Chicago ended the year as potentially the best non-playoff team in MLS.  They caught “fire” and had a winning record for the final third of the season, almost stealing the tenth playoff spot from New York.  The same team that set the MLS record for draws in a season (which they tied with NY) gave interim head coach Frank Klopas the full time job this offseason based on their excellent finish.  Dominic Oduro finally lived up to his promised to finish with double digit goals while newcomers Sebastian Grazzini and Pavel Pardo were veritable finds.  Looking forward to 2012, the team looks like it could make a jump in the standings if it can carry over the momentum.

What do the Fire need to do to make the playoffs in 2012?  Chicago is up next in our “3 Questions” series.

1. Who will Klopas bring back from his European scouting trip?

Frank Klopas made a highly-publicized trip to Europe a few weeks back to search for, in his words, a midfielder and a striker.  He was looking for another forward to pair up front with Dominic Oduro as well as build a working relationship with La Liga’s Atletico Madrid.  This is a critical trip, as his depth up front may be thinner than when he left.  Diego Chaves has been in the media saying that he wants out and, while he underperformed last season, he was at least a viable threat up front.  Israeli youngster Orr Barouch was signed away from his Israeli club but he is not yet an every day performer that the team needs to make that next step.  Patrick Nyarko is more of a wing player and not as much a compliment to Oduro.  Kheli Dube, selected in the Re-Entry Draft, is depth and not a full-time starter.

The rumors have been flying about potential names, and the name(s) Klopas can come up with will be critical to this team’s success.  If they can find another forward or CAM to fit Klopas’ system, this could be a very dangerous team.

2. Sean Johnson: will he be a better keeper for the Fire in December 2012 than he was in December 2011?

There are two parts to this question.  The first is: will Sean Johnson be with the Fire next year?  He’s training with Everton currently and, while the Toffees have a decent keeper you may have heard of, Johnson may catch the eye of a European club looking for a new long-term solution in net.  This is however the curse of an MLS team with young talent.

The bigger question is whether he takes the next step and becomes a dominant MLS keeper.  Like DC’s Bill Hamid, Johnson has all of the tools to be the next great keeper but needs to improve his decision-making and leadership.  With the call-up to the national team, he certainly will be able to train with the best America has to offer and should be a much more polished keeper this time next season.  At least Fire fans should hope so.

They have no choice.  Their back-up is Jay Nolly.

3. Can the Fire recreate the magic of August and September 2011?

Luck was a lady dating the Fire last year.  Oduro finally began converting those chances he created, and Nyarko and Barouch grew up.  The overseas midseason acquisitions performed as well as could be expected.  Even the interim coach who had never been a head coach at the MLS level before made all the right moves.  The question this offseason is can Chicago retain the magic that made that run possible.  Can they acquire the right players without upsetting the balance of personalities?

More importantly, can they keep the joyous play they maintained last season? After their shocking 2-1 victory at DC United last year, I went to the locker room to interview Frank Klopas, and the atmosphere went beyond happy about a win.  It was CYO level of fun, just plain joy with the game.  This joy, this fun with the game, is hard to maintain over a season but to capture a little of it at key times will help Chicago make a run in the playoffs.

In the long history between these two teams (winners of the first five MLS Cups), there has never been an ending quite like this.  The Chicago Fired dealt DC United’s playoff chances a major blow while keeping themselves alive for a late playoff run by scoring two second half stoppage time goals to stun DCU 2-1.

Most of the action in this match took place late in the second half.  For most of the game DC aggressively probed the Fire defense for a goal, knowing they needed to win to take advantage of the New York and Portland losses. Despite creating a few good chances, DC had no shots on goal in the first half. Chicago, meantime, was content to sit back and hit DC on the counter, a strategy which almost paid off late in the first half. A Marco Pappa strike was bobbled by DC’s Bill Hamid but he recovered to prevent the follow-up shot.  The second half saw both teams have periods of dominance, but as it dragged towards the finish line the sense in the stadium was that one mistake could be the difference.

On a normal night, one mistake would have.  Santino Quaranta was taken down in the box in the 90th minute and Dwayne De Rosario converted the penalty to break the scoreless tie.  DC players had gone down in the box all night, so to them the penalty seemed like poetic justice.  However, almost immediately after the goal, things fell apart.  The DCU defense, which had overall played pretty well, gave Sebastian Grazzini some space and allowed him to score on a rocket in the 92nd minute.  Less then two minutes later, it was deja vu all over again as Gonzalo Segares, who had committed the penalty on Quaranta, beat an offside trap and used his yards of free space to send in a perfect cross from the left, finding Diego Chaves at the back post.  The replay above shows that Perry Kitchen kept Segares onside while the rest of the defense settled in hoping for an offsides flag.

