With the Concacaf Champions league final first leg last night I was wondering what trophy matters to Fire fans the most.

Of course they all matter but which one do you want the most?

MLS Supporter's Shield

Supporter’s Shield:  Winning the marathon that is the regular season the league is a difficult achievement and one that should be honored.  Hopefully MLS will start to put more emphasis on this trophy with a big celebration for the team that wins it right after the game they win it.  Think Bayern Munich celebration  from a few years ago with frauleins giving beer to the players who would then douse each other with it, the big confetti blast timed with the lifting and kissing of said trophy.  This also gives you the auto qualifying berth for Concacaf Champions League.

Concacaf Champions League

Tie: Concacaf Champions League; FIFA World Club Cup: Ruling your region to get to the FIFA World club cup would be damn awesome.  I do love the two leg final.  Letting the home fans for each team enjoy a piece of the final and bring their own passion and intensity really brings home the importance of the cup.  Plus imagine the glorious road trip you could have for that away game.  After that JAPAN!

US Open Cup

US Open Cup: This is an awesome competition that deserves better coverage from the press and better promotion from everyone involved.  The soccer history that this tournament is steeped in should be promoted and celebrated.  At some point someone is going to figure out how to make good TV money off this tournament.  FSC should really devote more coverage to it than it already gives it.  No TV last night for Dallas vs DC United play in game.  How sad.

MLS Cup

MLS Cup:  It is almost equal with the Supporter’s shield but just a step below because the playoff format is kind of silly.  Either do knockout games all the way around or do two legs all the way around.  Seriously do it right.  I would expect the league to go to a knockout games only when Portland and Vancouver join the league to accommodate 2 more regular season dates (I expect a single table by then since the league almost has one as it is).  Also if the league keeps the same amount of teams getting in the playoffs then it will begin to mean more as qualifying will be harder.

SuperLiga

SuperLiga: This tournament can be pretty fun.  I admit that this tournament could go away and I wouldn’t be to disappointed (provided more coverage and importance placed).  Yet I like it and am excited to go to games this summer.  Blanco playing in a tournament against FMF teams (including Santos who he was on loan with this summer) could be quite the spectacle.    Hopefully the Fire will lift that trophy.

Fire/Crew preview up tomorrow.

A hamstring problem.  Thanks Red Card for clearing that up.

Also SuperLiga schedule is due out soon.  I am excited for this.   Fuck you I like tournaments.

FootieBusiness:  An interview with KC Wizards VP of Marketing and Communication.  An interesting read.  The marketing or non marketing of the Fire is always a hot topic in fan circles.  This interview sheds some light on what one team is trying to do and their thought process behind it.

I thought the pub bit in the new stadium was interesting.  More interesting is what the VP thinks it is going to do for them.

Another older article from FootieBusiness regarding Houston’s marketing efforts.

I wonder what the Fire marketing team does.  They don’t seem to have a good grip on their fan base.  The big test of their abilities will be the Club America game.  This should be a sellout or something near a sellout (considering it is on a Wednesday night) it will probably end up being the biggest crowd of the year.  Other than getting  a handout at the game on Saturday I haven’t seen anything regarding this game happening.  I don’t live in Chicago but I am within a hour and a half drive of Bridgeview so why isn’t the area I live in being marketed at?  Where are their street teams trying to build interest?

I could go on and on but really fans of this team have heard it all before.

After taking a look at some game threads of the KC game it appears Justin Mapp missed the game do to being injured.  What was his injury?  No one knows.  Apparently he was sitting in the stands for the game.

Seriously that’s all I got.

Does anyone cover this team or ask any pertinent questions at the post game press conference?

So yeah…

80 minutes of dominating football followed by 10 minutes of total crap gives you a 2-2 draw at home.  This one will be difficult to get over.

Formation:

——————–McBride———————-

Pappa—————Blanco————Nyarko

———–Pause————–Thorrington—-

Segares—–Conde—-Soumary——Ward

————————Bush———————

At least this is how it appeared to me.  Blanco had freedom to roam and eventually was playing a second striker even sometimes a loan striker as McBride tracked back a bit more.  This formation really hid his lack of speed effectively and took advantage of his main skills: passing, strong dribbler in traffic, game IQ.  This formation worked awesome until the subs started coming in.

