Big weekend for Fire ahead
You’re feeling optimistic, but you’re not ready yet to go all in.
The Fire is off to a good start at 1-0-1 in MLS games, plus last week’s U.S. Open Cup victory against defending MLS Cup champ Colorado, but is it for real? Is this a team worth paying attention to?
We’re about to find out.
The Fire heads to the Pacific Northwest for Saturday’s match at Seattle (0-2-2), followed by the first MLS game at Portland’s JELD-WEN Field on April 14 against the Timbers (0-2-1). It won’t be the stiffest competition the Fire will face all season, but it will be a good test of character.
Seattle leads the league in attendance, by far. Sounders fans turn out in numbers, and they don’t sit on their hands. In fact, they don’t sit.
Portland might be an expansion team, but the excitement level in Oregon is sky high, and it’s never fun to be fodder for a new stadium, or at least a refurbished stadium. The buzz throughout the league is about how successful the new teams in the Pacific Northwest have been in attracting fan interest. The Fire veterans are telling the team’s newcomers they’re about to experience something special.
“It’s something you can touch on, you can give a little bit of pointers on what it’s going to look like, but until you get out there and experience it those aren’t things you can really walk through,” captain Logan Pause said. “You can tell them it’s going to be loud, you can’t even hear someone 5 yards away. The fans are going to be behind them. It’s a special environment.”
“It’s just definitely a great motivation to play in an atmosphere like that,” added veteran Gonzalo Segares. “Most of these guys have never experienced anything like that, so it’s going to be a great experience for them.”
To get 4 points out of these two games, maybe even 6 points, would be an indication that this Fire team is for real.
“It would be great,” Segares said. “It’s going to be one of the first real tests for this team, so I think we’ve definitely got to be prepared for that. Mentally and physically, we’d better be ready because they’re going to be two very difficult games.”
Pause said the Fire is looking to upset the Sounders.
“With the fans that they have without a win, that’s a dangerous recipe,” he said. “We’re conscious of that, we’re thinking about that, but we’re also focusing on what we’re trying to do.”
A feather in the MLS cap:The big news in MLS this week is Real Salt Lake#146;s 3-2 aggregate victory over Costa Rican club Deportivo Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals.It#146;s the first time a MLS team has reached the tournament final. Real Salt Lake will play a Mexican club, either Cruz Azul or Monterrey.#147;It#146;s great for the MLS,#148; said the Fire#146;s Gonzalo Segares, a member of the Costa Rica national team. #147;I feel bad for Saprissa because I played over there, but definitely I was rooting a little bit for the MLS. We still don#146;t get the credit we deserve as a good league. I think they still see us as a lower level, so I think it#146;s good that we can show CONCACAF that the league is improving and it#146;s getting better year by year.#148;Red alert:The Chicago Red Stars dropped out of Women#146;s Professional Soccer for the 2011 season due to a lack of investors, but it looks like the franchise may field a team after all.According to the Women#146;s Premier Soccer League website, the Red Stars will play at Benedictine University in Lisle this summer. #147;In 2011 they are reforming the ownership group and playing in WPSL with an eye towards rejoining WPS for the 2012 season,#148; the website says.#147;The Red Stars roster will consist of former WPS players, players from the (women#146;s national team) U-20 and U-23 pools, and collegiate stars from across the country.#148;oschwarz@dailyherald.com