Chicago Fire News Archives

Image courtesy of the Chicago Fire and Major League Soccer.

Last year, Major League Soccer welcomed David Beckham amidst significant mainstream media coverage in North America. Another player who joined the growing league in 2007, although with less fanfare, was a legend of Mexican football: Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo. Many believe that he had much more of an impact than Beckham’s injury-plagued campaign.

He began a stellar career with his childhood side, Club América, of Mexico City. Since 1995, he has represented his country at two World Cups, along with several other prestigious international competitions. Until 2007, with the exception of two years in Spain, Cuauhtémoc had spent his entire professional career in the Mexican Football League.

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This is the moment North American soccer fans have been waiting for; the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final is here. However, with more exciting MLS action coming up this weekend, Americans are spoiled for choice as we creep closer to summer.

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Although there are two teams (San Jose and New York) that have only played two matches, this will be the first review in which I publish the Major League Soccer table, and this season there are some surprises early on. In fact, what I predicted to be a weekend of matches that are nothing special turned out to be a very exciting weekend of big teams losing to supposedly weaker opposition yet again. Welcome to the MLS.

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Major League Soccer’s second week kicked off on Thursday, with two matches, and finished with five more at the weekend. Also, CONCACAF Champions Cup semi final action took place in Pachuca, Mexico, and Houston, Texas.

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This was a week of surprises for the MLS. Opening weekend, officially known as MLS First Kick 2008, was riddled with surprise results and courageous showings by supposedly inferior sides.

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Soccer season in the USA is almost here. We’ve had some exciting times already, with both DC United and Houston Dynamo advancing to the semi finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Los Angeles Galaxy completing successful tours of Australia/New Zealand and Asia, FC Dallas traveling to Brazil, and the United States U-23 team qualifying for the Beijing Olympics later this summer after missing out on Athens in 2004.

On to the first set of fixtures this weekend:

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The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! The 2008 Major League Soccer season is upon us. Here are a few things to look out for this season:

• David Beckham makes his second go-around with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
• Stars Juan Pablo Angel and Cuauhtéhmoc Blanco look to continue their great form from the 2007 season.
• The return of the San Jose Earthquakes gives the Bay Area another lease on soccer life.
• The dominant University of California, Santa Barbara senior class comes to the MLS from the SuperDraft.
• The MLS 2008 Kits.

As usual, at the end of the season, Major League Soccer will deliberate over a number of awards, along with the silverware that the deserving teams will carry away. I have predicted who will win the ones that arouse my interest:

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2007 review

The Chicago Fire’s 2007 season was very even in all aspects. A goal difference of just about zero (-5) and a 10 win, 10 draw, 10 loss record found them in fourth place in the East and seventh in the league – both right in the middle of the table. They made it to the Conference Final/MLS Cup Semi Final before being ousted by a Taylor Twellman bicycle kick, losing 1-0 to New England.

Their US Open Cup run was short-lived, losing in the third round (their first match) to the Carolina Railhawks of USL-1, the US second division. In their friendlies, they drew with Celtic 1-1 and beat Cracovia Kraków of Poland 1-0.

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Last month, I wrote a brief article about the humanitarian efforts of a MLS player, Diego Gutierrez, a midfielder who plays for the Chicago Fire.

Mr. Gutierrez, who is a native of Bogotá, Colombia, is the spokesman for a very interesting cause called Nothing But Nets. This charity was formed to help alleviate the spread and suffering of malaria on the African continent. He helped to raise over US $400,000 to provide insect nets that cover beds. This simple yet effective remedy has saved many lives. For the small sum of $10 per net, millions of people will benefit from this important project.

Recently, he and his wife, Ginna, made a trip to Mali, along with another MLS star, Dwayne DeRosario of the Houston Dynamo, to lend their efforts to MLS W.O.R.K.S. As we will learn during the interview, they observed the distribution of over 2 million nets.

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Image courtesy of Nothing But Nets.

In a story discussed a few days ago by Steve Goff of the Washington Post and Soccer Insider, Diego Gutierrez of the Chicago Fire was named Major League Soccer (MLS) Humanitarian of the Year.

Mr. Gutierrez, who is a native of Bogota, Colombia, is the spokesman for a very interesting cause called Nothing But Nets. This charity was formed to help alleviate the spread and suffering of malaria on the African continent. He helped to raise over US $400,000 to provide insect nets that cover beds. This simple yet effective remedy has saved many lives.

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