Chicago Fire set to open MLS season with lots of new faces
Who are these guys?
The Chicago Fire roster is full of newcomers, no-names to whom fans have no emotional attachments.
Whoever the Fire puts on the Toyota Park field for Sunday's season opener against New York City F.C. (1 p.m., Comcast SportsNet), the players will have one thing in common: They haven't been in Chicago long.
In some cases, they just arrived in town last Sunday.
Of the 11 players who started in the Fire's final preseason game last week at Portland, Oregon, only three were on the roster in October.
Only goalkeeper Sean Johnson and re-signed midfielder Razvan Cocis were on the roster as recently as 2014. And it appears Johnson is the best bet to follow recently traded Harry Shipp out of town soon as new general manager Nelson Rodriguez continues to reshape the roster.
Newly signed Matt Lampson got the bulk of the playing time at goalkeeper in the preseason. Johnson, a 2010 Fire draft pick good enough to be called into the U.S. national team's camp last month, got a lot of rest during February games after rejoining his club.
"I definitely expected to play more than I did," Johnson said at Monday's annual season kickoff luncheon. " ... I would like to play a little bit more, but that's the coach's decision."
His coach, however, was noncommittal.
"He did very well," Paunovic said. "They all have to work very hard and earn it. This week and every week everyone has to earn his spot."
Dutch midfielder John Goossens, who signed over the weekend after spending the preseason as a trialist, had never been to Chicago before the team came home a few days. He had been to Florida for a vacation, he said. Goossens, however, might not have his visa in time to play Sunday, general manager Nelson Rodriguez said.
Dutch defender Johan Kappelhof said he had never been to the United States before he joined the Fire in Portland. He'll anchor the revamped defense. Welcome to Chicago.
The favorite to be captain now seems to be midfielder Matt Polster, the team's 2015 first-round draft pick, who wore the armband a couple of times in Portland. He's 22 years old. On this team, that almost qualifies him for elder-statesman status.
Eleven of the 23 players signed to the roster are 25 years old or younger.
Despite all the new faces - first-year Rodriguez and first-year coach Paunovic are old-timers now, having arrived here a few months ago - optimism is high around the club. The Fire won the Simple Invitational in Portland last week. The team went 5-0-1 in preseason.
"There's been a lot of energy that's been injected into the team and the organization by Pauno and his staff," Johnson said. "It's definitely positive change for us, and we're adapting and trying to come up to speed for March 6."
"We're very satisfied with the progress, and winning is nice," Rodriguez added. "It was especially nice Saturday night to culminate preseason with a championship and a good performance with the reigning MLS Cup champions. But 24 hours later it meant nothing, and this Sunday will be the real first test that the team faces."
It will face that test with so many new faces and names for fans to learn.
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