Plenty of confidence surrounds the Chicago Fire entering the 2023 season that begins with the regular season opener ahead of team.
CHICAGO, IL– The Chicago Fire showcased its new version of the club in part of the Season Kickoff Luncheon at the Swissotel on Monday.
It was an annual event until Covid set it aside for a few years and now it has made a comeback with over 500 people that attended.
Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson makes his return leading the team to a better season than last year and believes confidence will be a proven leader.
“It’s a confidence level with this group,” Hendrickson said, “I think after last season, it’s easy not to be confident with this season going forward. But we saw a level of confidence with players coming in with the confidence and it’s pleasing. Guys that are anxious to get out there this Saturday. There are things that are surprising this year as a lot of teams aren’t expecting that much from us. But we’re happy where were at right now and with the way the preseason went. So, we’re looking forward to the start of the season.”
Getting back to winning is the key for the Fire just like the past. Along with the idea of scoring in 2023 and that’s the mindset in the preseason.
“We want to build a winning tradition here,” Hendrickson said. “We want to get back to where this team was a few years back. Scoring goals builds confidence, becomes a habit, becomes contagious and that’s how you win games. Even with all the shutouts last year. We didn’t win too many games or enough games. Seven of those games were 0-0. So we missed the playoffs by nine points. We had scored one goal in four of those seven, we want to get in that habit and that mentality of winning, scoring is what we need to do. That’s something that we’ve been pushing this preseason and the guys have really come into play.”
The rest of the team is ready and so is Xherdan Shaqiri ready and if healthy, will be one of the leaders that can help the team towards a better direction.
“Everybody was waiting for this and working hard in the preseason,” Shaqiri said. “The whole team wants to start and I’m happy that this is the final week to prepare before the first game.”
Working with confidence and finding the chemistry will be something for the team to work together. However, with a number of matches over the last month should be something that helps the team right away and maybe they get off to a good start to the season.
“Preseason is always the season to work hard and prepare the team,” Shaqiri said. “We did work hard and had a lot of games. I’m sure the team will be ready. There’s a lot of things you can see a lot of things lost but it might be a difficult one. We’re starting the season and get to play at home. We will give everything to get a win first.”
