Presuming? I liked Sekulic on the field, but you're presuming in this response. Dropping Sekulic was a weird decision in my head, but now it makes plenty of sense.
I have no idea how the relationship fell apart but it very well could have been Shaqiri never giving him a chance. I don’t know but I don’t think we can really blame someone who was so directly affected by genocide.
That is true! When he arrived he was clearly the best performing/most valuable player on the team and regularly mentioned in MLS highlights. But…it started fading after the first season. But that does not mean he was a locker room problem or whatever the slander was…
he liked to drink a lot of beer, eat a lot of food, and not work real hard on the training field was the word on the street. He was a key part of setting a low standard for the rest of the team.
AND???????????????????????????????? Sounds like he would fit right in with the rest of us. We have beer/drinking thread We have a food thread We DON'T have a "work" hard thread Oh, I see! nevermind
Ha! Things were better when he was captain…but we couldn’t score goals Why am I not surprised you wouldn’t place the ‘key part’ blame on the 8mil flop wearing the captain’s arm band after him? ‘White knight til you die’!
What a nonsense response, but that is to be expected, I guess. The topic of conversation was Czichos and Czichos' alleged behavior while with the Chicago Fire.
We gave up 48, 51, then 62 goals in Rafa’s three seasons. Either Rafa was in decline or we really missed Shaqiri’s defending.
The topic was Right, go ahead and backhandedly blame the guy that anchored a good D line vs the 8mil pout walking super creator that didn’t work for his team and couldn’t help the team generate more than 40goals a season. Czichos is now the latest excuse to that epic fail…it was everyone else’s fault 48 & 51 are not bad…not great, but not bad. 62 is bad…and that was the year of his decline. In contrast we (only) scored 39, 39 & 40 This season is 50GF & 48GA w/7 games to go Our defense was better Czichos’s first two seasons than it is now. Our offense…well…it’s is now notably better than any of those painful years Hoping 2026 we can make all those numbers look ‘worse’!
No, the topic was: I did my best to answer that question while you tried to turn it into a conversation about Shaqiri. Again, it’s very telling that the team picked Omar Gonzalez over Rafa when we clearly could have had Rafa.
Almost sorry I ever mentioned the Rafa signing but who would ever think my posting would turn into another Shaqiri shitstorm!
Disagree… 1) Rafa was making TAM and would clearly have to take a big pay cut. 2) Rafa was no longer ‘the anchor’ and GGG had to add one, plus he had Teran slotted in as the second 3) Omar is GGG’s long time friend, willing to play for near league minimum(123k?), and more than happy to be a veteran filler. 4) Better budget resource management than spending TAM on a bench rider My ‘why didn’t we’ is I had heard Rafa was done, now it doesn’t seem so. Rafa at top USL money would have better than Rogers and Gonzalez combined. Fairly hard to believe any supposed ‘bad habits’ wouldn’t have straightened up with the new regime…but the rest of the story is GGG is a youth guy! Wild seeing Cupps out there at his age! And at times 5 guys 22 or younger! As much as Rafa may have been better for us this season than Roger’s and Gonzalez, he probably didn’t have the budget space for his ask at that time
Well, not only did he not find another job in MLS, he sat around without a paycheck for most of the year just to end up in the USL.
1. I am sure he took a HUGE pay cut to join Phoenix at the end of August. USL salaries are rarely over $100,000, with the "average" (according to the always reliable AI) around $50-55,000. 2. Czichos would have played a lot more than Gonzalez has played, even if he was not the "anchor," which is clearly Elliot and nobody else (at this point). 3. I am "okay" with a player being "friends" with the coach, but that is absolutely no reason to give a guy a job and six figure salary. 4. Would not have happened, as he would not have been a "TAM" on the bench. Yes, Czichos at $100,000-200,000 a season should be better on the field than Rogers and Gonzalez and, really, Teran (since Teran only managed 8 matches and then was shipped out). The fact that we did not take that route has, to me, three likely scenarios: A. Czichos would not sign for $100-200k. That would be his right. B. The Fire really (as @bunge is arguing) did not want to keep him at any price. C. Berhalter had other things in mind. (there could be other possibilities, as well) Of course, I suspect the answer is a combination of all three.
It was likely all 3…but your B could just as easily been a combination of money and age vs ‘contagious bad habits’, as GGG had serious budget challenges to pull off all the moves he did. Even with only spending $123k on Omar, the 2DP+4U22+GAM is how he complied with the budget this season. Gotta think, unless Rafa got a divorce in Illinois and split his wealth in half, it is likely he is not doing the Phoenix gig ‘purely for the money’…
Gotta think he would have played for the Fire at reduced wages if the Fire wanted him since he’s not doing the Phoenix gig purely for money.
So…which seniors did ‘the Fire’ actually keep? Cuypers, Acosta, Guti, MHS, Gutman, Pineda, Teran, Brady….Barlow, Gaspar and Mueller. Reboot! and the only 30yr olds kept were Acosta and Barlow
If Barlow is making 150k-200k he is just fine as a third striker and for when we need to run the game out. Problem is...he is presently our second striker. Ack.
Per MLSPA salary reports, Barlow made 206,625 total compensation with NYRedBulls in 2023 . He made $280,000 in 2024 and $330,000 in 2025 as total compensation with the Fire. His Salary Budget Charge for 2025 of $405,000 when the acquisition fee of $250,000 is amortized ($125,000 per year).The Fire have an option for 2026 which , if trendline continues would be $380,000 ( acquisition fee fully amortized ). Offense always costs more than defense but Barlow….. Best guess is that exercise of 2026 is a tossup.
Barlow is not expensive for the work he brings…just not a player you would want to be forced to start at striker for a string of games. That said, Hugo’s consistency has made it an odd fit to sign a ‘hungry striker’ or ‘development player’. So we need find a multi position scorer that can play striker, wing, cam, etc…just has to have enough of a nose for goal and finishing skills to minimize drop off from any Hugo absences. At the extreme, KDB may have been perfect. The other option is bring a guy like Kei back…there’s probably a decent number of ‘career twilight’ strikers that would like the opportunity, and be decent.
Barlow is a rip off "for what he brings." As a striker, all he brings are "peanut butter jelly time gifs" for PDave and Me. Sure, that is valuable but NOT worth $405,000. Matt Fondy did the same, but cost much and had waaay better hair! I stand corrected. He's an f'n bargain at $405,000, but a ripoff at $455,000!!!!