PBP: Fire entire Charlotte's Webb 5/17/25 6:30 pm Apple TV

Not familiar enough to explain their decline but, yes, AEG still owns them.
AEG far from perfect but MLS probably would have folded without Phil A. involvement.

 

When the 'Beckham Rule' was being pursued, AEG had a choice to make. Their favored child was regularly beaten by the other kid, Chicago Fire. So...AEG made the choice to poison the Fire by selling to a vulture who wouldnt invest in the team and would pocked all the expansion fees.

Hauptmann builds ladders in his attic.

 

Gotcha.

 

not a perfect match (is there ever?), but the good far outweighed the bad. could get used to winning on the road. our midfield looks VVG (clinical and dominant, frequently) and our frontline is clicking. loving our decision making and our depth. 2nd half was pretty much a masterclass

 

Mostly injuries to key players like Riqui Puig and Paintsel, but also winning and the salary cap meant they had to jettison much of last years core like Dejan Jovelijic and Mark Delgado. It’s MLS at its finest. Makes the league competition relatively close, but kneecaps successful clubs in international competition.

 

That's on them for adding performance bonuses to every contract. To be continuously competitive in MLS you need a great academy system, Galaxy needs to work on that.

 

Really like Sergio’s ‘2line’ pass to spark this goal…

2️⃣2️⃣ passes
1️⃣1️⃣ players
1️⃣ beautiful team goal 🤌 #cf97 pic.twitter.com/7fq1JkUCFf

— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) May 18, 2025

 

Yes. I remember that and it’s one of the reasons I don’t understand why his game rating is below a 7. I don’t remember him losing the ball much but he connected a lot.

 

I do understand much of the soccer world and it's fans care about the international competitions for club ball...but frankly...I do not. I care about the league ball first. I care about the US Open Cup second...all other club ball a very very very distant third.

 

I care but mostly because it’s good for squad rotation and getting minutes for backups and those returning from injury. Too often an MLS team is no more than 9-12 players. I think extra tournaments help flesh out a team.

Pride? Don’t care.

 

The first half of this match was marred by stupid giveaways by the Fire and if you had asked me in the 30th minute what the final result was going to be I would have guessed a toss up simply because it was a slew of sloppy passing and missed opportunities which more or less continued until Bamba smoked one into the upper corner. Second half more of the same with both Cuypers' and Guti's missed sitters just minutes apart and I was getting nervous thinking those misses would bite the Fire in the ass. Then finally Guti made up for it minutes later with that Golazo and the floodgates opened and Charlotte rolled over and simply gave up. A very fun match to watch if you are a Fire fan and I enjoyed Zinck and Guti taking the piss out of the Charlotte supporters section who were clearly talking sh*t before they were silenced. Great win and Fire back up above the playoff line.