“You kind feel bad, a little bit for [DC United], but that’s how the game is,” said Chicago manager Frank Klopas after the game in a boisterous lockerroom.  ”For us, it was a great comeback and a great feeling… for our guys.”

The win keeps Chicago’s small playoff chances on life support.  They need to win their final game and hope New York loses theirs by a lot.  Regardless, this is the kind of win that can give a team and fans some positive vibes heading into the offseason.  It’s hard not to see a sense of excitement about a team that was a finalist for the U.S. Open Cup and made a late playoff run after firing its manager midseason.

On the other side of the pitch is DC United, a team that had its playoff destiny in its own hands.  It had a favorable schedule and games in hand.  Now, with two games this upcoming week, they join Chicago on playoff life support.  They need to beat Portland on Wednesday and Sporting Kansas City Saturday, then hope that New York, Chicago, and Portland lose out (note: the great DC scribe Martin Shatzer breaks down DC’s playoff chances better than I do).  Not impossible, but the play of the team of late doesn’t suggest this team is making a run.  The team has lost its last four games, including to lowly Vancouver, and would need to win back-to-back games for the first time since 2009 to even think about the playoffs.  It’ll be an interesting last week, and this game made it even more interesting.

The Seattle Sounders won a thrilling 2-0 victory in last night’s U.S. Open Cup as the Sounders have now won three straight Open Cup trophies.  Their opponents, the Chicago Fire, failed to become only the third team ever to win the Cup five times.  The first goal came in the 77th minute and Chicago had some good chances to equalize before Seattle sealed the victory in stoppage time.

In celebration of Seattle’s historic win, here is a video of maybe the best press conference celebration ever.  The comments section is open to discuss the match and what Seattle’s win means for the rest of the MLS season.  Enjoy!

Photo by Daveblog

In the land of draws, the Chicago Fire are kings.

Last night, La Maquina Roja looked well on their way to their third win of the season after dominating DC United at home for about 70 minutes. Sebastian Grazzini had given the home side the lead early in the second half and United’s attack looked spent.  However, two second half substitutions by DC coach Ben Olsen turned the game as the visitors were able to grab a goal and hold on for a point, etching Chicago’s name in the record books.  The draw was Chicago’s fifteenth on the year (out of 24 matches), setting an MLS record for most ties in a season.

Both teams are original MLS franchises and have a healthy rivalry, so the game was electric from the start.  The 15,000 plus at Toyota Park witnessed their team get off to a quick start with Dominic Oduru consistently getting behind the DC defense and setting up some quality scoring chances.  But, in a statement that I could cut and paste repeatedly for the description of this game, Oduru could not finish his shots and failed to take advantage of the space he created.  As such, Chicago abused the DC defense but failed to score any early goals.  Also hindering their efforts was the solid play of DC keeper Bill Hamid, who made a great save on Marco Pappa in the 30th minute and was a solid presence in net.  However, in the final seconds of the first half, Hamid strained his hamstring on a free kick and was forced to leave the game at halftime.

Grazzini made DC pay in the 59th minute and finally scored after so many chances.  Patrick Nyarko beat Dejan Jakovic on the right and sent in a cross that Daniel Woolard couldn’t clear.  Grazzini had no such troubles and sent a shot that went off backup keeper Steve Cronin’s hands and into the net.

To start the match, Ben Olsen had made the curious decision to start midfielder Steve King atop his midfield diamond instead of Santino Quaranta, who had been playing well of late.  Olsen, seeing the need for a change of pace, made this switch in the 71st minute and two minutes later it paid off.  DC had begun to threaten the Chicago defense after Sean Johnson had basically been able to lounge in the first half, when MVP candidate Dwayne De Rosario found Quaranta atop the Chicago box.  The midfielder made a pass over the top to second half sub Josh Wolff (who had come on earlier for an ineffective Charlie Davies) and Wolff sent a rocket to the top of the net for DC’s only shot on goal and only goal.  Replays showed Wolff was likely a step offside but it was a very close play.

