Hamlett, Fire get ball rolling

As Chicago Fire players and coaches hop a plane this morning and head to Bradenton, Fla., to start preseason training, there's much to sort out before the season opens March 29 at Real Salt Lake.

Such as, what style of play can fans expect under new coach Denis Hamlett?

"It's a little too early to start to get into that," Hamlett said Tuesday when the team met the media. "You drafted these players, and you have to see them down there. But the most important thing for me is you want to be able to put them in a position to succeed and they're going to be at their best, their strengths."

The players understand that.

"I don't think you can tell until … after preseason," said veteran defender C.J. Brown. "You obviously go out and recruit certain players, but you've got to make sure they fit within the style you want to play.

"But if it's not, then you've got to play the style these guys can play, however that is. It can be three men in the back; it can be four men in the back."

Thanks for the memories: The Fire announced that midfielder Diego Gutierrez signed a one-year contract, which will be his last. He plans to retire after the season.

Gutierrez, a 14-year pro, played on the 1998 expansion team that won the Fire's only MLS Cup. He also won U.S. Open Cups with the Fire in 1998, 2000 and 2006. Including a brief interlude in Kansas City, Gutierrez has played in 233 MLS games and started 209 of them.

"It's been a great career," he said. "Matter of fact, I don't even need this year to tell me I've had a great career."

Slim Pickens: The Fire not only will have a new coach but a new starting goalkeeper as well. The team has given up hope of re-signing Matt Pickens, who seems headed to Europe.

That means the job probably will go to veteran Jon Busch, who backed up Pickens last season and was a starter in Columbus. Busch has the team's support, said defender C.J. Brown.

"You miss Matt Pickens, because he was coming on really strong this last year, but I think Buschey's been playing well also. I think he was pushing Pickens. He was making Pickens the player he was because Buschey came in. I think it's a good opportunity for Buschey to make a name for himself here."

If that makes it sound like the job is Busch's, the goalkeeper himself is taking nothing for granted.

"I don't look at it that way," he said. "We've got four good, quality goalkeepers here. I just come in, I work hard, I do my business, and at the end of the day that's for the staff to decide. If they want me to play, I play."

Patriot games: The U.S. National Team plays Mexico today (8 p.m., ESPN2, Univision) in a friendly at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Fire midfielder Justin Mapp spent much of January in the U.S. training camp but did not make the final roster.

"It was a good experience," Mapp said. "It always is to be in that environment. I'm a little disappointed not to play in the Mexico game or be a part of that, but hopefully I made a good impression. It got me fit, and hopefully this Fire preseason will be a little bit easier for me and I'll be ready to go for the year."

Mapp missed much of the 2007 season because of injuries, but he gave a good report Tuesday.

"I'm feeling good," he said. "I rehabbed a lot in the off-season. I haven't had any problems so far."