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.
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.
50 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Nkosi Tafari a promise
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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ryan Tillman is living that version at Chicago Fire, and it tends to show in the first month.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Omer Tufan was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chicago Fire dressing room was either.
The offer from Real Salt Lake for John Pulskamp was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
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.
Chicago Fire offered $210.0K; Minnesota United FC 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.
Add another name to the list: New York City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Zane Monlouis. The answer from Chicago Fire has not changed — yet.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maren Haile-Selassie. 1‑0 against New York Red Bulls, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Omer Tufan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sam Wright
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Chicago Fire had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Zinckernagel 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 easiest signature of my career.” Bryan Trujillo and Chicago Fire agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. James Robinson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jordan Steffen has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mark Howard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Christian Dempsey has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Zinckernagel 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.
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.
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 Ignacio Molina has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Chicago Fire would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bryan Trujillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Sam Wright on the training pitch
“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.
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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tiago Souza wants continental football; whether Chicago Fire can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
28 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.
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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Zinckernagel 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and John Pulskamp reports back to Chicago Fire with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and John Pulskamp now has 49 of them across 248 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad18 Aug 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
The offer went to DC United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Seattle Sounders have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Bamba. 2‑1 against CF Montreal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Omer Tufan kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
33 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
A brace, and Kelvin Yeboah takes the afternoon — 9.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kelvin Yeboah provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
LA Galaxy have accepted the money. What Portland Timbers do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Portland Timbers have gone to Nashville SC 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.
The offer from Philadelphia Union for Luke Brennan was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonee Robinson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Henry Wingo at that price