The result for the Fire was another draw and devastation.  Chicago dominated the match, outshooting DC 14-6 and they looked like they were on their way to only their third victory of the season.  They were undone by absolutely atrocious finishing in the first half and poor defensive attention in the second, a combination Fire fans have seen over and over.  Even with nemesis Hamid out of the net in the second half, the Fire had really only a few scoring chances and failed to definitely put DC away.  This one will sting for a while.

DC, on the other hand, has to be happy with the result.  After being dominated for most of the match, they get a valuable point and move into a tie with New York for fifth in the East.  A win against Kansas City on Sunday could move them up to third in the conference, and they still have games in hand against most of the teams ahead of them.  But there were two troubling results from this game for DC.  The first is the health of Bill Hamid; he was in serious pain after the first half and does not look like he will play Sunday.  Cronin, who has been erratic at best, now looks to be the starter in a very critical match against KC.  The second troubling issue is the disappearance of Charlie Davies.  The forward was absent most of the sixty minutes he was on the pitch and the few times he got himself into scoring position, he could not do anything productive with the ball.  Either his confidence or an unseen physical ailment is hindering him, and either is a major concern for DC.

Going into the MLS regular season and CONCACAF Champions League games last night, American soccer fans knew it was going to be an interesting night.  The CCL matches would determine who would advance to the group stage while the three MLS games had major playoff implications.  However, even I was unprepared for the intense level of play and implications that came out of the games last night.  For those otherwise occupied or who may have missed some of the action, here is a quick recap of the games from yesterday:

FC Dallas 1, Alianza 0: Congratulations to FC Dallas for their first trip ever to the CCL group stage, although Mother Nature was the twelfth (wo)man on the pitch for them last night.  The game-time temperature stood at 107 degrees and the Salvadoran side did not handle the temperatures well.  Their task was made even harder by the fact that they needed to overcome a 1-0 deficit and the Dallas away goal lead.  Ugo Ihemelu scored the game’s only goal on a 36th minute header off a corner kick.  The outstanding statistic is that Dallas had almost 75% possession in the match.

Sporting Kansas City 2, Real Salt Lake 0: With their glut of home games remaining, it is time to talk about SKC as a playoff contender.  The home team took it to RSL early and were rewarded with two first half goals from Roger Espinoza (29th) and Teal Bunbury (34th).  Even more amazing than the early lead was the fact that Sporting KC held it with ten men for almost forty minutes in the second half.  Espinoza was sent off in the 57th minute for a tackle on Beckerman, but RSL couldn’t mount much of a challenge.  The unbeaten streak now stands at 14 games.

Chicago Fire 1, Philadelphia Union 1: The Chicago Fire started both of their new midfielders tonight and the move paid off as the team got a point off playoff contender Philadelphia.  Sebastian Grazzini was a threat in the first half and almost scored in the 10th minute.  However it would be the Union’s Veljko Paunovic who struck first in the 35th minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.  The Fire’s other newcomer, Pavel Pardo, equalized in the 54th minute by intercepting a Union clearance in the box.

Seattle Sounders 2, San Francisco 0: The man of this match statistically was los Monjes keeper Miguel Torres who made 12 saves and saw 35 total shots from Seattle.  But the true man of the match was Nate Jaqua who scored in the 98th minute to give the Sounders a 2-1 win.  Alvaro Fernandez scored the critical first goal in the 41st minute and the Panamanian visitors seemed content to play defense and try to hit on the counter in the second half.  Five MLS teams have now advanced to the CCL group stage.

Portland Timbers 3, Los Angeles Galaxy 0: While the Sporting KC streak continued, the Galaxy’s ended with a thump.  Even without Jack Jewsbury, the Timbers looked in control early.  Mike Chabala got the scoring started in the 26th minute on a little back-and-forth with Darlington Nagbe.  Jorge Plaza added a second goal on a sliding shot 33rd minute while Eric Brunner slammed the door shut in the 68th minute.  The Timbers successfully negated the Galaxy midfield and limited the Galaxy’s attack for most of the match.

Photo by LA Galaxy

For American soccer fans, we are entering a frantic month of soccer.  In addition to our normal MLS action, we will have the chance to see the Gold Cup and an impressive friendly against Spain.  With the action spread out across the U.S., this may be the most soccer saturated this country has been since the 1994 World Cup – cities across the country even without MLS teams will get to see the beautiful game at a high level.

This has been a busy week in U.S. soccer, and below are some of the stories and topics we have yet to touch on this week.

