Time for a poll to gauge how you feel about the Fire ahead of the upcoming season. Multiple choices allowed. Poll will close in a week.
No Love for the girl that won the USOC and the Eastern Conference? Y'all just jealous that Rey is somehow absolutely amazing at everything she tries.
At this point I am hoping for a final four of the Us Open Cup. I am placing my whole Fire season on that...grrrr!
I have no idea what will happen this year, largely because we have no depth. If there are no significant injuries, I could see us in the 42-48 point range, vying for the last playoff slot. Any injuries and we could be hovering around 30 points. Look at our depth chart: G Johnson (McLain) D Vincent (Harrington) D Meira (Campbell) D Gehrig (Keller) D Kappelhof (Doody) DM Polster (Bryce) DM Cocis (LaBrocca) M Accam (Conner) M Shipp (Fernandez) M Igboananike (Stephens, Mitchell) F Gilberto (Morrell, Calistri) that 1st team isn't scaring anyone in the top 10 in 2015, and that 2nd 11 should terrify Paunovic.
That 1st team has brand spankin' new US team FC Cincinnati licking its lips in the US Open Cup, to say nothing of the second team. Austin Berry Corben Bone Omar Cummings Andrew Wiedeman Panamanian International Francisco Narbón three former Chicago Fire Premier players a couple of former MLS home grown players led by John Harkes That does not compare THAT unfavorably to our team.
The thing about the US Open Cup is that teams with depth and teams that suck go far. Teams that suck go far because that is all they have to fight for. Hence, the Fire and Philly have been decent in USOC.
I believe we will be slightly better than the 1999 Metroballs, but they only won seven games for a total of 15 points. So I'll stick to 24 point season prediction. What have you seen that makes us better than 2015 team?
I put no clue (among other things), because at this point, who knows. But I really think this team is playoff quality.
With no injuries and other teams losing players to youth and senior international duty. Maybe. In MLS, a 2-3 game winning streak to begin the year could do wonders. I just don't see how they can add quality depth which could sustain any positive start.
When you trade away your depth because you're too cheap to pay them then you can kiss everything goodbye. The Hauptman mantra "Let's do the bare minimum and hope we get lucky"
The question is: What happens if they do get lucky? We are going to be stuck in this cycle forever. The problem has little to do with Hauptman's "investment" and more to do with how he wants others to perceive the club. He can use the limited funds approach, but that requires an investment in the club to begin with (not FireBank Pitch) and a solid plan which requires hiring people with experience in that approach (not NRod). Instead we are stuck with "gaming" the system and false optimism. Plus counting the success due to others as Fire success (ie. Sell out due to Kaka).
I think luck would probably call for getting into the playoffs and nothing more. There's no way that can happen this year. There's just not enough quality/depth/secondary scoring/etc etc etc