While meaningful games in the Audi MLS Cup playoffs are more or less an annual ritual in the Windy City during the Flames' early days, the collective sense of anticipation around the club hasn't been like this week in a while. After about a decade of false dawns, a rebuilding project led by head coach and director of football Gregg Berhalter is bearing fruit in its first year.
“We've seen excitement throughout the city,” Berhalter said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
“I've mentioned before that the Chicago Fire are a sleeping giant, and I really believe that. We're seeing people on the street asking us about games; there's a lot more attention and tickets are selling a lot faster than before. This needs to become the standard.”
Fight all comers
The Redshirts pushed the Supporters Shield holders to the breaking point in last Sunday's best-of-three series opener at Subaru Park, where the Redshirts are fighting for postseason survival in a near-sold-out series. The match between Team 1 and Team 2 was overshadowed by a penalty shootout that ended in a 2-2 draw. The gap between the No. 8 seeds, as well as timely tactical flexibility, blunted the Phillies' brutal counterattack.
On SeatGeek The Wild Cards defeated Orlando City 3-1, with a joyous goal celebration in the Section 8 supporters section igniting the team's motivation and reminding them of the good old days. Having lost just two games since mid-July, confidence is growing in and around the dressing room despite rising star and MLS Best XI contender Philipp Schinknagel being sidelined with an oblique injury.
“The way we bounced back after being down 2-0, I think that gave us the most confidence,” homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady told MLSsoccer.com this week. “Sending it to the PK and staying close for that long really gave us confidence that, yes, we can play with anybody in the league.
“I'm super excited and hopefully our fans will show it and I know all the boys are excited,” Brady added. “It shows in the way we train and I think we really want to stick with it and take back what we feel we deserve from the last game.”
Come back from the depths
This was a long time ago. Chicago's last playoff appearance was almost eight years ago thanks to the second-longest playoff drought in league history. But the game ended early: a 4-0 “knockout” upset loss to the New York Red Bulls in Bridgeview.
That game created memories for middle-aged football viewers. German icon Bastian Schweinsteiger was the star player for the home team and their captain Dax McCarty, now an analyst for MLS Season Ticket, was working alongside his two counterparts on the day, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sasha Klejstein.
You have to go back even further to find the Fire's playoff victory: 2009, when then-LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington and Cuauhtémoc Blanco scored in a conference semifinal win over New England.
On that deflating night in 2017, a 13-year-old Brady showed up with his Flames Academy teammates, never expecting to be the goalie in his next playoff game.
“Obviously, I didn't like the final score. But I do remember that game,” he said with a laugh. “It must be crazy to think about.
“I would say that in that dark era where we hadn't quite accomplished our goals and not reached our standards, getting to the playoffs was obviously a big deal. But to be able to do that this year and then see how far this group has progressed under Greg, it's been awesome. It's been beyond anything I could have hoped for, which is kind of foreign to me.”
Windy City Renaissance
As Berhalter mentioned, the term “sleeping giant” comes up over and over again in discussions about CF97, one of MLS's most persistent underperformers relative to history and the market.
“But it’s true,” noted left guard and native son Andrew Gutman, who as an academy alumnus had to leave town to start his career as an example of past struggles.
“If you think about the Chicago area and how big of a soccer town Chicago actually is — I'm from here, so I watch all the youth soccer tournaments. I see how big soccer is in the city, in the suburbs, everything. To me, the Flames are a little disappointing compared to soccer in Chicago.
“Now we're better, we're growing, we're developing.”
It's not just a return to the playoffs, but the emergence of a smooth, offensive style driven by owner Joe Mansuto's steady and steady investment on and off the court. Homegrown talent like Brady, Brian Gutierrez and Sergio Oreguer represent the tantalizing potential of a large, diverse local talent pool that has already made significant strides.
In addition, construction is about to begin on a game-changing new stadium at The 78, a 62-acre riverside redevelopment project south of the city centre, expected to open in 2028.
Those long-awaited green shoots of rebirth finally broke through the ground.
“People all over the city are starting to take notice of the great work we're doing on the field, and that's kind of translated into how people all over the city feel about being supporters of the sport. I have more friends now who are interested in wanting to come watch games every Saturday,” Brady said. He lives close to the new stadium and balances his dream of playing in Europe with his desire to experience its debut.
“It permeates all walks of life and you really like to see the better you perform on the field and it attracts the eyes of not just Fire Department supporters or football supporters but people in general because that's ultimately what we're here for, to represent the people of Chicago.”
A Cinderella story?
It still feels like the project is in its early stages, and no matter how the series turns out, it would be easy for outside observers to call it a moral victory for CF97.
Yet one of Berhalter's most important priorities, Gutmann explained, is a shift in the collective mindset.
“I think his main goal this year is to try to change the mentality of the team,” he said. “We're not here just to play football. We're here to compete and win for Chicago. That was said early on.
“Personally, I don't think a stadium in 2028 is the target for us to come back to. I think we should come back sooner… Hopefully the success will come before the stadium is built, and then when the stadium is built there will be a completely different level of support across the city.”
In Philadelphia, Berhalter saw not just an ambushed Goliath, but an example to follow.
“When you look at Philadelphia as an example, it's a club with a shorter history but one that has been successful recently,” he explained.
“When you watch a playoff game in a stadium, you can see that everyone understands the ritual, everyone understands what's going on in the stadium. And we're not there yet. We want to build on that and we believe we're on a good path, but we still have a lot of work to do.”