PREFACE: The Red Stars weathered a storm (again) in Maryland to get three huge points while the Fire may have one coming. Now the details.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIRE: It wasn’t a great match against San Jose who entered the match still on single-digit points. It was a big win for a Fire squad who is expected to reach the playoffs, but Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic clearly looked disgusted with the performance after the final whistle and that the final 15-20 minutes made him ‘sick’.
He is expected to speak with individuals on Monday and we are certain to learn more about that as the days progress. Also coming up are a glut of fixtures between now and the start of the World Cup starting with an Open Cup tie at Columbus. It’s all healthy bodies on deck and players need to play better than they did against San Jose. Also, one still wonders if this lack of depth could have been avoided if the Fire actually added depth before the season started. That is on general manager Nelson Rodriguez regardless of picking up the title of President with the club.
THOUGHTS ON THE RED STARS: Weather delays at the Maryland SoccerPlex appear commonplace for the Red Stars. In 2014, they were eliminated from the playoffs because of a match that ended prematurely to storms. There was a rain storm during a 2016 playoff game there. And on Saturday, the match was delayed five hours due to the weather.
When the match did get underway, it was a match for Yuki Nagasato. She had a goal and an assist in the match and Washington never looked like getting back into it. Sam Kerr added another tally while it was great to see Vanessa DiBernardo and Casey Short on the subs bench even though they did not play. Neither has seen action due to injuries at the start of the year.
Coming up later this week, we will present our Red Stars report at halfway. It could well have been worse for this team, but it may end up encouraging as the Red Stars enter the second half of their fixture list.
That’s all for now. More later.
Chicago Fire