Player Reflections:

Blanco:  Looked spry early.  Was strong on the ball all game and was passing quite well.  His shot was a bit off tonight as evidenced by the wide open shot he had in the box that he skied over the cross bar.  He seems to have a very good on field chemistry with Pappa.   In the first half Blanco was all over the formation.  He could be found on the right and left wings as well as tracking back into the middle.  This really helped to hide his lack of pace as he was able to find spaces within the KC defense due to the tactics allowing him to be anywhere on the field. Tired in the 70th minute or so.  Should have been the first man subbed off but for some reason was not.  Still a very good performance from Blanco in his first start of the season.

McBride:  Scored the two goals tonight.  The first one was off an assist from a Blanco free kick and the second one he capitalized on a mistake by the KC defense.  Looked dangerous all night.  Was creating chances for his team mates that unfortunately were not capitalized on.  McBride’s conditioning is fantastic as he never tired.  The man of the match for the Fire.

Nyarko:  Was playing in the midfield as opposed to the second striker role he would normally occupy.  Made a couple of nice runs and played very good defense in the mid field.  Disrupted a lot of KC passing in and started Fire possession off of these disruptions.  Was the first person subbed off for Chris Rolfe.  This was perplexing.  He didn’t look tired and was playing defense as well as offense quite well.  I fully expected Blanco to be subbed off at this point but he wasn’t.  Still this was a good outing for Nyarko even if he didn’t have any particularly good chances at goal.

Pappa:  Took him a bit to get going.  His first touch during the beginning portion of the game was not good.  This improved throughout the game.  Began to combine well with Blanco on  the left wing.  Made a nice run but tried to do to much at the end instead of making the simple pass.  Not his best game of the season but he was still good.  Was the final player subbed off for the Fire.  Perplexing substitution as Pappa was one player who was actively pushing back at the KC defense during the last 10 minutes of the game.  His passing and ball control was helping to quell the KC push.  After he went off the game became tied almost immediately.

Thorrington:  Was playing as a second defensive midfielder next to Pause tonight.  Did his job well as you would expect.   Made some nice runs and got himself into some good positions late in the game offensively.  Thought he played an excellent first half.  He was disrupting a lot of KC offense and helping to ignite the Fire attack.  His second half play was not as good as his first.  He seemed to disappear from the game a bit but was still working hard.  This might have to do more with his teammates not finding him when he had made a good run.

Pause:  Looked to have a bit more energy in the first half than normal.  Worked well with Thorrington in the defensive midfield.  Got caught out of position a few times.   This was your standard Pause game.  I do not recall where his positioning was during the two goals scored by KC.

Ward:  A very good game marred by two mistakes.  1.  He fell on his ass during the build up to the first KC goal.  I thought this led directly to the goal since before he fell down he looked to be in good position to shut down the play like he had been doing throughout the game.  2.  Failed to make the simple obvious pass during a couple of nice runs during the end of the game when the Fire needed a goal to win.  Was trying to win the game by himself.  He has done this in every game I’ve seen him play so far this season.  Seems to be his Achilles heel.  Tries to do to much offensively when he pushes up.  Other than those two criticisms I thought he played another good game.  Looked to tire a bit at the end.

Soumary:  Had some shaky moments early in the game.  He seems to have a few of these moments with more frequency lately.  Seems to be playing much like the Soumary of ‘07 instead of ‘08.  Appeared to have gotten beat badly on the game tying goal by Josh Wolf.  From my perspective it looked like an own goal from Soumary.  At the game the goal was announced as a Wolf goal.  Was just OK throughout the rest of the game.  I’m beginning to wonder if Soumary’s form this season is what is ailing the Fire defense.

