#cf97blog

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MATCH PREVIEW: Upon cf97blog's from a very long and unexpected break (we'll have a separate post explaining where we have been) the Fire find themselves bottom of the Eastern conference once again. Sitting 10 out 10 is not somewhere I saw the Fire at this point of the season. Therefore, every match has now become critical. We need to take these three points at home, especially when we dropped garbage points against teams like Orlando at home and DC away. I can see this being a win for the Fire. We are finally getting our DP's back from international duty, and this will bring back the usual explosiveness that the Fire's attack has been lacking. One other thing I am looking for is for Yallop to go out and get a CB this summer. Adailton and Larentowicz simply have not built a strong relationship and it is hurting in the terms of results. Let us know your thoughts below! We apologize for the long break! PREDICTED FINAL: Fire 3 - 2 DC United #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #MLS #CHIvsDC (at Toyota Park)

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MATCH PREVIEW: In just over 3 hours the Fire will kick off a game that will be a definite challenge. At 4PM on ESPN2 tune in to see our Chicago Fire take on Sporting KC at Sporting Park in Kansas City. Last year in this fixture the match ended 1-1 with a goal from Mike Magee for the Fire. Today though, it's going to be a very different story. Kansas City is a team with an arsenal of attacking options. The likes of Dwyer and Feilhaber will certainly present some challenges for the Fire defense. However, in counter Sporting has an awful defensive record, giving up 4 goals to the Dynamo last time out. The key to success for the Fire today will be the play of Matt Polster. It is up to the rookie to dominate the middle of the park and to slow down the KC counter attack. On the offensive end it is going to be very important for the Fire to expose the wide areas of the field, and get service into the box (expect Do Prado to start because of this). Overall I'm confident the Fire will secure a 4th consecutive victory. Let us know what you think the result will be below! #cf97 #cf97blog #MLS #COCF #CHIvsKC Predicted Final: Fire 3 - 1 SKC Predicted XI: Johnson, Gehrig, Larentowicz, Adaílton, Palmer, Polster, Jones, Maloney, Shipp, Do Prado, Accam (at Sporting Park )

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Here's David Accam's goal from Friday night's win against New York City FC! It was a little sweaty but I will certainly take Accam finally grabbing an MLS goal! Let us know what you thought of Accam's performance! And the rest of the teams performance below! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsNYC (at Toyota Park)

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MATCH REVIEW: Fire 1 - 0 NYCFC Last night's match showed the true attacking force that the Fire possess. From whistle to whistle the Fire dominated the game 100%. We had 57% and 7 shots on goal. If it wasn't for some incredible saves from Meara, the Fire would have won the game at least 3-0. Accam looked extremely dangerous, and Maloney looks to be finding his form in the team. Once again Matt Poulster was phenomenal, and nearly got himself his first MLS goal! With this 3rd consecutive win the Fire have moved to 4th place in the East with at least 1 game in hand on the teams ahead of them. The Fire are coming alive and any team that has to play us should be concerned. Let us know what you guys thought of the game below! If you guys were there and have any videos/photos you want to share send them to us at cf97blog@yahoo.com! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsNY #MLS (at Toyota Park)

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cf97blog was a part of history last night as I attended the Inaugural Home Opener for the Fire's USL Pro Affiliate: @saintlouisfc against the Pittsburg Riverhounds. The game took place in front of a sold out crowd at the Saint Louis Soccer Park. Official attendance was 5,280 people! It's great to see St. Louis back on the soccer map, and it was even nicer to see the Fire's own Patrick Doody assist on the STLFC goal last night! Overall the match ended 1-1, and Saint Louis really should have taken their chances to win 3 or 4 to 1. All in all it was a great experience! And there are some promising players on the STLFC roster the Fire may pick up in the future! #STLFC #cf97 #cf97blog #USL #MLS (at Saint Louis Soccer Park)

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cf97blog was a part of history last night as I attended the Inaugural Home Opener for the Fire's USL Pro Affiliate: @saintlouisfc against the Pittsburg Riverhounds. The game took place in front of a sold out crowd at the Saint Louis Soccer Park. Official attendance was 5,280 people! It's great to see St. Louis back on the soccer map, and it was even nicer to see the Fire's own Patrick Doody assist on the STLFC goal last night! Overall the match ended 1-1, and Saint Louis really should have taken their chances to win 3 or 4 to 1. All in all it was a great experience! And there are some promising players on the STLFC roster the Fire may pick up in the future! #STLFC #cf97 #cf97blog #USL #MLS (at Saint Louis Soccer Park)

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Happy Monday everyone! Just to make your day a little better we thought we'd upload all 3 goals from this weekend's thrilling victory over Toronto FC! Hope everyone is having a good day! Let us know if you think the Fire can keep up this exciting attacking football! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsTOR #MLS (at Toyota Park)

