Chicago Fire

Rookie Report: Pre-season Week 1

Welcome back, it has been to long since the draft. We are back to give you pre-season reports of all the rookies in the MLS.

Which top pick is showing that they can play right away? Which late pick is fighting for his spot in camp? And is there an undrafted player who can sneak themselves in to a roster spot?

Team Needs: Chicago Fire

Welcome to the newest series of blog entries here on MLSDraft.net, a weekly piece called "Team Needs".

Every week, I will take a look at a different MLS team, analyzing what that specific side needs to succeed in the upcoming 2009 season. As in every league in every sport around the world, some teams will require a lot of improvements to succeed, while others need very little.

To kick start the series, I'll take a look at a team that falls into the latter category, the Chicago Fire.

A quick glance at Chicago's roster will tell anyone who has paid attention to MLS that the Fire are blessed with a very good lineup. Offensively, they boast a great mix of the experienced and youth. Defensively, they allowed the second-least amount of goals of all teams in the 2008 season, thanks not only to a rock-solid backline, but also to the career year enjoyed by keeper Jon Busch.

So what exactly can the Fire do to improve in the 2009 season?

Playoff Preview: Eastern Conference Final

In what many are calling “the real Cup final”, the Eastern Conference championship sees Supporters Shield winners Columbus Crew hosting the surging Chicago Fire.

To say that this has all the makings of a possible classic match is an understatement. In fact, this is about as good as it gets in MLS; two regional rivals - who both play an exciting, attacking brand of soccer – battling it out for a spot in Los Angeles.

There is no love lost among the respective sides’ fan support, and one can expect that underlying resentment to spill over onto the pitch. Both teams play with a bit of an edge, although Chicago – as led by Cuauhtemoc Blanco and his considerable bag of tricks – can be counted on to have the upper hand on some of the less appreciated aspects of the game.

Election Day: Busch Wins?!?

The MLS announced 3 of its year end awards today, first they named Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch the best as his position. He is the first Fire keeper to win this award and he did it pretty convincingly this year. Busch played all 30 games for the fire, during those games he ended up with 13 wins, 10 shutouts and 1.10 GAA.

Busch has spent most of his MLS career bouncing around club to club trying to secure a number 1 spot. He has been under contract to 5 teams in his 9 years in the league. I expect that his position is safe next year in the Chicago organization.

Playoff Preview

It’s the time of the year where writers love to write previews and give their predictions for the playoffs. Then at the end of the month, those same writers look like complete fools and lose their credibility, only to spend the whole year to build it back up just to do it again.