Crew'd Awakening

The BigSoccer braintrust, such as it is and rather predictably, is talking about the Fire "hitting bottom." While the situation is looking rather grim, that seems an exaggeration. Or, perhaps, and indicator of the team's long-term success, when you consider Chicago is only three points out of first place in the East and just a game under .500.

Neither of those silver linings disguise the unfortunate string of lackluster efforts the team has put together in it's five losses for 2004. Last week against the Crew, it looked as if the guys in the white and red jerseys had never actually played with each other, considering how often runs weren't being made and combination passes not completed. And this was on the soccer-specific pitch of Crew Stadium, where the Chicago Park District's reluctance to put additional wear and tear on their lawnmowers couldn't explain the lack of quality passing.

Parity in MLS being what it is, a slump around the midway point of the season can be turned around, sometimes going as far as the Eastern Conference crown, as evidenced by New England a couple years back. The Fire need to look to that New England squad for some inspiration, both for that performance and as the tonic for what's been ailing them, as Chicago has back-to-back matches against the current cellar-dwellers in the East. Steve Nicol's Revolution side has been absolutely decimated by injuries, particularly on defense, which, in a perfect world, will give forwards Ante Razov and Damani Ralph the space they need to get on track.

Except the forwards aren't really the problem, as I opined on chicago-fire.com last week. Andy Williams, who has been getting his assists, needs to get some shots on goal. Justin Mapp needs to start being the flank midfielder of the present and not the future.

And Jesse Marsch needs to get healthy. I can't possibly overstate Marsch's value to this team, both in his play, where he routinely does mundane things like cover for defenders so they can get forward into the attack and provide confidence for midfielders to take more offensive chances, and in his leadership, where he will never back down from a challenge or from a questionable call. In his absence, Evan Whitfield has been the "hard man" of the Fire, and it doesn't suit him. Whitfield is more of an instigator, a pest, than an enforcer, and one of the big differences between the two is that the former requires leadership and the latter, tenacity. While Evan has tenacity to spare, he's just not one of the guys I think the rest of the team looks to as a leader. That's not a criticism as much an acknowledgement of his role, and it still puts him above guys like Kelly Gray, who I don't think will ever be described as a tenacious defender.

Staying with Jesse Marsch, though, I had a hunch we'd really start to notice his presence only when he wasn't in the lineup, much the way the Cubs are in a similar funk without Aramis Ramirez, who very stealthily became the cornerstone of the North Siders' currently anemic offense.

One way or the other, the sky is not falling, but it's hanging a bit low in the sky. Six points against New England will make everything feel better. Four will do in a pinch. Less than that will simply perpetuate the malaise that has been confounding both players and fans who perhaps have come to expect success a little too easily. The saving grace is that once you hit bottom, you tend to bounce back up. A big bounce and we're back at the top of the table, while even a small bounce gets us in the playoffs, where you'd like to think anything can happen.

QUICK SHOTS

Yahoo!, as of nearly 7pm, still has the Fire-Revolution match on tonight's schedule, along with padding today's Metrostars-Earthquakes result with an extra goal for the boys from the Jersey swamp.

It's late, I know, but Greece? Wow. Defense really does win championships, as Portugal just couldn't penetrate the 18-yard box with any sort of regularity. So, a toast to the gyros heroes of Euro 2004.