I'll get right to the point. It's time for you to sell the Chicago Fire. Please, sell the club to someone who cares about, well anything. Someone who cares about the City of Chicago. Someone who cares about the club. Someone who cares about the supporters. Someone who cares about winning. 

Ask any of the 5,100 folks (No, the actual attendance wasn't even close to the pathetic 9,000 announced) who sat in the freezing cold last night to watch this team post yet another embarrassing performance what the problem is and 90% of them will tell you the same thing - this team has no attacking threat. Unfortunately, many of those same people will say that it's time for the club to sack Frank Klopas and move in a new direction. I see a bigger problem. I see a club with a staff who has yet to be given the tools they need to have sustained success. 

While New York gets Henry, Cahill, etc..., and LA gets Beckham, Donovan, Keane, and likely Lampard, what does Chicago get? Puppo? Robayo? MacDonald? Nazarit? Puerari? And on and on and on. Now, I'm not saying that Chicago Fire needs a big name player, it would be nice - but not necessary. What we need is a player who can actually play. Not some garage sale find who might be able to make an impact on the team. 

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States and a major sports town, yet only 5,100 people showed up last night. Why? It certainly wasn't because of the cold, just look at the crowd that showed up in Colorado for the USMNT match in the snow. It wasn't because Chicago doesn't like soccer, look at any big time match held at Soldier Field. The reason people don't show up is because the product on the field doesn't warrant spending the money. I know *former* season ticket holders who have said that they refuse to put another dime into this club because clearly the owner can't be bothered to do the same. 

It takes money to make money. If you invest in this club and put a product on the field that will compete with the top tier clubs in this league, people will come out. It's been 7 years since Chicago has had silverware. Either open up the checkbook, give the staff the tools they need to put together a club that can compete, or do all of us in Chicago a favor - sell the team to someone who cares.

Signed, 

JR Patton, Season Ticket Holder

The loss will send the Fire to 0-2-0 (0 pts) on the young 2013 season, and will certainly get the fans in a tizzy. The club has not had an 0-2-0 start since the 2000 campaign when they opened with losses at Dallas and at Kansas City. We'll break down the bad, the worse, and the flat out awful after the break. 

 After losing 4-0 on the road last weekend, the lineup Saturday night only saw 1 (and a half) changes from the first 11 who took the pitch in LA. Newcomer Maicon Santos, who started last weekend, found himself on the bench to start tonight, while designated player, Sherjill MacDonald worked his way back into Frank Klopas's starting XI. The only other change saw Jalil Anibaba move from RB to CB and in a corresponding move, Steven Kinney move from CB to RB. 

Let's start with the swap-a-dee-doo at the back. It proved to be a good tactical decision by Klopas, and Kinney looked a lot more comfortable on the right side than he did in the center last weekend. I won't be fully satisfied until Logan Pause and Arne Friedrich return (as I awkwardly told Arne in the tunnel after the match), but I think that the positioning we saw tonight could be a serviceable replacement until the two veterans return. 

Now, on to the change up front. (Yes, here with go with the Mackie-bash again) When the club brought MacDonald in last summer I was on the bandwagon with everyone else. I hated the move at first, and then when it fell though I was pissed that we weren't getting a striker, and then the move went through and I hated the idea of it again, and then when I saw him play I fell in love. But through his first two appearances of 2013, I'm starting to feel like he's looking like the player I thought we were getting last year - someone who can't finish in front of the goal (see his 3' whiff). I said it last week and I'm going to say it again, I love the way Maicon Santos hustles to the ball, I love his tenacity, I love the way he's bringing a scrappy Chicago-esque style of play to the pitch. He puts pressure on opposing keepers who think they're going to get easy clearances, he runs to balls most everyone else gives up on, and historically he's proven that he can put the ball in the back of the net. I think it's worth giving Santos another start next week against SKC to see how the team plays with him for more than 45 minutes. 

