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Sounders FC - Chicago Fire preview
62 Plays8 months ago
The Chicago Fire are mired in last place of the Eastern Conference, but don’t let that fool you. Ever since Xherdan Shaqiri left for the Euros, the Fire have been playing pretty decent soccer. In five games without their “captain”, the Fire are 2-1-2, which includes a home win over the LA Galaxy and a road win over Toronto FC.
To get a better idea of what kind of opponent we should expect, we talked to Alex Calabrese of Men in Red.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to NOS Arietes. This episode of NOS Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of NOS Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:28
Speaker
A.O. Shen! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win! Here come three years through the middle to crown it the vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations. It's the Sounders' MLS Cup! Niko Liddo leaves out!
00:01:12
Speaker
Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:29
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of NOS Adiates. I am Jeremiah Shan.
Game Preview with Alex Calabresse
00:01:33
Speaker
Joining me today to help preview this weekend's game against the Chicago Fire is a up and coming MLS journalist, Alex Calabresse of Men in Red, also formerly of Hot Time and Old Town, which you may remember from the SB Nation days. Welcome to the show, Alex. Hey, thanks for having me on. Really happy to be here.
00:01:54
Speaker
Yeah. So, uh, the fire come in to this game, maybe not playing great, but certainly probably their best soccer of the year. They are to one and two or their last five. Uh, it seems like that has broadly coincided with the, with the, uh, not, I guess it's not technically an exit yet, but, uh, sure to Shakiri being not with the team.
Impact of Shaqiri's Absence on Chicago Fire
00:02:20
Speaker
Is that broadly accurate?
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, definitely I think it's changed the way that the team has played without Shakiri being there. I think a lot of players have individually benefited from him not being there. You could argue that he slowed down the attack a lot at times. So I would say that his departure, at least temporarily for the European championships, has helped a lot of individual players and it has certainly coincided with the turn of results considering that the team was on a nine game winless run when he left.
00:02:50
Speaker
And then they proceeded to go unbeaten and win two games in their next four after that. So make of that, make of that information, what you will, it could be a coincidence, but there are certainly a lot of individual players, most notably Brian Gutierrez, who have incredibly, who have improved significantly without Shakiri's presence.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about Gutierrez because it seems like he is the most important player right now or the player who at least has the most chatter around him. Tell us about Gutierrez and sort of what he brings and what kind of player he is.
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, so for those who may know, he's a U.S. Youth International, 21 years old, just had his birthday. And he's an attacking midfielder, number 10 type, who has really been forced to play out on the wing with Shaqiri being Shuhard into that number 10 role.
00:03:42
Speaker
really technical, really skilled, really raw talent who they haven't been able to get the most of the last couple of years because of Shakiri's presence. He hasn't been able to play his natural position, but when he has played centrally, he's looked like one of the most talented, most technical number 10s in the league.
00:03:59
Speaker
playmaker and now he's been adding goals to his game as well. He's the team's second top scorer this season, recently scored a incredible game winner against the Los Angeles galaxy earlier this month. So definitely I think someone that fire fans have put a lot of faith in to carry this team on his back going forward. He has a U22 initiative contract, so he's one of the better paid young players in the league at this point.
00:04:23
Speaker
So I think there's a lot of faith being put in him going forward. And I think the hope is that if Shakiri does leave in the summer, which is highly possible, he'll be the guy who can take this team forward and really step up and be a leader on the field.
Hugo Kuipers' Form and Performance
00:04:40
Speaker
The other player who seems to be rounding into shape a little bit is Hugo Kuipers. He was the big, big off-season acquisition. I know he was one of those players who on paper looked like he might be, you know, take the league by storm type player. How has he been?
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he had a really, really slow start and I wouldn't say it was his own fault. He had very little service in the first three, four games of the season. I think he had one shot just because he wasn't getting the ball inside the penalty box. There were a lot of games where he would be finishing the game with three or four touches inside the penalty box and he'd be try dropping deep to try to make things happen. But then you don't get him in the positions where he's the best. He's very much a Fox in the box type striker, not a connector, not a guy who drops into the midfield.
