The Chicago Fire’s 2017 turnaround was one of the most surprising storylines in Major League Soccer, as the Men in Red went from consecutive last-place finishes to Supporters’ Shield contenders. They eventually finished third and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
The addition of Dax McCarty and Bastian Schweinsteiger fortified the midfield and newcomer Nemanja Nikolic scored 24 goals to win the Golden Boot award. It was a resurgence cut short, however, as the third-seeded Fire, who had staggered toward the finish line, were bounced from the playoffs with a 4-0 loss at home in the knockout round.
The offseason saw more shake ups from the technical braintrust of president and general manager Nelson Rodriguez and head coach Veljko Paunovic.
The Fire traded away David Accam, the 2015 and 2016 team MVP who was coming off 14 goals and eight assists in 2017. They traded the rights to highly touted academy product Cameron Lindley. They parted ways with three other regular starters in Juninho, Joao Meira and Matt Lampson. While they brought in some young pieces through the draft and made a couple other moves, the big splash has yet to come.
After the busy offseason, the preseason didn’t reveal many clear for the Fire, with a couple scoreless draws, a win over a college side, a loss to Montreal and a reported win in a closed-door friendly against Orlando City.
While the Fire have made the leap out from the Eastern Conference cellar they sat in at this time last year, plenty of unknowns remain: Can they find a No. 10 to create goals against bunkered defenses? Can Nikolic come close to replicating his 2017 form? Can Schweinsteiger stay healthy and remain an influential cog alongside McCarty? Have they done enough to keep up with other improving squads in the East?
Chicago Fire to host Sporting Kansas City in belated season opener
When: March 10, 5 p.m. CT
Where: Toyota Park
Broadcast: TV — ?? — The Fire are currently without a local TV rights deal, something president and general manager Nelson Rodriguez said is still being negotiated. “We are working on that,” Rodriguez said. “We have taken the position to value ourselves, to value our product differently. We’re hopeful that we will reach agreement with a carrier and a provider soon and when we do we will share that.”
Live stream: MLS Live
The buzz: After sitting out the league’s opening weekend, the Fire kick off 2018 by hosting Sporting Kansas City. If one of the main questions for Chicago to answer is where the chances and goals will come from, Sporting KC presents an interesting first test. Sporting KC boasted the league’s best defense a year ago, anchored by Goalkeeper of the Year Tim Melia and Defender of the Year Ike Opara, who both return. They will provide an immediate challenge for Nikolic and whoever joins him in the Chicago attack.
While the returning stout defense is well-known with Peter Vermes’ team, the attack is re-tooled with new Designated Players Yohan Croizet and Felipe Gutierrez, winger Johnny Russell joining from the English Championship and forward Khiry Shelton coming over in a trade from New York City FC.
Other key matches
April 21 at New York Red Bulls – Six games into the season, the Fire get their first shot at the team that upset them in the 2017 playoffs.
July 11 vs. Philadelphia Union – David Accam makes his return to Toyota Park, where the two-time club MVP will likely get a warm reception from fans, despite leading the Union against the team that traded him.
September 29 vs. Los Angeles FC – Bob Bradley brings his newest expansion side to Chicago, the city where 20 years ago he helped the expansion Fire win MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup in their inaugural season.
October 28 vs. DC United – If the Fire find themselves in a fight for a playoff place on the final day of the regular season this could be a big one and DC United with its retooled attack could be one of the other teams battling for those places.
Check out the full 2018 schedule here.
Quotes & Notes
Dax McCarty on the progression of the preseason: “I think we’re coming along kind of at a normal pace, obviously each week got a little bit better and a little bit sharper. Preseason is always kind of the same. It’s always a grind. It’s always a physical grind but also mentally, it’s a mental challenge to try to stay tuned in and stay on top of yourself to try to get the most out of yourself for every double session, sometimes triple sessions, tough games, back-to-back games, recovering the right way, eating the right way and then obviously getting to know the new guys. It’s been, I think, fairly similar to last offseason in that there’s a lot of turnover, maybe more so this offseason, but I think the core has remained the same and that’s always positive. The key difference for me from last year to this year is that the core group of leadership is the same and is pushing everyone to try to be better and to try to hold each other a little bit more accountable. So the quality it hasn’t always been great in preseason, but that’s to be expected. I think as we’ve played our games and as we’ve gone forward I think it’s gotten better each and every week and culminating with a pretty decent performance against Orlando.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger on whether the team can improve what it did last year: “I’m very confident about that. Of course we know that last year we had a very good season, unfortunately we were not 100 per cent ready then for the playoff game, we had some issues. My wish would be to improve our game style a little bit more, to win the games in a very good way in 90 minutes. We had many games where we played 45 minutes or 60 minutes on a high level so my wish for this season is that we can play the games for 90 minutes on a high level. And of course to qualify for the playoffs that’s the most important for me first of all, and then to be more competitive than maybe we were last year in the big matches against big teams.”