Let's talk about the guy who's play improved about 1000% from last weeks performance - Dilly Duka. Duka's play last week was uninspired and flat-out sloppy. This week he was sharp, creative, and came closer to scoring a goal than anybody else on the club (31' rocket that banged the woodwork). What we have to remember is that both Patrick Nyarko and Duka were late to pre-season camp, and they are going to take a little more time to gel together, but I think there could be a budding partnership there. The two seemed to work together a lot better this week than last, and the distribution and movement of the two was much less rigid than the LA match. 

I don't know what to think about the 2013 version of the Fire yet, but I know it's much too early to sound the alarm. I think they're beat up at the back, and still lacking the familiarity that only comes with playing together. 

And finally, to make your night incredibly depressing - take a look at where the Fire's shots came from tonight...

It's a chilly one tonight even though the official sheet from the club puts the temperature at 40 degrees.

Our Referee tonight is Hilario Grajeda with Kermit Quisenberry and Paul Scott as the assistants. Jorge Gonzalez is the 4th Official tonight.

The visiting Revs come in like this:

GK: Matt Reis

DEF: Andrew Farrel, A.J. Soares, Jose Julio Gonclaves, Kevin Alston

MID: Juan Toja, Kalida Cisse, Clyde Simms (C), Donnie Smith

FWD: Jerry Bengston, Lee Nguyen

BENCH: Bobby Shuttleworth, Darrius Barnes, Scott Caldwell, Andy Dorman, Kelyn Rowe, Chad Barrett, Diego Fagundez

The Men in Red look like this:

GK: Sean Johnson

DEF: Jalil Anibaba, Steven Kinney, Austin Berry, Gonzalo Segares

MID: Patrick Nyarko, Jeff Larentowicz (C), Joel Lindpere, Dilly Duka

FWD: Chris Rolfe, Sherjill MacDonald

BENCH: Paolo Tornaghi, Michael Videira, Yazid Atouba Emane, Daniel Paladini, Wells Thompson, Alex, Maicon Santos

After an off season that saw the retirement of midfielder Pavel Pardo, the departure of veterans Dan Gargan and Dominic Oduro, and the addition of several new players, the Fire were looking to move beyond the disappointment of 2012, and move into 2013 with a fresh start and all eyes on an MLS Cup. With a promising pre-season behind them, Fire players and supporters alike were bubbling over with excitement on Facebook and Twitter as the opening kick neared on Sunday afternoon. Everyone knew that opening the season on the road against the 2 time defending champions wouldn't be easy, but there was still a sense of optimism in the air, the feeling of freshness that you get with each new season. LA was playing without Landon Donovan, and had lost the legendary David Beckham in the off season, why couldn't the Fire start the season off right?

 It didn't take long for everyone to see why the LA Galaxy are the back-to-back champs, even if they didn't have Beckham or Donovan. The Galaxy had the better of the opportunities and possession right from the start, and the Fire back-line playing without Logan Pause and Arne Friedrich did not look good. The poor start did not produce a goal for LA, however, and after the first 15 minutes the Fire looked like they had weathered the storm and tried to settle into the match. New signing Maicon Santos impressed with his tenacity and hustle to the ball, and it looked as though he might help create an early lead for the visitors. However, Mike Magee's 38' goal put LA in the driver's seat once again, and they never looked back. 

After Magee opened the scoring, he went on to score two more (68' and 74') and then in the eightieth minute things went from unbearable to downright embarrassing when Robbie Keane got in on the scoring to make the game 4-0. 

There are several things about a 4-0 loss that worry me, and goalkeeping is not one of them. Sean Johnson played a remarkable game and came up with many huge saves, the game could've easily been 6 or 7 to nothing if not for SJ. 

The defending was atrocious. Yes, it was nice to see Steven Kinney back in the lineup for the Fire, but he did not have a good game at all. Friedrich and Pause were definitely missed on the pitch on Sunday.

