Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to New York Red Bulls, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Chris Brady is on it.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maren Haile-Selassie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
A brace, and Dilan Godoy takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dilan Godoy provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
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.
A 2‑0 win over New York City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Position 7, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Nealis, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
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.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Inter Miami CF kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Chicago Fire will be asked about the last half hour all week.
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.
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 dugoutJordan Johnson asks for a word with the manager
201Edition
The Chicago Fire Post
3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondentSteady
The terraces3 Jun 2030
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Cole Mrowka has just signed for Chicago Fire, and for once the answer mattered.
Add another name to the list: Atlas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrew Rick. The answer from Chicago Fire has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maren Haile-Selassie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
DC United made Chicago Fire work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Dilan Godoy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A season average of 7.20 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad27 May 2030
7 new faces, and Chicago Fire are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Columbus Crew will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Two goals and a mark of 9.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Chicago Fire did not have in the autumn.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maren Haile-Selassie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The mood at Chicago Fire has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Philip Zinckernagel and Chicago Fire agree another 2 years.
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
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Chris Brady is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Barroso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad29 Apr 2030
7 new faces, and Chicago Fire are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutAndré Franco has become a man the manager trusts
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The fee is $4.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. San Diego Football Club drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
The deal with Olympique Lyonnais is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Chicago Fire asked and FC Cincinnati said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
6 goals in one match, Dilan Godoy on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chicago Fire and Atlanta United FC.
The terraces22 Apr 2030
Chicago Fire spend $4.9M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $4.9M for Alex Mighten, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadWords at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Dilan Godoy had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Charlotte Football Club were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
A brace, and Dilan Godoy takes the afternoon — 9.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dilan Godoy provided it, and the 9.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Chicago Fire have gone to San Diego Football Club 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8.48. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A 3‑0 win over Seattle Sounders, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jack Elliott has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
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. Club Brugge have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Chris Brady
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Philip Zinckernagel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Manchester United is saying, and nobody at Chicago Fire is enjoying the guessing.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Cincinnati have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anzor Mekvabishvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Dilan Godoy could not do
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Portland Timbers pay $2.2M, 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.
The chase for Nico Hansen ended with $450.0K changing hands and Toronto FC out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 9.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 9.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal with Utrecht is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
7 goals in one match, Dilan Godoy on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chicago Fire and Orlando City.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Chicago Fire and New York City have settled on $79.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
$2.0M was the most the club would pay and San Diego Football Club 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” André Franco and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Chicago Fire
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chicago Fire people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Chicago Fire have gone to San Diego Football Club 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.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Portland Timbers 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Cincinnati have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
Noah Bout 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Logan Farrington signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Chicago Fire have gone to Minnesota United FC 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.
$1.3M on the table at New York Red Bulls. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
New York Red Bulls wanted more than $110.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maren Haile-Selassie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jeisson Palacios has his answer from Chicago Fire; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
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.
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.
“I want to stay in the game when I stop, and I am not going to wait until I stop to prepare for it.” At 31 the badges have begun, and every manager in the division remembers doing the same.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Jonathan Bamba has taken the hint, and Chicago Fire are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
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.
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.
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.
Philip Zinckernagel 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 Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The mood at Chicago Fire has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 14 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chicago Fire can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Anzor Mekvabishvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Logan Farrington's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chicago Fire is running low.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Andrew Rick has come up in conversations Chicago Fire were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Philip Zinckernagel 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 Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
39 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maren Haile-Selassie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dilan Godoy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Position 14 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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 Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutDilan Godoy asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chicago Fire told André Franco something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $3.3M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
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.
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 Anzor Mekvabishvili has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dylan Nealis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
Chicago Fire interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Luca Pepi keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
42 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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 Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A new face in his position, and Anton Salétros suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Chicago Fire have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“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 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.
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 competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Anton Salétros keeps the shirt for now, at Chicago Fire's convenience rather than his own.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Daniel Munie a promise
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Chris Brady
SquadQuestions about Dylan Borso on the training pitch
169Edition
The Chicago Fire Post
22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondentSteady
The terraces22 Oct 2029
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maren Haile-Selassie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dylan Nealis has his answer from Chicago Fire; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anton Salétros 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 Anzor Mekvabishvili has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Chicago Fire have no good answer.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Bamba and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
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The dugout8 Oct 2029
Jonathan Bamba 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. Jonathan Bamba is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
“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 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kieran Sargeant and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years.
Something was said to Philip Zinckernagel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kieran Sargeant is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The mood at Chicago Fire has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
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 Robin Lod.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 David Howard left the room before anybody could ask which.
Position 14 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Inter Miami CF next, and one man in the Chicago Fire dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chicago Fire would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
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.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Minute 89, against DC United, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chicago Fire can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Logan Farrington and Chicago Fire agree another 4 years.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
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 dugout3 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by David Howard to a room that had heard them before.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Noah Bout has come out of that comparison in the side, and Chicago Fire have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Chris Brady was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nashville SC will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chicago Fire were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A brace, and Dilan Godoy takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dilan Godoy provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Toronto FC were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
5 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chicago Fire have done the hard part with Parma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sam Yedlin 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. Connor McKennie 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michael Dest 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Chicago Fire had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at KV Oostende, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
Chicago Fire ran out of time with Columbus Crew. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The offer from FC Cincinnati for Viktor Radojević 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.