• Of course the big news is the firing of two coaches, Carlos de los Cobos of the Fire and Teitur Thordarson of the Whitecaps.  Chicago Fire Confidential does a great job summarizing the takeover by Frank Klopas in Chicago, as well as details on how it went down, while Vancouver Whitecaps FC blog give a fans perspective on the Thordarson era.  Soccer America has a profile of new Whitecaps head coach Tom Soehn.
• Some good news for Colorado fans potentially – Omar Cummings has requested and received a dismissal from the Jamaican national team to continue healing from his injuries, while Tyrone Marshall has also asked for a dismissal during the group stage to help Colorado’s depth.  Great news for the Rapids, as both players are now under the watchful eyes of the team.
• Hans Backe was named head coach of the MLS All Stars, who will take on Manchester United on July 27 at Red Bulls Arena.
• A U.S. national has been released by his British club and is looking for work.  Will we see Marcus Hahnemann in an MLS shirt this summer, or will he wait for his beloved Seattle to have a spot for him?
• Is Pachuca America’s team?  After trading away Herculez Gomes, the team is allegedly in talks with DaMarcus Beasely.
• If you know me you know my love of Freddy Adu, and this is a great interview about his career to this point.
• And finally, who says the U.S. doesn’t love soccer?  These TV numbers prove otherwise.

Seven or eight games into the season and teams begin to take a hard look at their position at the table.  It’s still too early to declare teams out of the race especially with a 34 game schedule, but the table is beginning to shake out and as the next few weeks go by, teams that are underachieving find themselves farther and farther away from the playoffs or their team’s preseason goals.  At this point, management takes a hard look at the head coach and tries to figure out if a new man would make a difference and inspire the team to go on a run.

So today let’s take a look at five head coaches who are starting to feel a little warm on the bench and should either be thinking about updating their resume or shaking up the lineup.  Managers are ranked in order of how close they are to being unemployed by their current club, but feel free to vote in the poll and share your thoughts in the comments section:

5. Robert Warzycha, Columbus Crew: Early in the year, the heat was rising around Sigi Schmid’s former assistant as Warzycha had no place for Robbie Rogers, lost in the CONCACAF Champions League and looked impotent early in the season.  A team record shutout streak and a nice undefeated streak later, the heat has been turned down immensely on Warzycha.  Yet the team is walking a fine line – they are tied for the second fewest goals scored this year and their offense is still not clicking 100%.  Adrés Mendoza is still not playing up to his DP contract and if the team’s defense falters, this team could find themselves sliding down the standings.  For a franchise with such a storied history in a conference with only one dominant team, that would be unacceptable, so Warzycha is walking a fine line.

4.  Steve Nicol, New England Revolution: The Liverpool legend and once-future USMNT head coach is someone I think could make the jump to England and manage a top-flight side in the near future.  But currently his seat in Foxborough is getting a little toasty.  The Revs are a team that have seen tough times in recent years after a great run in the beginning of last decade.  With the addition of Benny Feilhaber, a scoring threat the team was seeking since the beginning of the season, they have the talent to compete for one of the three automatic playoff spots.  But remember this team went through the process of a rebuild at the beginning of the year, and if they begin to falter management may begin to look in a new direction.

3.  Peter Vermes, Sporting Kansas City: There are plenty of excuses for Sporting KC’s struggles, beginning with their extended road trip and obvious rebuilding effort.  But don’t let the excuses cloud the way this team is playing right now – they have given up the third highest number of goals and have vacillated between terrible defense with potent offense and stout defense with lacking offense.  Vermes is one of the new wave of MLS coaches who were the league’s first stars, and he may be one of the first ones to learn that being on the bench may come with more pressure than being on the field.

2. Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes: The former MLS Coach of the Year is hitting hard times this season.  Arguably a goal away from making the finals last year, the ‘Quakes have stumbled badly this year.  Their offense is weak even with Wondo (they’ve scored the second fewest goals) and their last three results are arguably all bad losses (blown out by New York, beaten at home by Chivas, and 1-0 loss to 10-man Philadelphia).  This team looks disorganized and it may take a new direction to right the ship.

1.  Carlos de los Cobos, Chicago Fire: This is only the Mexican head coach’s second season, but the Fire are not showing any signs of hope.  Last season they finished fourth in a weak East and this season, despite a quick start, they have begun a slide down the standings.  The backline is reorganized practically every game, the team scores but leaks goals like a sieve, and there is no direction to the franchise.  If Chicago can’t get results in their next two very winnable games, de los Cobos may be the first manager let go.

