BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Chris Rolfe had a lot of time to think during his two-and-a-half years in Denmark. Rolfe signed with Aalborg BK in 2009, and he moved from Chicago, where he spent five seasons with the Fire, to the town of about 100,000 without any family or friends. Living alone, he had ample time to reflect. “I thought about a lot of things with the future and the past,” Rolfe said. “I thought about my priorities.” All that thinking brought Rolfe back to the Fire, who used their right of first refusal when Rolfe worked out a deal with MLS last week. Rolfe arrived at O’Hare Airport on Monday night to the welcome of a few diehard fans and practiced at Toyota Park for the first time on Wednesday. Rolfe finished his first spell with the Fire between 2005-09 with 40 goals and 20 assists in 149 games across all competitions, including four goals and two assists in 10 postseason games for the club. He never missed the postseason during his time in MLS, and was an offensive catalyst for the team since his rookie reason. “It’s a good feeling to be back here,” Rolfe said. “There were some teams in Denmark that were interested and Aalborg was trying to re-sign me. In terms of life and taking advantage of my time, this was the right decision.” Rolfe was used up top and in the right midfield spot during his time in Aalborg. He battled through hamstring injuries during his first two seasons with the club and played sparingly, but he found a regular spot in the starting lineup this season. Still, Chicago appears to be the right fit going forward now for Rolfe, who will be available for selection for the team’s matchup at Toronto FC on Saturday. As for where he’ll play, there’s little debate. The Fire offense has struggled out of the gate this season, leaving head coach Frank Klopas to turn back the clock a bit and slot Rolfe right where he’s needed to give the Fire a boost. “Up top,” Klopas said. “He’s a forward, that’s where he’s going to play.” So, under Klopas, Rolfe's going to play as a FORWARD, please let this be true Frankie. Then you could move Nyarko back to RM where he belongs. [LINEUP-4-4-2]Oduro,Rolfe,Pappa,Grazzini,Pardo,Nyarko,Segares,Friedrich,Anibaba,Gargan,Johnson[/LINEUP-4-4-2]
I'm glad they signed rolfe as we need someone who can score goals. Is he a big time consistent goal scorer,someone who is able to make a team win a championship by himself--no. this would be my lineup-if puppo can't contribute we need someone better puppo oduro nyarko grazzini rolfe pardo segaras freidrich anibaba gargan johnson
Take out Pardo and put in Pause and you've got a potential winner there. Pavel's having a nightmare out there so far whereas Pause looks like a completely different and much better player than he's been under Denis and DLC. Gotta credit Frankie for helping Logan get his groove back.
My God, it's the Pause debate! Hooray! Can we make a Debating Pause forum here? Because I, for one, would love to have a safe place where I know that ratdog, firefan2001 et al are arguing Logan's merits day and night - a sort of alternative battle-plane where there are neither victors nor vanquished, neither points proven nor points disproved, just sweet, sweet, back-and-forth bickering at all times, forever. And then we could all ignore that battle-plane's existence while being delighted at the Pause-bickering-free content everywhere else in the Fire forum. Just a thought.
It is amazing. We sign a great offensive player, and in the blink of an eye the discussion shifts to our stable of d-mids.
It should make you re-evaluate, considering that Aalborg really have lacked good strikers the past several years, but still not considered using Rolfe except in case of injuries, when there were no other options left... so as a striker he would quite clearly not be able to become a regular starter for a Danish Superliga team of modest quality (in that position). .
Ceres, I respect your knowledge of Danish soccer BUT I am afraid you are not aware of the numerous issues which Aalborg struggles with--not the least of which is a coach who wants an "all-Danish" lineup. There are other things as well but I will keep those to myself. I didn't know you were a Chicago Fire fan so I guess posting a "sour grape" on a site where you don't normally post is unnecessary.
Why is Chris Rolfe back with the Fire? Here's why: ROLFE EXCITED TO BE BACK WITH FIRE You Danes may want to read between the lines of that story.
I'm perfectly aware of AaBs financial situation and it's not a "sour grape", but my honest opinion, even if you do not like it... Fact of the matter is, that AaB quite openly have been looking for better strikers abroad the past several years, which has had absolutely nothing to do with the present or previous coach.. At the moment they cant afford to sign expensive foreign players, so they have sticked with their "young guns" who have really surprised and impressed this season, especially their young topscorer Nicklas Helenius, but also Kasper Kusk and to some extend the even younger Lucas Andersen.... and since they play the same positions as Rolfe, it was time for him to go... mainly due to the financial aspects, but also because of some young highly talented players who have developed more rapidly than expected this season. So when Rolfe asked to be released from his contract, so he could return home to MLS, they chose to let him go, because it was in the best interest of both him and the club. .
I totally agree with your observations about the financial situation and the abilities of Helenius and Andersen--Kusk has had a couple of very good outings but I don't think we can qualify him as "highly talented" quite yet although he may well be. As I noted above, I respect your knowledge of the Aalborg situation. My point is that with the current coach, Rolfe didn't have the opportunity to play forward so I think your comment about questioning our enthusiasm for having him back is a little suspect. You really have no true basis for evaluating his effectiveness in that position. Again, thanks for the thoughts.
While I can't be certain, it is my understanding that Lynge, the general manager, was hopeful he could re-sign him. I am not sure what the terms would have been, because as Ceres has properly pointed out, Aalborg was struggling with financial issues although it is also my understanding that they are actually doing better than it would appear. As far as his contract is concerned, it was due to expire in December so after June 30th, I believe, he would have been free to sign with anyone without any fee going to Aalborg.
Also, it's hard to sell a player with an injury history like that. His list of injuries would keep me from buying him, that's for sure.
IIRC, there is an exemption on non-EU players in Denmark whereby they don't pay the same tax rates as EU based players for about 3 years For Americans that go to Danish teams, they either prove themselves worthy in that 3 years to be resigned for a decent wage that covers expenses and taxes or they come back home because they'll be making significantly less after taxes come into play on their salaries.
I don't hate him, I just think he's not a very good soccer player. I think that we would do better with Pappa, Grazzini, Pardo, Nyarko midfield. If you think that we are better off with him in the lineup, great that's your chose (I think we are better off with Pardo). It's not like we were winning a ton of games with Pause in the lineup before Pardo arrived last year.