The ball movement was laughable. There were too many turnovers, and passes that went out of play. The Fire had 1 shot on goal in the entire match, it's hard to create chances when you can't move the ball well as a team. 

The problem that plagued the Fire last year was goal scoring. Everyone knows it. What did the front office do in the off season to fix this problem? Not much. Hopefully this team finds a way to gel and start creating opportunities for the likes of Chris Rolfe, Sherjill MacDonald, Alex, and Santos or we could be in for a long summer. 

Now, I'm not sounding any alarm bells after one match, but 4-0 is 4-0 and there are definitely some issues that need to be worked out if this team is going to compete for any silverware in 2013. Let's see how the club bounces back in Saturday night's home opener vs. New England. 

So, here we are. Mid-September, 50 points on the season, and only 1 point behind Kansas City for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. At the beginning of the season we had a midfield that had both Sebastian Grazzini and Marco Pappa, we had the lightning fast duo of Patrick Nyarko and Dominic Oduro up top with last years spark plug, Orr Barouch serving in relief of them. We had the veteran Cory Gibbs in the backline. We had two newcomers in Rafael Robayo and Federico Puppo that were supposed to help bolster this lineup and propel this club towards glory in 2012.

Gone are Grazzini, Pappa, Barouch, Robayo, and Puppo. Oduro is no longer a member of the Starting XI, and Nyarko is playing in the midfield. Cory Gibbs has been injured for the better part of the year and we’ve been playing a rookie in his position since he went down. Now, if you were somehow living under a rock all year and the first bit of MLS news you were able to read upon coming out from underneath you rock was this paragraph – you’d surely think that the Fire were near the bottom of the table. Let me say again (because it sounds so nice) – 1 point out of first in the East.

How did this happen? Well, let’s start with the easy part – Robayo and Puppo were garbage. I’m not going to rehash the whole thing but they sucked – plain and simple. Their loss was to the benefit of the Fire both on the pitch and in the locker room.

Unfortunately, the arrival of Puppo in Chicago was ultimately the thing that signaled the beginning of the end for Sebastian Grazzini’s tenure at Toyota Park. The money paid to Puppo instead of to Grazzini (who had a commitment from the club) was how that thing went so sideways in a hurry, and ultimately led to the “family issues” that took Grazzini out of Chicago and back to South America. HE GONE.

We all knew that Marco Pappa wouldn’t make it to the start of the 2013 season with this club, but I’m not sure how many people knew that he’d be a casualty of the mid-season transfer market – although I’m sure a lot of us suspected it. At the end of the day, I’m glad the deal was pushed through early. Marco had a tendency to disappear for games, and the knowledge that he was already set for next year and the foreseeable future could have really had a detrimental effect on his game and commitment to the rest of the 2012 season. I’m not saying that he wouldn’t have given it all, but why take the chance? The move was there to be made, great move by the Fire brass.

Cory Gibbs going down seemed like it would have a disastrous impact on the Fire backline, but rookie Defender Austin Berry has come up huge for this club. He seriously has a shot at a Rookie of the Year award, and his pairing with World Cup veteran, Arne Friederich has been incredible. It’s been so fun to watch him learn and develop this season, and he could be the next great American CB.

With the news that Fire fan favorite Chris Rolfe was going to be getting a Toyota Park return, everyone wondered corresponding moves would be made and what the future held for both Nyarko and Oduro. Nyarko slid perfectly into a role on the wing, and the arrival of Designated Player, Sherjil MacDonald has seen Oduro moved to the substitute bench. These two moves added a tremendous amount of talent and depth to the forward position, something that was more of a mashup before the arrival of Rolfe and Mackie. (And possibly even, Guillermo Franco if he’s got anything left – but we’ll get to that later)

Frank Klopas bolstered the midfield and proved that the Fire don’t need Grazzini or Pappa to continue to push up the table and make a run for some silverware this year. The young and talented Brazilian, Alex, struggled to make his impact felt in his first few matches, but he’s really gelling with the team now, hitting his form at the right time. Alex has 2 goals in his last 2, and he’s playing some very solid MF.