00:05:27
Speaker
The last couple of games, he has been scoring goals. I believe that's now five consecutive games with a goal contribution for successive games with a goal. That's exactly what you want from a $14 million striker, if you include add-ons. So I think they're starting to finally see what they want from him. They're finding ways to get him the ball in more advantageous positions. And it's been really good for the fire to see that guy who again, third or fourth,
00:05:52
Speaker
Most expensive signing in league history, depending on the add-ons, depending on how you calculate the numbers to see that guy finally getting goals in the back of the net. That's also helping his confidence a lot. And I think that's what fire fans are really excited to see.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, and if you look at these last few games, I guess it's both. They've been both scoring more and defending better. The big win recently was 2-1 over the Galaxy, and then they had some other decent results in there. What has been the big change in terms of what they're doing?
Chicago Fire's Tactical Shift to 3-5-2
00:06:28
Speaker
I mean, the defense doesn't seem to be locking anything down, but it's playing well enough, it looks like.
00:06:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I just think that the offense has been able to operate a lot more fluidly. Um, there's also been a tactical change. Now it's a three, five, two, where you can get guti still through the middle there, but a bit more security at the back with three center backs with.
00:06:50
Speaker
Rafa, she hosts Mauricio, Pineda, Carlos, Ted on three, I'd say above average MLS center backs in their position. Two of them very good with the ball at their feet, playing out of the back. And then you have. Marin highlights the last day who has been playing as a second striker, which is a new role for him. He really burst onto the scene at the end of last season when he scored twice against inter Miami. And he's come into his own this season and established himself as a, as a starter for this team, when he's been healthy coming from the sister club FC Lugano.
00:07:21
Speaker
And the big acquisition, other than Piper's, the other big acquisition in this offseason was Kellen Acosta, who at one point, you know, was a pretty regular in the US national team. Of course, you could say the same thing about, you know, Jordan Morris and Christian Roldan, who appear to be sort of out of that picture entirely. But what, it seems like it's been an up and down season for Acosta.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think he also had a slow start a because he arrived late to preseason because he was still working on his transfer decision, all that stuff. He didn't really come fully fit. It took some time for him to integrate into the
Kellen Acosta's Adaptation to Double Pivot
00:07:56
Speaker
team. Yes. He had that miracle act of God goal against Montreal that everyone probably saw where he scored from the halfway line. That was really the only thing in the first couple of weeks of the season that really made you go. Okay. That's the player you want to decide.
00:08:10
Speaker
But the last couple of weeks, he's really come into his own. He has a role now. I think he fits the system very well because as national team fans will know, he's someone who can defend. He can play the six, but he can also contribute and connect the play as an eight as well. And with the fire playing a double pivot for pretty much the entire season, he's someone that suits that really, really well. And now that he's had some time to adjust, adjust to life in Chicago, because it does take an adjustment to go from Los Angeles to Chicago.
00:08:35
Speaker
And I think now he's coming into his own and he's really establishing himself as a leader in the team. I think Shaqiri has been the captain this season for one reason or another, but if he does leave, I think you're really going to see Acosta become the leader of this team. And I think he's already becoming that off the field in the locker room.
00:08:53
Speaker
So recently, the fire, like we said, have been pretty good, but they are in last place in the Eastern Conference. It has been mostly struggles up until about a month ago or so. And you kind of draw this bigger picture of the fire seem to not be able to get out of their own way for over a decade now.
00:09:15
Speaker
And yet you look at the team and they're spending big money. They're making huge outbound transfers. I mean, I don't think anyone else in the league has brought in the kind of transfer income that they've brought in just through the sale of Gaga, Selena and Duran. And here they are, they're investing in the team. So it's not like they aren't spending the money. They moved into Soldier Field, which is obviously a pretty expensive endeavor.
00:09:45
Speaker
From your perspective, what is holding the fire back?
