So Sanneh is a tough defender, Thorrington is coming off of stints in England, and Barrett is ANOTHER UCLA product... but who are YOU most excited about for the Fire's upcoming 2005 MLS campaign? Personally, having seen him numerous times at Hermann Stadium in Saint Louis, I am extremely excited about Will John playing pro. He literally tore up C-USA over the last two years, and if not for the departure of his strike parter, Vedad Ibisevic to PSG, then surely SLU and John would have made another run for the College Cup. Nonetheless, John has the stature of Beasley (skinny kid- but lighting fast), and controls the ball phenomenally well. His tricks are deceiving and his knack of finding the back of the net has become second nature to him, it seems. If he doesn't somehow fight his way into the starting 11, then he will surely be the third forward behind Ralph and Herron, and could come up huge if any injuries were to deplete the Fire forwards. Your thoughts on others?
Zach Thornton. He's an upgrade over Ring, not only in terms of goalkeeping skill, but in addition, I think the other 10 players on the field are going to be more confident with him in goal than they were with Ring in goal. And I think that's going to lead to their play being better as well.
It's a pretty exciting offseason with a lot of new guys that could show up. Still, I'm anxious to see Herron through the run of an entire season. He really seemed special last fall, and I am hopeful that wasn't a flash in the pan. Also, with the upgrades in the defense and midfield, the strikers should see more/better service which should be exciting.
Thornton (GK) -- Sanneh, Caballero, Guerrero and Stewart (D) -- Thorrington, Gaucho and Johnson (MF) -- and Herron and Barrett (F) as compared to: Ring and Countess (GK) -- Perez and Whitfield (D) -- Williams and Beasley (MF) -- and Razov and Dipsy (F) I would say that there is some real improvement in the overall talent on the Fire roster this yearv as compared to last year. I also might say that we are close to even talent-wise at midfield and forward and the real improvement is at defender and goal keeper. Given that Zack stands alone, he is my choice for player giving us most improvement this year as compared to last year.
I most anxious to see what new nicknames develop for these guys - so I don't have to learn to spell their names. I'm Anxious to see Thorrington (JT) because so many here, sight unseen, have put him in the first eleven. I'm axnious to see Cabellero (Cowboy ?) and Guerrero (the gunfighter ?) because the spaninsh to english translations for their names come out to roughly the same thing, I think - and it means people who whip, brand and slaughter cattle (think dallas logo ) Same as with JT - most here have them in first 11 - I'm axious to see if they can walk and chew gum at the same time - that'd be good. Top of my list - Wil John. I've heard so many stories, and watched him fill up stat sheets against youth league competition - I want to see this kid.
With the additions of Sanneh,Guerrero,and Gaballero the return of Thornton, the Fire should have one of the the best defenses. Everyone is giving Thorrington a starting spot I hope he is good enough to warrant it. I'm most excited about the new players Thiago, Will John and Barret as we need to desperately improve our goal scoring.
I'm most excited that Zach will be back in goal for the Fire this season. He will make the defense more confident, and I'm just excited he's back.
I'm just hopeing that and the end of the season we will be excited about everybody on the team. There's just too many questions that need to be answered for me to decide on one even without the new influx of players. Will Mapp mature into the player many of us hope he will? Will Damani find a new gear in his game? Will Herron be the scoring machine we all hope he will be? etc, etc.
With this lineup we have 8 internationals, 2 former youth internationals, one of whom has a chance for his first cap soon, and a player who has been criminally overlooked and will be getting his first cap this year. On the bench we could have 4 current or former youth internationals and a former PDL goalkeeper of the year. There are alot of questions but, if Thorrington is 8/10ths as good as Mullan, if our defence plays with as much unity as talent, if Mapp's late season form is what we will see, if Herron is as good as we think, If our bench is as good as it looks, and if our veteran midfield stays healthy, then we may have our best team ever and maybe the best team this league has ever seen. Treble here we come.
plus mapp is in camp right now... which doesn't mean anything for the upcoming game, but if he plays well... he could get some games for the gold cup and curtin has been in camp before... him not making camps and game day rosters is no knock on him... we are quickly developing a lot of quality center backs
or you could insert CJ for Jimmy to get 10 internationals on the field at the same time. Has an MLS team ever fielded 11 capped players? peter
Funny reading that from the GM. It's partially your decision to do so. As for the 11 capped players... just make sure they're good enough to play for the Chicago Fire, and not to have it simply as a stupid stat.
Line ups are always the coach's call, i just help him get the players and manage the budget. If we really wanted to achieve the stupid stat, we could make sure we held on to Alex and play him on the left side. peter
Hey while we're at it let's field a lineup with players having exactly 7 letters in their last name. JOHNSON BARRETT KHUMALO *** *** *** GRIFFIN CLANTON SEGARES STEWART PICKENS Hmm can we get Marsch, Armas, and Mapp to add some unpronounced letters in there somewhere?
I'm almost certain Jimmy would have gotten that cap vs Denmark if he hadn't been getting married that weekend. Poor guy. About missing the cap not the marriage.
I'm most excited about the acquisition of John Thorrington. I've got a feeling that he's going to show the rest of MLS his true quality as a player; I also feel that he'll become a part of the national team as it makes it's push into Germany. I also feel that Caballero is pure class, and was the steal of the offseason. I'm also excited about the progress of the stadium at Bridgeview, and how we as Fire fans have even more to brag about.
I am extraordinarily excited to see Caballero. When in Italy a few years ago I was fortunate enough to see him play for udinese. He really is a classy player, and I pity any forward in this league faced witht he prospect of starting him down. He is a frightening presence.
I like this lineup up top and in back, but i would be a little concerned with the absence of an offensive central mid. We definately need Armas but, I feel Marsch may be a better solution as a 2nd half sub.
Oh no we don't need a playmaker. Everyone here says so. Seriously I was really hoping that Thiago would be that guy but people have downplayed that, at least until he gets more experience. Peter actually told me he is not a playmaker type.I guess they can't use the Beasley allocation on a playmaker at least now because of salary cap problems.Perhaps a will john or someone else will step in that role.
It's not that everyone here says so, but it is certainly a viable option. Under this scenario you have 4 very fast guys running at the defense from a variety of angles rather than the more predicable one man offensive 'quarterback'. With some pretty good defenders now--with some depth to boot--the defensive responsibilities of especially Mapp (and who really knows about Thorrington) would be lessened. The upside here--more speed, unpredictability can be very difficult to prepare for. It should be very entertaining. Of course soon we may have to worry about Mapp hitting airplanes on final approach to Midway...