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MATCH REVIEW: Fire 3 - 2 TFC Today the Fire showed why they went out and spent the money this offseason! They looked outstanding throughout almost the entire game and were unlucky to be trailing 1-2 for that brief period of time. I can't believe I'm actually saying this but Maloney really impressed me today and I'm glad we did not drop him to the bench. David Accam was outstanding, and I felt that he was very unlucky not to have scored today! Shipp seemed to take a while to get going but once again he was great in the second half! Unfortunately Stephens suffered an ankle sprain on a nasty tackle just a couple minutes into the match, and he will be reevaluated tomorrow to see how long he will be out. The opening goal from the Fire was a spectacular finish from Jones on the back end of a cheeky Maloney pass! Maloney's equalizing goal wasn't pretty but it was much needed for the Scottish DP. Finally, the third and winning goal from Jeff Larentowicz was a cracker! The captain picked his spot and blasted it into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. Overall this match showed the true colors of the Fire! We are going to be a very dangerous team going forward into the rest of this season, and neither of the TFC goals today were a fair representation of how well the back line played. Once again I was especially impressed with the performance of Matt Polster, and I hope that hamstring problem he left the game with isn't too serious. As far as Perez I feel that he wasn't on the field long enough to draw any conclusions on how he will fit into the team. Let us know what you guys thought of a second consecutive win for the Fire below! (Fun fact the Fire are unbeaten in their last 13 matches against TFC 😏) #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsTOR #MLS (at Toyota Park)

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MATCH PREVIEW; Tomorrow afternoon the Fire will be looking to pick up another 3 points when Toronto FC visits Toyota Park. However, this will be a tall task because the TFC DP's that were absent during their 2-1 loss to RSL will be back. Altidore will be a hassle for the back line, and Bradley will surely have a stranglehold on the midfield. However, the Fire will be getting there own DP's David Accam and Shaun Maloney back from international duty (personally I would drop Maloney to the bench). This will be a very uptempo match and I believe there will more than a single goal scored. TFC is also off to a rocky start and they will be scrapping for the 3 points. All in all I like the Fire's chance to steal a point if not 3. Let us know your thoughts on tomorrow's game below! Predicted final: Fire 2 - 1 TFC Predicted XI: Johnson, Gehrig, Adailton, Larentowicz, Palmer, Polster, Accam, Shipp, Stephens, Jones, Amarikwa #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvTOR #MLS (at Toyota Park)

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Here's Harry #Shipp's goal against TFC last year when we play them at home! Do you think the holy man himself will get on the scoresheet the day before Easter Sunday? Let us know who you think is going to score this weekend versus TFC! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsTFC

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Here are all of the Fire's results from the month of March. Overall this has been an extremely slow start from the Fire, but last weekend showed what we are capable of. Against LA I thought that we didn't look ready to go out and play the defending champions. When Vancouver came to Toyota Park I thought we outplayed them, and we simply didn't get the goal we needed. In San Jose I thought the Fire played well but started slow, and finally against the Union I felt we should have won 3 or 4 to 0! The progress that has been made this month was immense, and I am really looking forward to the month of April! Remember to click the link in our bio and vote for the player of the month! Let us know what you thought of the Fire's start to the season below! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #MLS

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Here's the winning goal from #Adaílton in yesterday's match versus the Union. What a great feeling to get our first 3 points of the season! Can't wait to get 3 more against TFC on Saturday! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsPHI #MLS #ChiFire (at Toyota Park)

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Your eyes do not deceive you! Look for the link in our bio and vote for the #cf97blog March Player of the Month! Everyone player that has appeared is eligible. Go and vote now!!!! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #PlayeroftheMonth (at LINK IN BIO)

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MATCH PREVIEW: Tomorrow afternoon at 4PM Central Time the Men in Red will be taking on the Philadelphia Union in a #soccersunday matchup on ESPN! Both teams are struggling in a meaningful way, seeing as neither has a win yet this season. However, I think that this will be the Fire's week. With notable DP absences from the side in Maloney and Accam this is a perfect game for some of the younger players to step up to the spotlight. The Fire will certainly be looking to Harry Shipp to have a positive impact on this game, and will be looking to their Nigerian Igboananike to finally make his impact on this game. Overall I am expecting a win for the Fire in what is going to be a cold and wet Sunday afternoon game for the Fire. Our predicted final is 1-0 to the Fire, with the goal coming from Shipp. Our starting XI: Johnson, Gehrig, Larentowicz, Adailton, Palmer, Polster, Ritter, Stephens, Shipp, Amerikwa, Jones. (Most likely in a 4-3-3) #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsPHI #SoccerSunday (at Toyota Park)

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First off let us begin with a huge congratulations to @mnunitedfc for earning @mls 's 23rd expansion spot for the 2018 season. And you know what this means! A new derby coming to MLS! Taking the name of the I94 Rivalry that is shared by the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL, the I94 Derby will be coming to MLS starting in the 2018 season! This is something that I am very excited for because right now we have no real rivals besides the Red Bulls and FC Dallas. I think the rivalry with Minnesota United FC will be a competitive one that is sure to grow to a full on derby almost from the beginning. Hopefully Sacramento gets the 24th expansion spot and will be in the western conference, so MNU will be in the East and we can have this derby more than once a year! Congratulations again to @mnunitedfc !!! We'll see you in a couple seasons 😉 #MNU2MLS #MLS #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsMN (at I94 Derby )

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Here's Jeff #Larentowicz's goal from the Fire's game against the Union last season! Do you think the captain will get on the score sheet this Sunday? Who else do you think will net this weekend? Let us know below! #cf97 #cf97blog #COCF #CHIvsPHI