Conde:  Played his typical physical game.  Was over hitting his long ball attempts early but settled down.  Made some nice runs out of the back but probably made to many of them as he gassed in the final few minutes of the game.  One wonders if his sinus infection from last week affected his conditioning in this game.  I do not recall his position on the game tying goal.  The build up on that play did come from his side.  I’ll have to look at a replay to see exactly where he was.  Was given an assist on the second McBride goal.  I felt that was generous as it was more of  KC mistake that led to it than anything Conde’s ball into the box did.  Conde is also not on the form that he was last year in the middle of the season.  I’m beginning to wonder if not giving Lidier Marmol a shot this season was a mistake.

Segares: I thought he had a nice game.  Made some good runs, never appeared to be defensively beaten.  Did disappear at times throughout the game but I think that has more to do with the overall excellent play of the midfield and the formation played than anything else.

Bush:  Made a couple of good saves and the goals he was beaten on he didn’t really have a good chance to save them, in particular the second goal.  Bush is also not on the form he was last season but considering how awesome he was I don’t know how much you can complain.  This may have more to do with his centerbacks not being what they were last season.

Subs:

Rolfe:  Looked dangerous in the time that he was in the game.  Should have come on for Blanco instead of Nyarko.  First goal was scored immediately after he came on but at first look he didn’t have anything to do with that.  Had a shot pushed onto the post in the 90th minute by the KC keeper (who was great tonight).  Barely missed a header from a terrific McBride pass.  Hopefully he gets to starting soon because every time he is on the field he looks dangerous.

Washington:  Came on for Blanco.  Looked out of place at times.  Hesitated on the same play where Rolfe barely missed a header.  He could have a had a shot on goal as that cross into the box came through clean to where he should have been if he kept running at the far post.  Was not impressed with the 10 minutes he played.

Banner:  Came on for Pappa.  Game tying goal immediately scored after he came on.  Was also hesitating on passes from McBride in the dying minutes of the game.  Looked lost and out of sorts for the time he was in the game.  To be fair to him he only was on for 5 minutes but the team needed more out of him in that time frame.  Played worse than he normally does when he comes on as a sub.

Other game thoughts: This draw was quite the gift for KC as they looked like total shit for 80 minutes.  Right before they got their first goal they were busy kicking the ball out of bounds and giving away free corners.

Can anyone tell me what happened to Justin Mapp?  Not on the subs bench tonight.  Would have been the obvious replacement for Blanco instead of Washington.  Did he catch Conde’s sinus infection?

Central defense is becoming a concern.  Conde and Soumary look a bit out of sorts.  The primary backups, Dassan Robinson and C.J. Brown, haven’t looked good this season either.  Should we be in the market for a central defender?  Isn’t 3/4ths of MLS in the market for a central defender?

Next week is at Columbus.   The Fire really could use a win after this game.  Columbus hasn’t been lighting things up this season.  I should have a preview up sometime later this week.

Here comes the home opener!  I’m excited, your excited, lets get to the preview.

Red Bull:

Juan Carlos Osorio returns again.  Not that it means anything anymore.  Don’t get me wrong I enjoy watching him lose just as much as the next Fire fan but the ass beating they took at the end of last season really ended the Osorio “rivalry” for me.

The Red Bull have been built around speed.  They sure can run fast.  Unfortunately for them this hasn’t translated into any tangible results so far.  They look a bit lost and frankly seem to be playing without any pride.  I expect them to get better as the season goes on.  Osorio has proven to be a coach that gets results as the season moves on.  His ability to spot talent and add players remains to be seen.  This is his biggest test since becoming a coach in MLS.

Players:

Alfredo Pacheco was supposed to make his debut this weekend but has picked up a knock in the WCQ against the US.  Nobody really knows how serious it is.  Red Bulls Offside has the non definitive word on what is going on with him.

Albert Celades is supposed to make his debut against the Fire this weekend.  He should replace Sassano in the defensive mid position.  The Spaniard could make a big splash for the Red Bull.  It is hard to think that his first week in he will make a huge impact but he has been on trial and practicing with the team before he had to travel back to Spain to get his work visa.  He is only 33 years old and could end up being a great veteran find for the Red Bull and MLS.  Personally I’d like to see the league target more players like him in combination with signing guys like Freddy Montero to go along with the young US talent the league already has.  Of course how to do this is another post entirely.

