After a blockbuster offseason, the Chicago Fire face a reset season in 2020. So, here are five bold predictions for the year ahead.
The Chicago Fire are finally set to start their 2020 regular season on Sunday afternoon. It was a wild offseason for Chicago, who underwent numerous changes both on and off the field. They’ve now got a new logo, a new stadium, some new names in the front office, and most importantly, many new players.
With all that in mind, it has become quite difficult to know what exactly to expect from the Fire this year. Will everything come together at once or will it take a while for the team to find chemistry? Could Chicago climb all the way back up the top of the league standings or will they just be in Wooden Spoon contention once again?
Only time will tell, but that won’t stop me from offering up some bold predictions for the season. Here are five, which I hope won’t make me look like a complete moron come the end of the campaign.
5. Growing pains
Let’s start sensical. As mentioned earlier, the Chicago Fire are a much different team to last season. The perfect illustration of that is that all three Designated Players were replaced: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nicolas Gaitan and Aleksandar Katai all departed, while Robert Beric, Ignacio Aliseda, and Gaston Gimenez came in.
With that sheer amount of roster turnover, it would be unrealistic to think that everything will be perfect from the start. A few of those players won’t be able to even feature in the opening games of the season — Aliseda is still trying to get his visa, while Gimenez is needed by his former club for a bit longer.
Chicago doesn’t have the easiest run of games to begin the campaign either. They start with three games on the road, with the first being against the defending champion Seattle. The Fire then go out east to take on the New England Revolution, who won the contest at Gillette Stadium last time out, and conclude the road run against Orlando City.
Even when Chicago finally gets to Soldier Field, they will have to take on MLS powerhouse Atlanta United, who will look to bounce back from last year’s struggles. The Fire likely will not start the season on the front foot. Fans will have to hope they don’t dig themselves into too deep of a hole.