Congratulations to Chicago Fire FC, as they have now escaped the Eastern Conference basement. With a 2-0 win over Toronto FC tonight, they have now leapfrogged their opponents, who came into the match two slots ahead of them in their standings.
Jhon Duran bagged a brace, by just 16′ in, and that was the end of the scoring in this one. Obviously, he was the man of the match, but the Chicago Fire FC also got major contributions from their “homegrown” players.
let’s get it started in here #cf97 | #CHIvTOR pic.twitter.com/WIOoehwaRg
— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) July 14, 2022
Take a look at the Tweet above (and I guess try to overlook the Black Eyed Peas reference, as that’s one of the most obnoxiously overplayed stadium songs of all-time), and you’ll notice that four of the starting XI were homegrowns:
Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina (Addison),midfielder Mauricio Pineda (Bolingbrook), Chris Mueller (Schaumburg) and Brian Guitierrez (Chicago).
For Pineda it was his first start since May 22. For Slonina, a Chelsea target who also drew strong interest from Real Madrid, it was his team-leading 20th start of the campaign. He celebrated by registering another clean sheet tonight in net.
“It’s good for us, the Homegrowns,” said Gutierrez.
“It’s good for Chicago and for the kids looking at us, it’s a motivation for them.”
For the Fire, the match was a replay of Saturday night against Columbus, when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead early. However, this time it was a reversal of misfortune. At the weekend, the 2-0 advantage would end result a 3-2 loss.
Chicago Fire FC manager Ezra Hendrickson referenced that blown lead/missed opportunity several times in his post match press conference.
“I’d say 12-15 points we’ve thrown away this season, and hopefully that’s changing,” he said, before later assessing the big picture with a newly acquired three points in hand:
the buck stops here so to speak, we know we deserve to be much higher and that gives us confidence, and it’s not easy to be confident given where we are.”
Maybe things are changing though, thanks to some of the local products.
And with the club having signed more local players in their youth team, and thus developing more homegrowns through the system, perhaps that’s the approach you want to go in rebuilding this Chicago Fire FC side.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.