Marked for Thiago Dubroca
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Feb 2032
Philip Zinckernagel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrew Gutman and Chicago Fire agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nkosi Tafari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad2 Feb 2032
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Market2 Feb 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Thiago Dubroca has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chicago Fire.
Market2 Feb 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mbekezeli Mbokazi signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Chicago Fire sign a deal worth $317.2K a year
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
The manager makes Nkosi Tafari a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chicago Fire. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
Michael Creek asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout27 Oct 2031
Michael Creek: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chicago Fire have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Maren Haile-Selassie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Zinckernagel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
Sam Wright gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market27 Oct 2031
The name of Anton Salétros keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chicago Fire say nothing, which says plenty.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
The Chicago Fire production line keeps running
52 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Mar 2031
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A fracture rules Joe Gyau out for 66 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chicago Fire will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Mar 2031
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chicago Fire, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Andreas Hanche-Olsen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Mar 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tijuana have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Nkosi Tafari falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Marked 7.29. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Feb 2031
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chicago Fire lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Philip Zinckernagel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nkosi Tafari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
Wages eat 85% of everything Chicago Fire earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market10 Feb 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chicago Fire know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Wayne Frederick has written the date down.
Market10 Feb 2031
Chicago Fire have made Thiago Dubroca available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
Andrew Brooks knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrew Brooks trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Dec 2030
113 days out for Jonathan Bamba after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chicago Fire will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Dec 2030
John Pulskamp and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robin Lod and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
Andreas Hanche-Olsen is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Andreas Hanche-Olsen is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
Market9 Dec 2030
Wayne Frederick is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chicago Fire has been clear about where Wayne Frederick stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market9 Dec 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andreas Hanche-Olsen signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
The manager makes Kadir Barría a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chicago Fire. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Nkosi Tafari has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Chicago Fire that is a harder question to answer.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
Thiago Dubroca knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chicago Fire, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 May 2030
60 days out for Kerwin Vargas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chicago Fire will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match4 May 2030
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market6 May 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market6 May 2030
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kerwin Vargas wants continental football; whether Chicago Fire can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad6 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrew Gutman commits to Chicago Fire for another 2 years.
Squad6 May 2030
Francesco Castaldo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreas Hanche-Olsen, and the manager let it.