Schweinsteiger on his partnership with McCarty: “I’m very happy to play with Dax, to have him in the team. He’s a experienced player, he knows exactly what to do on the field and off the field. He is a player who can see in every situation not only the next step, also the second and the third options, so that’s very important for me to have this player who has vision on the field next to me and it helps me a lot.”
Head coach Veljko Paunovic on the rash of minor injuries in preseason: “That was the biggest challenge I think, a lot of unfortunate injuries happened this preseason. Something that we haven’t had the opportunity to deal with. But definitely we were also pushed to find solutions and I think every time we have challenges like this it actually helps us to figure out different ways. … Every injury obviously is a setback for us but we also try to find and get the most of that challenge.”
President and general manager Nelson Rodriguez on what will be considered progress in year three of his tenure: “Progress for me will be: the first year I think we learned how to compete, the second year I think we learned how to win and what we’re really looking for this year is do we learn what it is to be a champion. Now that does not necessarily mean actually getting the silverware because that’s very difficult, but consistency plays a big part if you’re going to be a championship team. Can you consistently play the way you intend to and get results with that intent. I think consistency of results and performance will be a big marker to see if we’ve progressed or not at the end of this year.”
Paunovic on the Fire not playing on the league’s opening weekend: “Given the circumstances I would say it’s actually good for us. It will give us a little more time to recover some guys and it will also give us some time to work on the details that we have to improve team-wise. Yes, on the other side I think we are ready to compete and on the other side I would be like to be back in the game as soon as possible and compete. This Saturday I will watch the game from by sofa and try to enjoy the games from the coach’s point of view and learn from the others, but obviously I can’t wait to start the season.”
- Defender Jonathan Campbell suffered a facial fraction in the Fire’s preseason match against Nashville SC last week. He had surgery to repair it on Monday and is expected to miss six weeks.
- Midfielder Djordje Mihailovic and forward Michael de Leeuw, both of whom suffered knee injuries late in the 2017 season, have resumed running outside but are still considered months away from returning.
- With the Fire sitting out the league’s opening weekend, Chicago will cap the preseason with a friendly against Tulsa Roughnecks FC, Saturday at noon at Toyota Park.
Biggest offseason moves
- Resigned Bastian Schweinsteiger, a move that was expected but not always guaranteed as the German legend did have offers elsewhere. Schweinsteiger played a major role in Chicago’s turnaround but was hampered by injuries down the stretch.
- The Fire had a busy draft day, trading away goalkeeper Matt Lampson and David Accam, while drafting Jon Bakero and Mo Adams in the first round. They also drafted forwards Diego Campos and Elliot Collier who they later signed.
- Signed Aleksandar Katai on loan from La Liga side Deportivo Alavés. A goal-scoring winger who once won top-scorer honors in the Serbian top flight, Katai had fallen out of favor at Alavés and the Fire snatched him up as a TAM signing.
- Signed Grant Lillard to a Homegrown Player contract, adding one of the nation’s best college centerbacks and someone expected to compete for playing time right away.
- Traded for Rafael Ramos, sending Orlando City SC the Homegrown rights to promising collegiate midfielder Cameron Lindley (who subsequently signed with the Lions). For Fire fans this one may be seen more in terms of what they let go, but the club believes it added productive, young depth along the backline in return for a player that didn’t want to sign in Chicago.
- Acquired Tony Tchani in a trade from Vancouver, sending $150,000 in TAM the other way for depth in midfield.
Roster breakdown
Forwards – Jon Bakero, 21; Diego Campos, 22; Elliot Collier, 23; Michael de Leeuw, 31; Nemanja Nikolic, 30; Luis Solignac, 27.
Midfielders – Mo Adams, 21; Brandt Bronico, 22; Drew Conner, 24; Daniel Johnson, 22; Aleksandar Katai, 27; Dax McCarty, 30; Djordje Mihailovic, 19; Bastian Schweinsteiger, 33; Tony Tchani, 28.
Defenders – Jonathan Campbell, 24; Jorge Corrales, 26; Christian Dean, 24; Johan Kappelhof, 27; Grant Lillard, 22; Matt Polster, 24; Rafael Ramos, 23; Brandon Vincent, 23.
Goalkeepers – Stefan Cleveland, 23; Richard Sanchez, 23.