Internal Improvements vs. First Team Success
00:09:50
Speaker
I mean, that's the billion dollar question really. I mean, I think what people around the league might not see looking from the outside in to Chicago is that pretty much every aspect of the club from top to bottom has been dramatically improving over the last couple of years. Attendance has been steadily increasing since the move to Soldier Field. They're on track for record attendance this season. The academy is one of the best in the country. The second team is one of the best in MLS Next Pro.
00:10:16
Speaker
There's been doing a lot of work in the community. They're building a new training facility, so everything is moving in the right way. They're spending money, but somehow that hasn't been reflected in the first team yet. I think a lot of that might come down to the personnel on top of the sporting side. I think a lot of people would point fingers at Garrick Heights. I think maybe Joe Mansuedo's decision to bring back Frank Clopas for another year as head coach. It's maybe kind of limiting the team ceiling because he's not really someone who.
00:10:44
Speaker
has a pedigree as a head coach. He's been more of an assistant coach at his best. But at the end of the day, I think things are moving in the right direction. And at some point that's going to be reflected in the first team. It's just that for whatever reason, you can call it bad luck. You can call it bad luck with transfers, with injuries, with players coming in, with players not being here long enough because they're too good and they have to be sold. Like Slonina, you mentioned, John Duran from his love Frankovski, guys like that who go to Europe because they're too good.
Playoff Drought vs. Seattle Sounders' Triumphs
00:11:15
Speaker
It's just one of those things where the team is just kind of stuck in mediocrity right now. Cause if you remove that 2017 season where they came third in the entire league with Schweinsteigen, Nemanja, Nicholas, Dax, McCarty, they haven't made the playoffs since 2012 and they haven't won a playoff game since 2009. So very much the polar opposite of the Seattle Sounders existence. You want to look at it that way.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, I do. It is funny to think back to, I guess it was 2011 when they met in the open cup final. And at the time it felt like these are two teams that are going to be, you know, there, there was the whole, uh, uh, Freddy Younberg situation. And there was sort of this almost feeling like budding rivalry between the fire and the sounders early on in the sounders existence. And it's just like, they have gone in such polar
00:12:04
Speaker
opposite directions ever since then that it's almost hard to reconcile because it's not like the sounders left them in the dust when it came to spending or I guess maybe for a while they they were but that's not I mean it's not at all the case right now I mean I would imagine that the fire are spending a lot more money than the than the sounders almost no matter how you how you cutting
00:12:24
Speaker
You know, you cut that up, but it's been, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's, it is funny because it feels like Chicago is a good soccer market. It feels like, it feels like all the elements are there. And yet, uh, I know for me, it was a, it was a bit of a head scratcher when Frank Clopas, I, we were talking before we started, this is, you said his fifth stint, if you include interim head coach titles, it just seems like an odd place to settle.
00:12:51
Speaker
I mean, part of me wonders if they're just waiting for a longer term solution to him. Okay. I mean, everyone likes him. There's no one dislikes Frank, obviously. But I think there's a part of me that says he's not a long term guy. I wonder if there wasn't really a better alternative when they were looking for a head coach in the off season. And instead of bringing in someone who
00:13:16
Speaker
isn't worth it and you will have to make an investment in. He's someone who can kind of be a placeholder. He kind of feels like that at times, kind of feels like he's in a weird limbo where he's an extended interim coach type thing.
00:13:30
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, he's, he's had his moments. Don't get me wrong. And I think the fire every year dig themselves into a hole in the first third of the season, have a Renaissance in the summer, and then realize that they can't sustain that all the way until October. And I feel like we're kind of in the, in the midst of that.
00:13:51
Speaker
part of the summer where they start to look like things are coming together, but they just don't have that
Chicago Fire's Form and Upcoming Challenges
00:13:56
Speaker
final piece to bring it over the line come the end of the season. Like last year, the fire won six games out of seven in June and July, including road wins against teams like Portland and Kansas City, which are not easy things to do at all. Yet at the end of the season, things still fell apart.
00:14:14
Speaker
It feels like we may be kind of with the, with the big road winning in Toronto, the big home win against the LA galaxy kind of feels like we're in that stretch in the middle of the season here, but I don't know how long that's going to last. And so what is your expectation? Like, how would you, where would you put your expectations for this week? I mean, is this a game that it feels like the fire should be competitive? I mean, I would imagine they should be competitive, but I mean, what would you, how would you assess your confidence level? Let's put it that way.