For your viewing pleasure, above is the video of Juan Agudelo scoring the goal of the year so far in Major League Soccer. Every time there is a story or interview saying Americans should temper their enthusiasm for him and hold off on predicting greatness, he does stuff like this. Enjoy him while you can MLS fans.

Now for the roundup of what else happened this week:

• The Benny Feilhaber drama has ended for now with the midfielder claimed by New England after Chivas and Philadelphia passed on his rights. He was not traded to Houston, as was the rumor, and it looks like Shalrie Joseph will drop to a more holding role to make room for Feilhaber.
• The Chicago Fire are shuffling their lineup again, according to MLSsoccer.com.  Can’t say that’s incredibly surprising.
• Coach Wilmer Cabrera has made his call-ups to begin training for the U-17 World Cup in Mexico.  These are the type of players where you print out the list, wait four years, then go back and take a second look to judge how good of a team it is, based on where some of the players have gone.
• ESPN as part of their “money” issue of their magazine broke out a list of the top paid U.S. soccer players playing overseas (defined to include players with dual citizenship).  The entire list is behind their pay wall, but the top five are not surprising although the order may be: Brad Friedel, Oguchi Onyewu, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, and Giuseppe Rossi.  Want to know why Freddy Adu hasn’t returned to the U.S.? He makes close to $900,000 on his current contract.
• And finally, let’s hope the Lamr Hunt U.S. Open Cup winners celebrate more successfully than this.

From mlssoccer.com

Just weeks before the beginning of the season, MLS yesterday finally released its playoff format for the 2011 season.  As dreaded, it will include 10 of the 18 MLS teams, and officials acknowledged the number could change as more teams join MLS.  As for the current structure, the playoffs will go as such:

• The top three finishers in each conference will qualify for the playoffs.
• The four teams outside the top three in each conference who have the best records will qualify for the playoffs as wild cards.  This is regardless of conference affiliation.
• In the first round, the wild card with the best record will take on the wild card with the worst, and the other two will face off in the second first round matchup.  The format is single game at the higher seed’s home field.
• The conference semifinals will pit the remaining wild card team with the lowest record with the Supporter’s Shield winner.  The other wild card will face the top seed in the other conference, while the second and third seeds in each conference will play.  The semifinals will be a home-and-home series.
• The winners of the semifinals will face each other in a game at the highest remaining seed’s home field.  The winners of each conference final will face off in the MLS Cup.
• No dates have been anounced for the playoffs.

So if the current playoff structure were in place last season, Seattle would have hosted Chicago and Colorado would have hosted San Jose in the wild card round.  Assuming the top seeds would have won (for the sake of the example), Seattle would have faced Los Angeles in the Western Conference semifinals (while Real Salt Lake and Dallas would have faced off) and Colorado would have played New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals (while Columbus would have played Kansas City).

My initial thought upon seeing the bracket is that this is the best MLS could have done if wedded to the idea of a 10 team playoff. The structure rewards success in the regular season by having the teams with the best records face opponents who had played more recently.  I think having the conference semifinals as home-and-home with the other rounds are single games is very odd, and I think MLS should just go to single matches for the playoffs, although that would hurt some teams’ gates.

The big winner in this format however are the conferences.  If you were a single-table proponent the format shows that at least for the near future MLS has no plans to deviate from the conference structure.  In fact, playing well within your conference is a reward, as it allows you to compare yourself just with the other nine teams in your conference for the playoff race, instead of last season when you had to do well not only in-conference but in a combined table to qualify for the playoffs.

The other big winner in the short term is the Eastern Conference.  This playoff structure allows a pretty good team a good chance to make a run at the MLS Cup.  It is universally acknowledged that New York is the heavy favorite to win the East, but take a team like Philadelphia.  The Union have good enough talent to be one of the better teams in the East this season, but still have enough glaring holes that, if they were in the West, they would probably finish outside the top four.  In this playoff structure, they have a good shot at the two seed in the East, where they can play another pretty good Eastern Conference team.  If they win, they move on to face New York most likely, not an easy task.  But New York could be facing a team like Seattle in the semifinals and have a better chance of being upset.  If Philadelphia wins the conference final, they are one more win away from an MLS Cup.  Can’t happen?  How is that path different than Colorado’s last year?