The other big MF move came via trade with MLS side Seattle Sounders. Alvaro Fernandez arrived in Chicago just under the transfer deadline and has proved to be an integral piece to the Fire build up and attack since the moment he got here.

Now, when these deals all went down there were many of us who were skeptical. MacDonald? “He couldn’t even score for West Brom Albion”. Alex? “If he’s so talented, why is he coming here?” Similar to last years shouts about Pavel Pardo – “He’s too old to be productive anymore”. Oops.

This is all a way of getting around to the newest Fire acquisition, Guillermo Franco. We had the opportunity to speak with him after the match Saturday night, and he seemed excited and ready to get into training to get his fitness up. Franco is a 35 year old striker who had an appendectomy earlier this year, but he looks to be in good shape, and seems to have the excitement and desire to get out there and be a difference maker. I mean, it’s really a no-lose for the Fire, they aren’t going to pay him much and he may just score a big goal or two for the club – but could he be more valuable than that?

I’ve been so off base with the last couple of player predictions that I’m going to hold my judgment, but I will say one thing and one thing only. Frank wouldn’t sign him on a whim, he made him come in and trial before offering him a contract – and let’s be honest, who wants to argue with Frank’s track record over the last 4 months? (Robayo and Puppo don’t count – so shut it).

Vitals:

July 14th, 2012 - Toyota Park

85 degrees and partly cloudy

Chicago Fire (8-6-4, 28 pts) v. Vancouver Whitecaps (8-5-6, 30 pts)

Officials:

Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero

Referee's Assistant: Adam Wienckowski

Referee's Assistant: Peter Manikowski

4th Official: Abiodun Okulaja

Lineups:

Chicago: Johnson, Anibaba, Friedrich, Berry, Segares, Rolfe, Pause (C), Alex, Pardo, Nyarko, Oduro.

Vancouver: Cannon, Young-Pyo, DeMerit, Bonjour, Harvey, Robson, Davidson, Koffie, Rochat, Nanchoff, Mattocks

Subs:

Chicago: Nolly, Gargan, Bone, Paladini, Pappa, Robayo, Puppo

Vancouver: Knighton, Klazura, Mitchelll, Richards, Teibert, Camilo, Hassli

Sure, you can take a look at the starting XI that Frank Klopas fielded, and even the gameday 18 and say that it's not a huge surprise that this side couldn't bring back the victory and move on to the next round. But even an MLS reserve squad should be able to beat a PDL team, if not than why are they playing on our reserve squad? What does that say about the depth of this club?

 The Fire starting XI looked like this: Paolo Tornaghi, Tony Walls, Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry, Hunter Jumper, Michael Videira, Daniel Paladini (C), Corben Bone, Rafael Robayo, Federico Puppo, Orr Barouch. Subs: Dan Gargan, Dominic Oduro, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Sean Johnson, Gonzalo Segares, Victor Pineda, and Patrick Nyarko. 

No Grazzini. No Pardo. No Pause. No Pappa - but that was due to international duty so I'll let Frank off the hook on that one. What did you think was going to happen with this lineup?

There were 4 guys in the game day 18 who haven't seen the pitch with the first team at all in 2012. Another one, in Bone, who has about a minute of playing time, and another who has only seen his playing time pick up recently because he's a crybaby. Is anyone surprised this team was beaten? 

I don't want to spend much time complaining about the result, it's over and we're out of the tournament. But I will say three things:

First, how the hell am I supposed to make fun of New York for not taking the tournament seriously when this is the lineup we trotted out there?

Second, Seattle can now tie Chicago for the most Open Cup trophies by an MLS club, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Yes, Seattle. Let that sink in for a moment and try not to throw up.

And finally, this club is NOT winning MLS Cup this year, why not continue your tradition as the "Kings of the Cup" and try and get that fifth trophy? Take the damn thing seriously.

