3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Haji Wright. 2‑0 against Nashville SC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 brace, and Ibrahim Sadiq takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ibrahim Sadiq provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Sadiq. 2‑0 against Toronto FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Britton Fischer and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, John Pepi could afford to be generous.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Robin Lod decided nobody was going anywhere. Philadelphia Union had no time left to answer.
The offer from Charlotte Football Club 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.
The deal that would have taken Josh Cohen to New England Revolution has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Chicago Fire with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Britton Fischer is living that version at Chicago Fire, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Jack Elliott 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Chicago Fire support went home talking about one name.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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.” John Pepi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Chicago Fire until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Jack Elliott 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Atlanta United FC had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Charlotte Football Club spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“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.
San Jose Earthquakes paid $2.4M 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.
Haji Wright 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.
A 2‑1 win over Charlotte Football Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 name of Djé D'Avilla has come up in conversations Chicago Fire were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Haji Wright. 1‑0 against New England Revolution, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Haji Wright was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Successful dribbles: 48. 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.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Chicago Fire scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Chicago Fire offered $7.5M; Seattle Sounders 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.
35 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have shaken hands with LA Galaxy; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Chicago Fire asked and Seattle Sounders said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.5M on the table at Seattle Sounders. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Chicago Fire will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsIbrahim Sadiq was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for André Franco
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. André Franco has come out of that comparison in the side, and Chicago Fire have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” John Pepi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chicago Fire dressing room was either.
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.
31 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A brace, and Ibrahim Sadiq takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ibrahim Sadiq provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Ibrahim Sadiq had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and New York City were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Anton Salétros 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Half the programme played, position 2, 28 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.70 for the rest of it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sam Ferreira 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Inter Miami CF spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew 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.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and DC United had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Chicago Fire did not stop to explain themselves.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Chicago Fire heard it as anything else.
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.
At 21 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chicago Fire told Haji Wright something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” John Pepi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Jack Elliott 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.
Nashville SC made Chicago Fire work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Haji Wright was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, John Pepi 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.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. David Dest 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. John Howard 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.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jack Elliott
The dugoutIbrahim Sadiq dropped after a run of poor form
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: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Hanche-Olsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Chicago Fire who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout3 May 2027
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 0‑1 John Pepi left the room before anybody could ask which.
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Alejo Sarco, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Chicago Fire until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Minute 89, against Charlotte Football Club, 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tyler Miller commits to Chicago Fire for another 2 years.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” John Pepi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Alejo Sarco, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Chicago Fire and San Jose Earthquakes have settled on $65.0K. 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sean Musah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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 clubs have shaken hands with Charlotte Football Club; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
Houston Dynamo wanted more than $500.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alejo Sarco has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The offer went to Houston Dynamo 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.
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.
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.
“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.
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 CF Montreal.
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 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chicago Fire can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Real Salt Lake paid $170.0K 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.
Jack Elliott 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dean Boltz, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” John Pepi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
“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 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.
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.
A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. Chicago Fire had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Bamba provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Chicago Fire asked and San Jose Earthquakes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Ibrahim Sadiq was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $14.8M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Seattle Sounders wanted more than $21.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The offer went to Colorado Rapids 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Haji Wright was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $13.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Jack Elliott left off the list on the foreign quota
A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. Chicago Fire had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.
$13.0M on the table at Coventry City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chicago Fire have done the hard part with Tigres, 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. Olimpia 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.
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 Maren Haile-Selassie is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andreas Hanche-Olsen signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The offer went to Seattle Sounders 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.
Chicago Fire asked and Coventry City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 name of Jonathan Dean has come up in conversations Chicago Fire were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 André Franco is on 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 month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
In brief
The dugoutDjé D'Avilla asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Musah 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.
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.
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 Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Jack Elliott 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.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Puebla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Jack Elliott 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andreas Hanche-Olsen signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 phone has started ringing about Josh Cohen again, and this time the name on the line is Puebla. Chicago Fire are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maren Haile-Selassie trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dylan Moore is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergio Oregel and Chicago Fire agree another 5 years.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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 Jan 2027
Words at Chicago Fire training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Elliott 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 loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Chicago Fire no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
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 went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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 loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Chicago Fire no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
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 Andreas Hanche-Olsen signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJack Elliott knocks on the manager’s door
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andreas Hanche-Olsen wants continental football; whether Chicago Fire can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jack Elliott and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Jack Elliott
SquadAdam Saldana is the talk of the training ground
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michael Sargent has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It 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 Anton Salétros signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 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 manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Anton Salétros plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
“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.
Jack Elliott 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
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.
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 Maren Haile-Selassie is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andreas Hanche-Olsen signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chicago Fire will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
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 André Franco is on 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chicago Fire will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Adam Saldana has written the date down.
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
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 Noah Allen is on it.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Miles Johnson 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.
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 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.
In brief
The dugoutDjé D'Avilla asks for a word with the manager
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Chicago Fire hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Jack Elliott 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.
“I watch every Chicago Fire game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Toronto FC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Maren Haile-Selassie is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andreas Hanche-Olsen signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The 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 André Franco is on 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 Mauricio Pineda has written the date down.
“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.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
11 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.
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 Noah Allen is on it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Steffen 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Chicago Fire will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jeff Gal
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Chicago Fire can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
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.
He is 22 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Djé D'Avilla, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” John Pepi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chicago Fire dressing room was either.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAndré Franco has become a man the manager trusts
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.
11 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.
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 Noah Allen is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Inter Miami CF in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
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.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Jack Elliott 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jack Acosta 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.
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Jonathan Bamba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Nobody at Chicago Fire is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Jack Elliott 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.
Three points for Chicago Fire, 1‑0 the final word against Columbus Crew in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
André Franco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Robin Lod is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Lewandowski provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
6 goals in one match, Robert Lewandowski on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chicago Fire and Nashville SC.
It needed Robert Lewandowski to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Nashville SC, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” John Pepi chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Chicago Fire have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
FC Dallas go through and Chicago Fire go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andreas Hanche-Olsen wants continental football; whether Chicago Fire can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Chicago Fire had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Barcelona, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
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 had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Philip Zinckernagel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Chicago Fire offered $510.0K; Minnesota United FC said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.95, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Chicago Fire close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 2 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Chicago Fire hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Everything agreed with Barcelona, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Chicago Fire hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Bamba and Chicago Fire agree another 3 years.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jack Elliott 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.
Chicago Fire have made the call to Barcelona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.