From what I’ve seen Ubiparipovic has not been good so far this season.  Dominic Oduro is a possible replacement.

Juan Pablo Angel is the player that makes this team go.  If he is playing well Chicago could be in for a game where they need to score 3 goals to win.  Of course he does need quality service to do that and he hasn’t been getting it.  No wonder Red Bull fans want Ubiparipovic replaced in the starting lineup.

Still this looks to be the possible lineup:

———-Angel—Kandji————-

-Smith—–Ubiparipovic—-Richards-

————Celades—————-

Borman—-Petke-Mendes——Hall

————Cepero——————

Fire:

It has been an interesting first two weeks for the Fire.  Quauhtemoc Blanco and Chris Rolfe haven’t started either game.  Both have come on late in the game as substitutes and have had impact.  Of course this makes you wonder if both were fit to play the full 90 or at least a half in last weeks game.

If anything last weeks game showed how much the Fire need a good play maker up the field.  The team was playing long ball for almost all of the first half and some of the second.  When Blanco came in he slowed things down but kept the ball on the ground and helped create some offensive cohesion that led to Chris Rolfe’s terrific shot on goal near the end of the game.  If only we could have gotten more of that we might have gotten a win and a pristine 6 point start on the road.  Instead we ended up with 4 points on the road which I’ll take but this team shouldn’t be dropping winnable points on the road already.

Players:

Will Blanco and Rolfe start this weekend?  All signs point to yes but info is almost impossible to come by with this team.  Seriously look at their official blog sometime and tell me that it isn’t a corny hack job aimed at the casual fan (the Fire doesn’t have casual fans).  The Red Card has been busy covering the Nats this week which leaves me to scout forums to see what I can find.  Which of course resulted in a big fat nothing.  Seriously no one knows anything as of right now.  I’m guessing they both start.

At this point everyone appears to be healthy.

Segares and Soumare are both back from international duty and should play in this game.  No confirmation on this other than that both have returned and are in Chicago.  Really that should be all the information you need to know to deduce that they are going to start.

So what is going to be the lineup?  My best guess is below.

——-McBride—–Rolfe————–

—————–Blanco——————

Mapp—————————–Pappa

————–Pause———————–

Segares–Conde–Soumare–Prideaux

——————-Bush——————–

I find it hard to believe that Thorington isn’t going to start and really would like to slot him in for Pause.  He could start for Pappa or Mapp which is more likely to happen than to start for Pause.  It is difficult to bench Nyarko as well but considering Blanco is out for the US Cup run this year I would play him as much as possible during the regular season (lets face it he will play the majority of Super Liga games as well) so putting Nyarko on the subs bench for the beginning of the season isn’t terrible since you would expect him to start all of the US Open Cup games.  Dasan Robinson could get some burn this week as well instead of Prideaux or Ward.  It is difficult trying to predict who is going to start weekly for this team considering their depth.

Prediction:

The Red Bull doesn’t have its preferred lineup together yet.  They still having missing players who have yet to make it into camp, debuting, or injured.

Fire should win this game 2-0 but the defence has been a bit shaky to start the season.  One would expect it to get up to speed this week facing an offensively shaky Red Bull and having its full back line together again.

Here is my announcement to all of my non readers that this blog will now be focused on covering the Chicago Fire.  I’m doing this for two reasons: 1. There aren’t really any fan blogs around covering the Fire so I thought I’d try my hand at it.  2. This should make me post more stuff which is my goal.

We also now have a domain name.  You can get here by going to flyinguillotine.com. I’m trying to be all professional and such.

Article wise I am looking to publish game previews, game reviews, link news dumps, opinion pieces and assorted wackiness.

This might actually end up being decent.  Who knows.

