Marked for Dylan Morris
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Aug 2029
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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The knee: Dylan Morris out for 43 days
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chicago Fire lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Aug 2029
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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Franco 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.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Arce Jr., and the manager let it.
Match25 Aug 2029
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Chicago Fire had all but put away. Nashville SC will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Chicago Fire had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Chicago Fire, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Maren Haile-Selassie's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Aug 2029
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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dylan Morris
50 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Andreas Hanche-Olsen 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.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The team sheet said everything about Max Floriani
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Max Floriani.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
Fernando Arce Jr. is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Josh Zardes was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chicago Fire dressing room was either.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
Something was said to Frankie Westfield and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad20 Aug 2029
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Chicago Fire lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dylan Morris
58 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
Ibrahim Aliyu had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Philadelphia Union were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chicago Fire may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
No deal for Will Sands at that price
Chicago Fire offered $2.1M; FC Cincinnati said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Guadalajara is saying, and nobody at Chicago Fire is enjoying the guessing.
Squad13 Aug 2029
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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
André Franco 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Aug 2029
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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The knee: Dylan Morris out for 66 days
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chicago Fire lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Aug 2029
Chicago Fire are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 34 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
An offer of $2.0M for Will Sands
Chicago Fire have gone to FC Cincinnati with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Window shuts: 14 in, 10 out at Chicago Fire
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Chicago Fire had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AEK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Andreas Hanche-Olsen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.93, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
St. Louis CITY SC wanted more than $35.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Dylan Morris damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A move Max Floriani would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Max Floriani is living that version at Chicago Fire, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The paperwork begins on Janos Lang
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chicago Fire have done the hard part with Haladas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Vojvodina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad30 Jul 2029
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 targets30 Jul 2029
Chicago Fire offered $270.0K; Columbus Crew said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Chicago Fire asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Jul 2029
The knee: Dylan Morris out for 83 days
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chicago Fire lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Jul 2029
Dave Romney has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chicago Fire they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chicago Fire have done the hard part with Vojvodina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Andreas Hanche-Olsen 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
$400.0K was the most the club would pay and Colorado Rapids were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Nick Akoto arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nick Akoto has, at Chicago Fire, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Chicago Fire asked and Philadelphia Union said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dylan Morris
90 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.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Philadelphia Union keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad16 Jul 2029
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.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
$400.0K was the most the club would pay and Sporting Kansas City were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market16 Jul 2029
DC United pay $410.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Jul 2029
André Franco 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.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter Miami CF have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.