Now, some other thoughts that are somewhat related to last night, and somewhat related to the last few MLS matches.

I will insert foot into mouth and not call for Sean Johnson to be benched in favor of Tornaghi - for now.

One key thing we saw last night was that Paolo Tornaghi is a few things. He's a talented young keeper with a bright future, but he might not be ready yet for regular play. Don't get me wrong, he did a remarkable job in SJ's absence, but SJ is the starter and should remain there unless he really runs into a bad stretch of form. 

Rafael Robayo should get his wish.

Guillermo Rivera does a great job covering the Fire over at Chicago Fire Confidential, and this article he posted about Rafael Robayo a few weeks back caught my attention. It made me a little bit angry, and made me hope that Frank stuck Robayo in the reserve squad until he can find a way out of town for him. I'll drive him to the airport myself. 

But, Frank didn't do that. He's given him three consecutive starts and a chance to prove himself. FAIL. Robayo simply doesn't look talented enough to fill in for Sebastian Grazzini or any of the other talented midfielders this club has. After last night, Robayo should be removed from first team action, and launched out of Chicago as soon as Frank can get a deal done.

Federico Puppo is not a professional soccer player.

I've said it. You've said it. Puppo is too small in both height and muscle to play professional soccer - anywhere. We've tried the Puppo experiment enough, haven't we? Sure, he brings speed to the club, but we have plenty of speed. We need some more height on set pieces (we can't always rely on Austin's head or Logan's back) and we need more players who don't present a huge drop off from the starting XI guys in the midfield. He should join Robayo on the bench until he can be moved, and he can hitch a ride with Robayo in my car to the airport.

Sebastian Grazzini is the key piece in the midfield.

We've seen it a couple times now. Grazzini is out of the match and the midfield has almost no creativity. He creates space with his moves on and off the ball. He can open up defenses with his passing ability, and he's not affraid to rip a shot from outside the box. Sure, he dives a lot, but he's one of the key players to this club moving forward. We need to get a long term deal in place for him, and make sure that we don't have to play without him very often.

Marco Pappa is making me a believer again.

I've been one of his biggest critics. And I don't know if it's the idea of a summer transfer that is making him play like a top midfielder again, or if he just has a new found energy playing alongside guys like Pavel and Seba, but I love what Pappa is doing right now. He's hit a great run of form and this midfield needs him in there with Seba to continue creating scoring opportunities. 

Is Chris Rolfe our savior?

During his first stint in red, Rolfe netted 36 MLS goals. However, the reason he only saw the back of the net 6 times and was limited to 35 appearances with Aalborg was because of injury problems. We were all elated to here that Rolfe was joining the club again earlier this year, but he's yet to see the field because of - wait for it - an injury. I'm going to hold back all excitement until he's fit and in form, and scoring goals again to help this team make a run toward MLS Cup playoffs. However, I will say that this club as it is constructed right now needs some more scoring options, and I love the idea of a Rolfe/Oduro pairing up top - or some combination of a 1-1 with Rolfe and Dom. 

Will Dominic Oduro continue to progress, or has he peaked?

When Dom got here last spring he had a reputation as one of the fastest guys in the league who couldn't finish near the goal. He came in and has netted 16 MLS goals for the Fire so far, but he seems to be a one trick pony. He uses his speed to blast past people and put himself in a position to score with no one around him. Other clubs are catching on and are finding ways to limit his effectiveness on the break. He needs to learn how to control the ball in and around the box, and score goals in traffic - or else we need to find another RELIABLE goal scoring option.

I'm so frustrated by what I see time and time again from this club. They have talent. They need to start playing better on a more consistent basis. They need to stop relying on giving up early goals to fire them up - pun intended. They need to come out, play hard and attack from the first whistle to the final whistle. With one or two more pieces (and Rolfe and Alex might be those pieces) this club could potentially make a run late in the season. Once you get to MLS Cup playoffs, anything can happen.  

