Chicago Fire cautiously confident heading into season opener

The Chicago Fire had a great preseason, going unbeaten and untied in six games in Florida.

We've heard that before, and even the players, coaches and front office really aren't that impressed.

"A year of experience has taught me preseason really means nothing in terms of results," Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez said at Monday's season kickoff luncheon in Chicago, reflecting on how a good 2016 preseason led to a last-place 2016 season.

"I don't want you guys to put too much stock in this, but I don't think (the preseason) is that valuable at all actually," new midfielder Dax McCarty added. " ... In terms of what it means for the regular season, it doesn't mean much. We have a lot of confidence knowing that we have a good team. We have good players."

There are four primary reasons the Fire is both privately and publicly cautiously confident - "optimistic" is so 2016 - about its 20th MLS season, which starts at 1 p.m. Saturday at Columbus.

McCarty. Juninho. Nemanja Nikolic. Jorge Bava.

This is the strongest Fire roster to start a season since 2009, not coincidentally the last year the Fire won a playoff game.

"But the mood this year is decidedly different," Rodriguez said, continuing his comparison to 2016. "I think the mood this year is one of confidence. I think this group recognizes that it is its own entity. This team does not carry with it the burden of previous teams and recent results."

Not that the new guys aren't aware of the burden they carry, like it or not.

"We're going to try to be a team that's a little bit mentally stronger than this team has been the past couple of years," McCarty said. "I think there's been a lot of games where results have kind of been given away in the last five to 10 minutes, whether that was a draw that turned into a loss or a win that turned into a draw. These are valuable points in MLS."

All four of those players are new to Chicago. All four are proven. Only Bava is in his 30s. McCarty and Juninho are leaders who know what it takes to be successful in MLS. All four strengthen the team where soccer teams need to be strongest: down its spine.

Nikolic, a forward, will be counted on to score goals. Bava, a goalkeeper, will be counted on to stop shots and then use his distribution skills to start something going forward.

The Fire has been good at counterattacking and should be again. With McCarty and Juninho controlling things in the middle of the field, they should be able to possess the ball better, converting a weakness to a strength.

And a good first month or two would help lift that burden of the club's disappointing seven-year stretch.

"A good start would help us," Rodriguez said. "It would validate our preseason. It would convert hope into belief and allow us to move forward in a slightly more relaxed way."