St. Louis CITY SC wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chicago Fire have done the hard part with Feyenoord, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New York Red Bulls have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
$2.8M on the table at Toronto FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Viktor Radojević again, and this time the name on the line is FC Cincinnati. Chicago Fire are listening politely and promising nothing.
Chicago Fire asked and Colorado Rapids said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chicago Fire have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Houston Dynamo have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Chicago Fire have gone to St. Louis CITY 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.
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.
The chase for Dylan Nealis ended with $210.0K changing hands and St. Louis CITY SC out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anzor Mekvabishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrew Rick had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$1.1M on the table at Real Salt Lake. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
$210.0K on the table at St. Louis CITY SC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Logan Farrington. 1‑0 against FC Cincinnati, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The mood at Chicago Fire has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
13 matches without a win, and then this, against New York Red Bulls. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. New York Red Bulls will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chicago Fire has been clear about where Leonardo Barroso stands, which is more than many ever get.
Position 15 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
12 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.
“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.
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.
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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Chicago Fire will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Half the programme played, position 15, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 David Howard left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniel Munie
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Kieran Sargeant
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Howard to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutAndrew Gutman dropped after a run of poor form
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The terraces4 Jun 2029
Supporters organise against the Chicago Fire board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Philip Zinckernagel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djé D'Avilla 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
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The dugout4 Jun 2029
Jonathan Bamba 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. Jonathan Bamba is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
10 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.
Position 15 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djé D'Avilla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paul Wright after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
21 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.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chicago Fire can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paul Wright after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutAndrew Brody dropped after a run of poor form
29 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chicago Fire is running low.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Paul Wright has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Anzor Mekvabishvili 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
6 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.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
Chicago Fire close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jordan Ferreira and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
45 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.
0‑4 against Atlanta United FC, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jordan Ferreira and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Paul Wright left the room before anybody could ask which.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Chicago Fire can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
52 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.
New England Revolution pay $2.1M, 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.
Philip Zinckernagel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anzor Mekvabishvili 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
André Franco 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.
59 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.
Sporting Kansas City go through and Chicago Fire go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
$500.0K was the most the club would pay and Austin FC 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.
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.
68 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.
The deal with New York Red Bulls is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$500.0K on the table at Austin FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chicago Fire has been clear about where Djé D'Avilla stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
75 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Logan Farrington provided it, and the 9.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
San Diego Football Club have accepted the money. What Chicago Fire do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Austin FC have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Chicago Fire offered $2.4M; Houston Dynamo 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris Saint-Germain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 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.
St. Louis CITY SC paid $190.0K and Chicago Fire took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
92 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dylan Borso had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$2.4M on the table at Houston Dynamo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at Chicago Fire is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Austin FC have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
The phone has started ringing about Jordan Farr again, and this time the name on the line is St. Louis CITY SC. Chicago Fire are listening politely and promising nothing.
It has nothing to do with his form and everything to do with how the squad was assembled. He will train all week with a group he is not permitted to play for, which is a strange way to spend a season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Rémy Gauthier is in the works
The dugoutChris Brady has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at St. Louis CITY SC is saying, and nobody at Chicago Fire is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New York Red Bulls have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
San Diego Football Club wanted more than $67.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
In brief
Boardroom5 academy graduates step up at Chicago Fire
107 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Leonardo Barroso had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Everything agreed with St. Louis CITY SC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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.
Chicago Fire have made the call to Cruz Azul. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutJonathan Bamba has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
The offer went to Austin FC 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 offer from Inter Miami CF for Christopher Cupps 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.
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.
$420.0K was the most the club would pay and Nashville SC 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chicago Fire has been clear about where Christopher Cupps stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Chris Brady reports back to Chicago Fire with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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 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.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Logan Farrington signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Daniel Munie a promise
Add another name to the list: Twente have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Chris Brady. The answer from Chicago Fire has not changed — yet.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Robin Lod 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
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 Anzor Mekvabishvili has written the date down.
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.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Bamba signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Chris Brady is on 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Andreas Hanche-Olsen is on it.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Andrew Brody is 34, with 45 appearances behind him, and Chicago Fire will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Anton Salétros keeps the shirt for now, at Chicago Fire's convenience rather than his own.
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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jonathan Bamba is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chicago Fire than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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.
Olwethu Makhanya 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Bamba signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Manzur 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Anzor Mekvabishvili has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Barroso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Daniel Munie has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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 Nov 2028
Iván Manzur 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Bamba signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Chris Brady is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Chicago Fire
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.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Logan Farrington signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
LA Galaxy watched Chris Brady again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Mauricio Pineda has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chicago Fire told Olwethu Makhanya something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Anzor Mekvabishvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Manzur 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jonathan Bamba is on it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Daniel Munie has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Philip Zinckernagel is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Bamba signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Manzur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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 Anzor Mekvabishvili has written the date down.
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.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJack Elliott knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Andrew Gutman
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Bamba signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Chicago Fire the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chicago Fire and Inter Miami CF, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Chicago Fire will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
11 combined actions and 6.97. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Olwethu Makhanya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Chicago Fire can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Something was said to Olwethu Makhanya and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Inter Miami CF.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Noah Allen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chicago Fire needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Bamba. 2‑1 against DC United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iván Manzur, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Paul Wright, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Iván Manzur 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.
Nobody at Chicago Fire will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paul Wright after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marked 9.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
Something was said to Philip Zinckernagel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Anzor Mekvabishvili.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Paul Wright could afford to be generous.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vizela have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Manzur 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Diego Football Club have kept their man, and Chicago Fire go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Atlanta United FC left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Pineda 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.