But what do you think about the playoff structure, and is it as big an advantage to Eastern Conference teams as I think?

Photo by SGFsoccer

Team: Chicago Fire
Coach: Carlos de la Cobos
Last Year’s Finish: 4th Eastern Conference, 10th Overall, 9-9-12

Last year’s Chicago Fire were going through a transition regardless of the tumultuous offseason they’ve had.  With the retirement of U.S. legend Brian McBride and MLS veteran C.J. Brown, the team would have had to adjust without its legends.  But management, seeing a mid-table finish in a weak Eastern Conference, decided a rebuild was in order and jettisoned some of its bigger (read: more expensive) names.  To replaces the likes of Freddie Ljungberg and Collins Johns, the team has turned to some international signings and a youth movement.  In an Eastern Conference that is again weak this year, even a rebuilt Chicago team could be a playoff contender again.

Key Roster Additions: To fill the role of veteran leader, the Fire picked up Cory Gibbs in the re-entry draft.  The defender not only will likely start on the backline but can help young keeper Sean Johnson reduce the 38 goals allowed last season.  To score some goals, Chicago turned to Uruguay and signed two forwards: Gaston Puerari and Diego Chaves.  The two were teammates at Motevideo Wanderers in 2009, so their familiarity should help coordinate the Fire’s attack.  Both have scored consistently in their domestic leagues and it behooves Chicago that they do so in the U.S.  An under-the-radar trade brings Jon Conway over from Toronto as a stable and veteran backup keeper to young Sean Johnson.

Key Roster Subtractions: Brian McBride’s leadership and veteran presence will be hard to replace, no doubt.  He finished last season with six goals and four assists.  In the case of addition by subtraction, Freddie Ljungberg made the highly-publicized move to Celtic this offseason after his contract expired.  His impact was not quite as expected so hopefully Chicago can put the money to better use.  Same for Collins John – another pedigreed international who just didn’t adjust to MLS.

Projected Starters: A guaranteed starter is Sean Johnson, who caught Bob Bradley’s attention and was invited to “Camp Cupcake” last month.  He looks to be another in the long-line of overseas-quality American keepers.  The backline will be renovated with C.J. Brown’s retirement.  Gibbs is almost definitely a starter, and could be joined by two newcomers: Josip Mikulic signed from Zagreb and Jalil Anibaba, their #9 pick in the SuperDraft from the University of North Carolina.  Returner Gonzalo Segares could be the other starter on the outside.

Carlos de la Cobos plays both a 4-4-2 and 4-5-1, but with so many new forwards he may play more 4-5-1 at first.  Last season’s leading goal scorer Marco Pappa (8) is likely to start on the right and Patrick Nyarko on the right.  The cooly nicknamed Baggio Husidic will start in the middle possibly flanked by last year’s starter Logan Pause, who has six caps for the U.S. in his career.  Depending on the formation, either Puerari and Chaves will start or the head coach will a midfielder while putting one of the Uruguayans up front.

Player to Watch: Guatemalan international Marco Pappa has three seasons with Chicago and is a key to the team.  Not only was he the team’s leading scorer last year, but he is in his fourth year with the club and is one of the more recognizable players.  With so many new players to the team in key positions, Pappa is a player who can carry the load while the others catch up to MLS.

Predictions: Chicago saw their future last season, and it was middling.  A team with big-name talent that couldn’t finish above the middle of the pack in a weak conference was not a long-term strategy, so management took advantage of McBride and Brown’s retirements to let Ljungberg and Johns walk.  These are definite improvements, but their replacements are unknown.  Will Puerari and Chaves be able to score more goals than the departed talent?  Can youngsters Johnson and Anibaba help reduce the number of goals allowed?  Can Gibbs provide McBride-esque leadership?  This is a team in transition that looks to have maybe less talent overall than last season, but might have more productive talent.  Productive enough to sneak into a playoff spot.

Best Case Scenario: The Uruguayans take to Major League Soccer and provide the goal scoring needed, which is supplemented by a strong and veteran midfield.  Gibbs stabilizes a young backline and they are defensively adequate.  Chicago grabs a playoff spot and makes a surprising run during the playoffs (whatever the structure looks like).

Worst Case Scenario: Same as last year- the international signings fail to come through and the team looks stuck in neutral.  The proud franchise misses another playoffs.  The team has to reassess its strategy the next offseason.