Starting XI:

Dallas: Hartman, Loyd, John, Hedges, Benitez, Jackson, Marcelin, Jacobson, Hernandez (C), Leyva, Perez.

Chicago: Johnson, Gargan, Anibaba, Berry, Segares, Nyarko, Robayo, Grazzini, Pause (C), Pappa, Oduro.

Subs:

Dallas: Seitz, Guarda, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Sealy, Top, Ulloa

Chicago: Tornaghi, Jumper, Bone, Paladini, Pardo, Barouch, Puppo

Referee: Hilario Grajeda

Assistants: Peter Balciunas, Kevin Klinger

4th Official: Abiodun Okulaja

Overall Thoughts:

The first thing that jumps out right away is Robayo starting in place of Pardo.

It'll be interesting to see how Robayo handles himself with the opportunity to start and get some solid minutes.

Coming off the loss in Portland, the Fire need to get out to an early lead and build on it - no giving up the first goal, and no sitting back if they go ahead early.

The lineup has Patrick Nyarko listed in the midfield with a 4-5-1 lineup - no big surprise there.

It's time for the pregame pagentry, I'll check back in with you guys at halftime - make sure to follow along on Twitter if you're not at the park tonight.

Vitals:

Chicago Fire (3-2-2 11 pts) v. Real Salt Lake (7-3-1 22 pts) at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois.

May 9, 2012 7:30 PM CT

Referee: Jair Marrufo

Keys to the Match:

The Fire need to jump out early against the RSL backup keeper. Starter Nick Rimando couldn't make the trip to Chicago due to a knock so the Fire are catching a break in net - they need to capitalize on it.

Marco Pappa needs to continue his run of good form and who better to do it against than the team he scored a hat trick on last season?

If the Fire come out in the 4-5-1 formation that they featured on Friday at Chivas we should be in store for a fun, fast paced match.

Sean Johnson needs to build off of his solid performance at the weekend.

Prediction:

Of course, we don't want the night to be too special for CJ, so we'd love to come away with the full three points and put together a nice little run. This match is the middle in a 9 day, 3 match stretch that will see the Fire play both RSL and Sporting Kansas City, two of the powerhouse teams in MLS right now. 

Fresh off a stoppage time victory at Chivas on Friday, the Fire will come in looking to score early against RSL's second string keeper, Kyle Reynish. Scoring early is something the Fire have done fairly well this season, with 5 of their 9 goals coming before halftime. With the resurgence of Marco Pappa, and the ever present danger of Dominic Oduro, this club looks like they might be ready to make a push through the Eastern conference table. 

Rookie Austin Berry was one of the bright spots for the Fire on Friday. Making his first MLS appearance starting for the suspended Jalil Anibaba, Berry conceded a penalty that put Chivas up 1-0 fairly early on. Berry quickly rallied, netting his first MLS goal just two minutes later, and settled down into a fairly solid performance. There has been speculation that his strong play in the back on Friday might have earned him another spot in the starting XI tonight. 

The Fire moved from their traditional 4-4-2 lineup to a much more effective 4-5-1 type attack on Friday. The move seemed to give play-makers like Pappa and Sebastian Grazzini more room to roam the center of the pitch, while also bring Patrick Nyarko back to the wing, an area he is much more suited to play from - in my opinion. I'd like to see Klopas continue this 4-5-1 approach tonight and see if it will pay off with three points again. 

One thing to keep an eye on tonight will be the play of Sean Johnson. After a couple rough performances since returning from the Olympic heartbreak, Johnson stepped up and played well last week, only conceding on the Angel PK. There had been calls for Johnson to return to the bench and give rookie Paolo Tornaghi another crack, he had played exceptionally well in Johnson's absence. For now though, it seems as though Sean Johnson is still the starting GK for the Chicago Fire. 

Be sure to check back before kickoff as I will again be doing a quick pre-match from the press box with my keys to victory for the Chicago Fire tonight.