Pre-match: Fire v. Ghost of Matt Reis' Mother (NE Revolution) 9.6.25 6:30 Appley TV

The Fire completely and totally failed to lose, or even play, last week due to the LEAGUES CUP® final featuring Inter Messi and their bity, spitty bastard Suarez. Glad that team of asshole aging stars lost to Seattle and lost badly.
Of course, that is just more of Seattle fans to brag about, so they can f*ck right off now, as well.
As the name of the great Chumbawamba documentary states, "Well Done, Now Sod Off!"

Of course, this week is an International break, so would have been the PERFECT time to hold the LEAGUES CUP® Final. However, that would have deprived the world of Lionel Messi either playing in the LEAGUES CUP® or playing in Argentina's final home World Cup qualifier. And we simply cannot have that!
So, the Fire get screwed royally...again. At this point, the Fire are used to that.

For the match, we have the Fire and New Engerland, No 10 and No 11 teams in the East, but the Fire have a 9 point lead over the bastards from (near) Boston and have a game in hand.

The Fire are 4 points behind NYRB for 9th and have two games in hand over the New Jerseryites.

I have to admit, I really like Boston.
It is old, it is historic, it has great beer, great food (especially in the north end), good cultural/museums, good music scene. I have been there quite a few times and really like it. I could live there if I had the opportunity. One of my three or four favorite "big" cities in the US (although Boston is not that big by population, but is big in history, reputation, finances, etc.).

That said, it is horrible to drive there. I cannot stand driving in Boston. Of course, it was designed in the 17th century, and grew over time, so it makes a bit of sense, even if the layout makes, well, no sense.
Also, it is stupidly expensive.
And, of course, it is filled with Bostonians, so that is a definite negative.

For the season, New England have been very, very New England, not terrible, but not very good.
With 8 wins, 7 draws and 13 losses, they are very definition of "Meh".
The good thing for the Fire is that New England have been absolute crap at home, with on 3 wins, 9 losses and 2 draws in 14 matches. No other team in MLS (even LAG) has more than 7 losses at home.
We joke about the Fire's home record this season, but NER are atrocious at home.
The Fire MUST add to that total.

I have not really paid all that much attention to New England, but it appears that there is not much worth paying attention to this season.

Overall, scoring goals has been an issue for Baked Beans, having scored a paltry 36 goals in 28 matches. Of the teams with even a shot at the playoffs, New England have scored by far the fewest goals.
They do have an average defense, with 40 goals conceded.

They are led by venerable veteran Carles Gil, now in his 7th season leading the New England attack. An incredible steady player out there, he leads the team with 9 goals and 11 assists for the season.
Beyond Gil, they have nobody with more than 6 goals or 4 assists.

The Fire should be relatively healthy with only new center back Joel Waterman out of the starting 11 due to playing a couple of minutes in a useless friendly with Canada.

Chicago Fire FC

• OUT: Leonardo Barroso (international duty)
• OUT: Chase Gasper (lower body)
• OUT: Rominigue Kouamé (lower body)
• OUT: Chris Mueller (not due to injury)
• OUT: David Poreba (lower body)
• OUT: Joel Waterman (international duty)

New England Revolution

• OUT: Leo Campana (international duty)
• OUT: Mamadou Fofana (international duty)
• OUT: Dor Turgeman (international duty)
• QUESTIONABLE: Matt Polster (knee)

A Fire win and it will pretty much assure that New England are out of the playoffs. While the Fire will still have some work to do to solidify their playoff position, a win helps. The Fire have one or two games in hand on every other team in the East other than NYCFC (also with 27 matches played) and Inter Messi (with 25 games played, do to their idiotic extra-MLS activities).

Frankly, it would be awesome to see that tired ass assemblage of late 30's hacks in Miami collapse and lose out on the playoffs, after losing the LEAGUES CUP®. Of course, they have this week off, but they play, but they play 9 matches (including the rescheduled Fire match) in the next 5 weeks. Screw them.

Saying all of this, I would like to see an easy, dominant win for the Fire, but, as well know, the Fire rarely make things easy.

It will either be a 4-1 demolition in a reenactment, with the Fire attack of Cupyers, Bamba, young Brian G, new guy Franco and our precious Zinckernagel decimating the Revolution defense,
or
It will be a tight, and slightly boring 1-1 draw, with the Rev defense stymying the Fire attack that has yet to fully incorporate new guy into the team.

The realist (well, pessimist) in me thinks the latter, but I am a delusional Chicago Fire fan, dammit!, so I am going with the former:

Fire 4-1
Cuypers, Gutierrez, Gutman and Zinckernagel get on the score sheet.
The New England goal is scored by something stupid.


Go Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Very little, which is why I said "near" Boston a couple of times.
Plus, there is nothing to say about Foxborough, Ma. I have driven through it, once, and it left no impression.

When I did the thread on the Union match, I discussed Philadelphia, and the same thing applies.
See, also, LAG, F_C_Dallas, SLC, etc.

Wait until I comment on Miami in a couple of weeks!

 

No, I f*cked up royally.

I woke up convinced it was an away match, started writing as an away match and never bothered to check.
Too late to fix it, unfortunately.

Problem of no longer being a season ticket holder.

Sorry, everyone. This is a complete fail on my part. I was to enthralled with the Latvia v. Serbia match on TV while working on the thread.

 

Of course, start time is

7:30

Not 6:30