth USOC title, if they can get past a Seattle team looking to carry home their third consecutive Dewar trophy. In Chicago’s previous MLS encounters against the Sounders, the Fire is 0-1-1, falling in a hard fought 2-1 loss in April, then drawing against them in a scoreless tie in early June at Toyota Park.
Chicago will field a far different side in the final than Seattle saw in either of their regular season matches, however, as they have yet to face the likes of Sebastian Grazzini or Pavel Pardo, both the solid aforementioned additions to Chicago’s lineup since mid-July. Seattle is sure to not take the final lightly. That said, they threw everything they had at Chicago for two matches this season, and even in their April victory, have to attribute more to the stellar goalkeeping of veteran Kasey Keller than anything else, as Keller stopped shot after shot from Chicago. Chicago has shown far more play creation than at points earlier in the season, and now Seattle (and their remaining MLS foes) must face not just Marco Pappa or Dominic Oduro, but also Grazzini, Pardo, and Patrick Nyarko, who leads the Fire in assists, and is creating goals for his teammates almost at will. In addition, Seattle will likely be without the services of midfielder Mauro Rosales, who sustained a knee injury against DC United on Sept. 17th, a definitely blow to the Sounders play creation abilities.
The Fire have fought hard all year, in spite of their record, their MLS’ record breaking ties they now share with New York, or tough losses that were one mistake away from a win. Chicago has turned a definitive corner. Outside the playoff race, what remains to be seen is what Chicago will do with their coaching situation, jersey sponsorship, and personnel changes in the off season. Regardless of what the future may hold for them this weekend, next Tuesday, and beyond, Fire fans and the organization alike can hold their heads high knowing that if they ultimately go down, it was not without a fight.
Image courtesy of Getty Images
