Jesus Christ! What sort of idiot sets up a full fireworks show inside a stadium and what sort of incompetent fire department allows that!?
aren't those the same fireworks everyone uses on the stadium fields? They are short devices < 2 ft tall. We think the problem is that maybe several of them fell over... Just incredible that no one was hurt (at least according to that video)
IIRC when the Quakes had their 1st fireworks show at PPP, they launched a handful of them on the field. And then it moved to the Epicenter area I guess. It was a bit much for me. They fired off so many fireworks the smoke was pretty disgusting.
Yes, but I don't think they needed that kind of volume of fireworks. It was a little overkill for me. It was like they did a finale for like 20 minutes.
Go ahead and launch all the fireworks while blasting loud music from PPP. I am pretty sure they are high schoolers or college age now. Likely they have the ear buds on and don’t sleep until 2am. They won’t be affected at all.
Last year, that first ever real fireworks show at PPP was terrific. I missed my annual Quakes fireworks this year.
It was good but to me it was way overkill. Like I said, it seemed like they did a finale that lasted like 20 minutes. It was just a massive barrage of fireworks and the smoke after was pretty disgusting. The drone show has potential but trying to use it to depict classic moments in Quakes classico history? That's kind of a tall task and it wound up making the images kind of all the same (there's a player kicking a ball, oh, and another player kicking a ball!).
Meh, he scored maybe once in all the times we played him. I remember Marie (Marie!) stuffing him multiple times out on the wing. Lots of sound and fury, but not always signifying a whole lot.
Well, of course, no one gets the better of Paul Marie. But, if you don't have your own Lay's commercial, you're not overrated.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7444899/2026/07/15/robert-lewandowski-chicago-fire-mls-signing/ Robert Lewandowski hopes to achieve more than just winning in Chicago Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was unveiled as a Chicago Fire player on Tuesday Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP / Getty Images By Paul Tenorio July 15, 2026 2:00 am PDT CHICAGO — While some of his former Barcelona teammates lined up for a World Cup semifinal outside Dallas, Robert Lewandowski sat on a stage at the Chicago Fire training facility on Tuesday afternoon preparing for the next, and perhaps last, chapter of his storied career. Lewandowski, 37, smiled and moved easily from English to Polish to Spanish in a packed press conference room at the stunning Endeavor Health Performance Center, one of MLS’s premier new training grounds. The Polish striker has been a dream signing for the Chicago Fire for years now. The prolific goalscorer is a bona fide star globally, but especially in a region that has an enormous Polish population. As of 2023, census estimates put the Chicago-area Polish ancestry population north of 720,000, the highest concentration of any metropolitan region in the country. In his first comments to media since arriving in Chicago on Monday, Lewandowski said he will judge his success not just with goals and trophies, but also in his ability to help the Fire expand its relevance in the market. He hopes to connect with a Polish community he wants to come out “not just to watch me, but to see the whole team as we win and progress”. “When you join a club, you analyze the players, the situation, the league, its level, and, above all, the country and culture,” Lewandowski said in his native language. “You have to adapt to the local environment sometimes. It was the same when I moved to Barcelona and it will likely be the same here. Over time, it definitely gets easier to adapt and to set expectations that match the reality of the situation… Ultimately, I hope the expectations here will be realistic, neither exaggerated nor understated, based on what is actually achievable. What You Should Read Next An ode to Robert Lewandowski, the striker who put Barcelona ‘back where they belong’ There were question marks over the initial €45million signing of Lewandowski, but he leaves a club legend “Coming to Chicago and MLS, I realize it’s a different league and a different style of football — or a different way of looking at the game — where it’s not just about the goals, but also about everything happening both on and off the pitch. So, naturally, I’m open to that. I’ll also be observing how things look and function there, which promises to be an interesting experience. It will likely mark another milestone in my personal and footballing development — after all, every league is different, and we’re well aware of the landscape in the U.S., including how fans and the general public view sports there.” The latest in a line of older stars to arrive in MLS following the commercial and on-field success of Lionel Messi, Lewandowski is one of the sport’s most productive and prolific winners. He is one of just three players to score 100 goals or more at three clubs (Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona) and has scored 89 goals in 167 caps for Poland. He is the Bundesliga’s all-time leading foreign scorer and won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, 10 Bundesliga titles, three La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and three Supercopas. 