I had the unfortunate chance to turn to the Eagles/Giants game this afternoon for about five minutes.  The game was over.  The Eagles were up by two scores with 3 minutes to go.  Donovan McNabb makes a nice little run over to the Giant sidelines where after the run is over he picks up one of their phones, pretends to talk into it, and then hangs it up.  Fucking hilarious.  Seriously this qualifies as high brow entertainment during an NFL game.  Opposition QB talking on the phone to enemy coordinators breaks all barriers for humor of a normal broadcast.  Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the other hand thought this was “silly” and “uncalled for” and said it in the most parental tones imaginable.  If these fuckers could only here me talking in parental tones about their horrific announcing perhaps they could know what I feel when I have to listen to this shit.

I'm on your phone telling your coordinators how much they suck

One can only imagine having to be related to Joe Buck.  NO FUN ALLOWED MOTHER FUCKERS.  Of course he wouldn’t say mother fucker because he is a prim and proper man who would never utter such filth casually.  He probably would say “NO FUN ALLOWED SLAMMA LAMMA DING DONG!” because all prim and proper folk reference their own commercials whenever possible.

From True Hoop this morning regarding Keyon Dooling being booed by the home fans after he missed a free throw after which he raised his hands indicating he wanted more booing, then hit the second free throw and then promptly drained a three pointer after which he booed himself.  Sounds like awesome entertainment to me but Henry disagrees:

To my way of thinking, fans would cheer more than anything for a player who kept his mouth closed, played his butt off, and won some games.

Keyon made a few comments after the game basically saying he wanted fans to cheer since they were at home and he was frustrated by things.  This really should be a non story or one of those funny things that happens during games.  At least Keyon shows that he cares about what happens.  Not to mention the damn booing worked.  It motivated him to play harder.  The sentiment that he would get cheered if he was a robot on and off the court bothers me.  Remember if your an athlete you don’t ever get to say anything.  You are there only for your athletic abilities.  Your thoughts and emotions are better off not heard.  At least that’s what Henry Abott thinks now.  Henry used to be an interesting voice in the world of Basketball.  Now he sounds just like everyone else at ESPN.

Kyle Baker brings the heat regarding the fan response to Frank Miller’s adaptation of the Spirit to film.

Eddie Curry to Portland? Portland desperate for a big man?  What?!?  Possible 12 man deal between three teams?  The internet rumor mill has outdone itself.  Plus I’m sure this works all under the Realgm trade checker.  It has to.

Here is where I link to Christopher Bird’s site MightyGodKing and his posts of what was awesome and what sucked for 2008.  I question his inclusion of the Battlestar board game within his things that were great for 08 post.  I was part of the Beta testing and frankly thought the game sucked.  Of course the last beta could have been different from the version that was released and I haven’t played it for obvious reasons.  Still it was to easy for the humans to beat the cylons.

On a personal note I’ve just discovered and installed Open Suse 11.1 KDE style.  My first impression is that it rocks.  I’ll have more on that later I’m sure.

Over at Drawn! they have posted the YouTube video of Dina Babbitt who drew art of Gypsy prisoners for Joseph Mengele to gain her freedom from Auschwitz during WWII.  She now wants her paintings back.  Powerful story.

The Basketball Jones is awesome and if you like the NBA you should watch everyday.

FiveThirtyEight.com with a sweet Fire Joe Morgan style rebuttal of a Wall Street Journal editorial about the Minnesota senatorial election.

Bob Boozer Jinx with a recap of last night’s Bucks win over the Raptors.  This was huge for the Bucks.  No Andrew Bogut and they managed to win.  That hasn’t happened all season.

NIN made some nice money on their digital release of the Ghosts I-IV instrumental album.  Of course they are a big name in the music industry but its not like Trent Reznor is Elton John or Madonna.  I think there is a lot of money to be made by artists selling their music digitally.  The thing to figure out is how to get noticed so people will buy your stuff.  If I was an upcoming musician there is no way in hell I would sign with a label.  Own your ideas people and make the money yourself.

Gary Shilling who was one of the handful of financial analysts to get this year’s issues correct has advice for 2009 on what to do.    Via Clusterstock.

That’s all for today.