It was just last month that the Chicago Fire were topping all the major publications’ Major League Soccer power rankings. They were right up at the top of the table with Toronto FC, fighting it out for Eastern Conference supremacy. New record Chicago Fire undefeated streaks and home undefeated streaks were being established.
The franchise which was the overall worst in MLS the past two seasons had spent a good portion of the summer looking like one of the best. The complete turnaround had been…..well, scratch that. Hold that thought, as we’re now experiencing what is known on Wall Street as “a correction.”
The Chicago Fire just lost at home 2-1 to the worst side in the entire league; expansion franchise Minnesota United FC.
That’s not an exaggeration, as MNUFC entered the clash with just 22 points, tied with Tim Howard’s Colorado Rapids for the worst in all of MLS. Minnesota had far fewer chances than the Chicago Fire, but they made the most of them. Chicago had plenty of chances, but many of them were uh, lacking to say the least.
The 18,o48 in attendance included a lot of boo birds when the final whistle blew, and they were completely right in doing so.
What’s happened to the Chicago Fire could best be encapsulated by the Frank Sinatra standard “That’s Life.”
As ol’ blues eyes sang “you’re riding high in April, shot down in May.” For the Fire, they were riding high starting in April, just after Bastian Schweinsteiger arrived, and that hot streak continued until July 1, when they completely slaughtered the Vancouver White Caps at home on Canada Day.
Back in those halcyon days of early/mid summer, the Men in Red were in the conversation for not just playoffs, but the Supporter’s Shield. Right now, they just consider themselves fortunate if they make the postseason, having won just once since the first day of the seventh month.
Going back to a 2-2 draw with Portland on July 5th, the Chicago Fire have been outscored 17-13, and posted a brutally awful record of 1-6.
“No one said this was going to be easy and this was exactly what we were talking about. At some point this season we were all celebrating the great season so far and the great performance of the team,” said Chicago Fire manager Veljko Paunovic.
“It wasn’t done and it’s not done even now, so we’re not happy to see the latest result obviously and everyone wants to fix this team as soon as possible. I think it’s the mentality. We are in a situation we’re running a lot and doing a lot but we are not sharp, we’re not efficient. ”
Simply put there are nowhere near as bad as they have been in the past seven. However, we can also certainly say that they’re nowhere near as good as they were April-June. They will probably still make the postseason, but that’s only because the MLS is like the NBA and NHL in that they allow a very high percentage of teams to qualify. Then again there’s a lot of teams closing in on them for the final postseason spots, so really, it’s all up in the air right now whether they will reach the postseason or not.
“We’ve always had a sense of urgency but clearly now, with the way things have gone in the last couple of games, I think that needs to be ramped up to another level. The playoffs are certainly not a certainty right now,” said Dax McCarty.
“You’ve got to have confidence to score goals and we can’t score goals right now, so it’s frustrating.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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