15 – The top two scorers across the five major European leagues over the last 15 seasons: 387 – Robert Lewandowski 377 – Lionel Messi Stateside. pic.twitter.com/u89EaiMOTr — OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) June 29, 2026 He will be joining a Fire team that has taken steps forward under former U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter. The Fire finished eighth in the Eastern Conference last year and made the playoffs in Berhalter’s first full season after joining in 2024. This year, they sit in third place in the East as of the World Cup break and are looking to see if they can build a true title contender. Signing Lewandowski, who will turn 38 next month, was at once a no-brainer and a somewhat interesting choice. The Fire’s incumbent forward, Hugo Cuypers, leads the league in goals with 13, one ahead of Messi and FC Dallas’ Petar Musa, and will start the MLS All-Star Game. Berhalter said the team will start the pair together and that the Fire played a two-striker formation in the weeks leading into the World Cup to prepare for this signing. “We’ve been scoring goals lately, we’ve been really picking apart the backline and we don’t see any reason why that can’t continue with Hugo and Robert on the field together,” Berhalter said. “They’re both high-quality players. They’re both players that can take advantage of a small amount of space, can finish under pressure, can finish in small spaces. So we’re actually really excited about this possibility, and we think that it can be a great combination.” The Fire made a significant offer for Lewandowski that will make him one of the league’s highest-paid players. He is under contract through the end of the 2027-28 season, meaning Chicago will have three chances to win a league trophy with a player known for doing just that: the remainder of 2026, the 2027 sprint season and the 2027-28 campaign after MLS flips its calendar to align with Europe. In a prolific and idealistic version of this story, he matches the impact made by countryman Piotr Nowak, who helped the Fire to an MLS Cup-U.S. Open Cup double in their inaugural 1998 season. Robert Lewandowski is already on the ball as he joins Chicago Fire training on TuesdayKamil Krzaczynski / AFP / Getty Images “I was impressed by the offer itself, certainly, but I was even more impressed by how hard the club pursued me, how clearly they showed just how much they wanted me here,” Lewandowski said. “It started with my first meeting with (Berhalter) in Barcelona, and continued through the subsequent meetings and conversations; seeing the project they presented, their vision for how the club should function, the direction it’s heading, and how it’s developing. And that’s not to mention other aspects, like the training facility or the stadium, which is huge, and where I’ve played before. “I know the fans will turn out, and there’s a new (stadium) development happening too, so, there were many, many aspects that made an impression on me. Seeing that level of commitment, from the coach and the people involved, really mattered to me. That was one of the main reasons why I decided to come to Chicago.” Lewandowski said he will “ease into things” and that he “can’t just walk in and immediately show everything or try to shoulder the whole burden right away”. He will likely be in the squad when the Fire plays former Bayern teammate Thomas Müller and the Vancouver Whitecaps Thursday night at Soldier Field, he said, but added he will see how he feels going into the game after just two training sessions. Lewandowski was also asked if he would continue playing for Poland internationally. “I haven’t made a decision yet, and I didn’t have to, because my focus, what was more important, was joining the new club and settling in,” he said. “I think that after a few weeks of living and playing here in Chicago, I’ll likely have more answers to the questions running through my mind. So, as of today, I haven’t really considered it. It’s more important to live here for a bit, play, and see how I feel and what life looks like on this new continent. I’ll probably start thinking about other matters later on. “There’s still time. I don’t think now is the moment to be weighing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It’s simply more important to get everything ready and prepare for this new chapter of my life here in Chicago, not just on the pitch, but off it as well. Then, I can see how it all plays out, including in the context of the national team.”
Robert Lewandowski was born on August 21st , 1988 and is turning 38 next month. He scored 19 goals in 46 appearances for Barca last season. How about that!
Does this even make sense? MLS commissioner says promotion and relegation doesn't make sense for his league for now
Might help now that they don't have a coaching that's shrieking like madman the whole game. They can just focus on playing.
One of the few Euro stars who isn't BSing when he says this lol dude loves the NBA and NFL and has always wanted to live in the US... Antoine Griezmann: "Since I was 18, it was my dream to come to MLS… It was very important for me to arrive in good physical and mental condition, and that’s why I took this step.”
Not sure where to put it. Mod, feel free to move it somewhere else. "The list of candidates to succeed Don Garber as MLS commissioner has been whittled down to three, with LAFC co-owner Larry Berg, 49ers Enterprises president Paraag Marathe and former Fox executive David Nathanson the three finalists, a source confirmed to ESPN." https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49385168/mls-3-names-replace-commissioner-garber More information the candidates, the timing and challenges in the article.