By Joe Pakovits

Who Knew?

Wow, aren't we all glad to be so wrong as the 2003 MLS season ambles into its second half? Except for a few Fire fans spouting the usual preseason bravado about "We're going all the way!", most of us were quietly bracing ourselves for a "rebuilding year" as the Fire either off-loaded or were forced to give up not only several of our beloved veterans like Piotr Nowak and Dema Kovalenko but also Bob Bradley as well. After all, we know that 99 times out of 100, rebuilding years are not the best time for championship hopes, especially if a few of a rebuilding team's remaining veterans are scheduled to miss significant playing time on national team duty. Even after the often-frustrating Superdraft many of us were asking "Damani WHO? Justin WHO?" And as if all this wasn't bad enough, our main rivals in the East all either stayed intact or got even better. So, most of us opted for the cautious optimism of "I'll be happy if we just keep our play-off streak intact this year. But next year look out, we're gonna rule!"

Thankfully, it sure hasn't played out that way. Who knew that every single one of our bench players with the exception of Nick Walls and a recovering Dipsy Selolwane would make vital contributions to our season, that we had the steal of the draft in Rookie of The Year candidate Damani Ralph and that we'd be in first place in the East with a game in hand at the All-Star break? Dave Sarachan's strategy of keeping our defense intact and eschewing "project" players in favor of attacking-minded players he believed could contribute immediately this season now looks like sheer genius. It may be a fight between Dave and Bob Bradley for Coach Of The Year. While the Fire have had problems with DC United who, like last season's LA Galaxy, just seem to have our number, and our offense sputtered ineffectually in the initial games of the season, the pairing of Razov and Ralph has created one of the most potent scoring combos in MLS. And Sarachan has effectively used a rotating cast in the midfield where Andy Williams and Justin Mapp have surprised many folks by going from the MLS scrap heap to being heroes in the absence of Nowak and Beasley.

The only major glitch thus far in the season has been the sad circumstance surrounding forward Rodrigo Faria, whose season has been hampered and possibly ended by the illness and death of his father in Brasil. I wish Faria the best of everything regardless of what decision he reaches about his place on the Fire roster.

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades

Finally, speaking of stadium changes, the Fire have winnowed the field of possible Firehouse sites to three concrete bids – two in the far northwest suburbs, one in Bridgeview - and the shadowy, nebulous possibility of remaining in the City of Chicago. Of the four, it seems that the Bridgeview plan currently has the upper hand despite a lack of current public transportation options and the possibility that Midway air traffic may make it less suitable as the concert venue that AEG probably wants very badly. Stay tuned.

After the All-Star Game, where MLS players will take on some Mexican team, the Fire do battle against the A-League's Milwaukee Wave United in the US Open Cup on Wednesday, August 6, 7:00pm. Last year, many of us gazed in awe upon the flares the Fire fans brought to Milwaukee as the Fire went down to defeat on the field to the now-defunct Milwaukee Rampage who went on to win the A-League championship. If the Fire take this game at all seriously (and they may very well be looking ahead to that Saturday's important game against the Metrostars for outright leadership of the East), Milwaukee should find it difficult to repeat last year's upset. Still, it will be our first chance most of us will have in a while to watch a live Fire game while having a beer or three!