00:14:41
Speaker
I mean, at least from the outside looking in, this is definitely not the best Seattle team we've ever seen. And they're obviously going to be without some key players. I mean, this is just perception from the outside looking at social media. It seemed like there's a lot of pressure on this team that might not always be there. And the fire also, there's this thing where, I don't know if you knew this prior to 2022, the fire had never, ever, ever won a game in Cascadia.
00:15:06
Speaker
2022, the fire won at Vancouver. 2023, the fire won at Portland. So 2024, the fire are looking to complete the set and win at Seattle. So there's definitely some extra motivation there. But I don't like, I don't like that at all. That doesn't sound good to me. It's definitely an interesting trend because that is a really interesting trend. I don't know what to make of that.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, 13 seasons unable to win at these three teams, and now they're slowly one by one taking them out. So I think this is definitely a game where the fire wants to go out and win. And Frank Clope, I said in the press conference this week, there is some extra motivation, and they've never won at Seattle. And they came really close in 2020 to winning at Seattle, and it fell apart in the last couple of minutes, which was the first game of the season right before COVID, where the fire was winning one row, and it was going more or twice.
00:15:55
Speaker
Uh, so, so there's some extra motivation there to, to win at Seattle. Um, and I think this is definitely a game if I want to go out and win. Piper is a scoring goals. Guti is playing the best soccer he's played all season. The defense is looking very solid with, um, even in spite of the Orlando game, Mauricio Pineda has been playing very well recently. Carlos Tedad has been coming into his own as well now that he's finally healthy.
00:16:19
Speaker
And Chris Brady is one of the best young goalkeepers in the world. So there's definitely a lot of optimism that maybe this momentum they've had the last couple of weeks can continue in Seattle. But by no means is this going to be an easy game. And I think they're not going to say it, but I think a lot of fire fans would be happy with a draw in this game if they can get it.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny. I totally had forgotten about that 2020 game. It was, it was the only normal game of the season that the Sounders played because it was the only, the next home game they had was played under sort of the cloud of the impen, like there was a, it wasn't closed down, but there was like a warning going on. And 2020 was the, yeah, they had a good crowd that would, they unveiled the championship banner from 2019.
00:17:03
Speaker
And they were all geared up for Champions League that I think they had already played the road leg of the Champions League game. But yeah, that was that was a good memory. A good good pull on that one. And you're right. It did come great. It was like Morris scored twice in the last five or six minutes, if I remember correctly.
00:17:20
Speaker
I, yeah, I think the second one was definitely like the last kick of the game. Cause the fire we're playing very, very good soccer.
Independent Media Platforms Post-SB Nation
00:17:26
Speaker
It was the first game for Raphael, Wiki, Robert Barrett. If I recall correctly scored on his debut and George was playing very, very good as well. And then. Jordan Morris came off the bench. Cause if I recall, he was coming back to injury and then he scored twice. So yeah, it was definitely a fire, but yeah.
00:17:46
Speaker
Well, Alex, it's been awesome seeing you guys, everything you're doing over at Men in Red. Again, this is one of the many sites that has sort of risen from the ashes of SB Nation sites. There's a special place in my heart for sites like that. And it's awesome to see the work that you guys are doing. It's another model that seems to be doing well. And it's been great to see the success you've been having. I hear you over at Scuffed and all these other kind of things. So, and MLS soccer. So, good work.
00:18:16
Speaker
Yes, really appreciate it. I hope, uh, if you're, if your listeners want to check out more from last minute at 97.com, same tag on social media, we're definitely trying to do everything we can to help with the Chicago fire media landscape. I know maybe this team doesn't quite get as much coverage as some other markets, but we're trying to do the best we can. And, uh, yeah, we really, I really appreciate your kind words.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, my pleasure. And with that, I guess I'll sign off. I am Jeremiah Shan, and this is Nos Adiathis, and we will get you next time.
00:19:24
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!