Where to Watch Soccer in Chicago
The Chicago Fire began play at the start of the third season of Major League Soccer in 1998 under the direction of GM Peter Wilt and Bob Bradley (former assistant coach of the 1996 and 1997 MLS Cup Champion DC United). Bradley’s first major player signing was former Poland national team captain Peter Nowak from 1860 Munich of the Bundesliga. It was a popular move in a city that boasts the largest Polish population of any city outside of Warsaw. Nowak would be the first member of the group that would come to be known as the “Eastern Bloc.” Joining Nowak would be fellow Poles Jerzy Podbrozny and Roman Kosecki as well as Czech defender Lubos Kubik.
The Fire spent 1998 surprising everyone finishing the regular season 22-10 helped by an 11-match winning streak. The combination of tough defense and an emphasis on ball distribution (paced by the passing and playmaking of Nowak) gave the Fire a competitive club right out of the box. The end of the season found Chicago in the MLS Cup Final with Coach Bradley meeting his mentor Bruce Arena and the DC United hoping to add their third straight title. Chicago would thoroughly outplay United with goals by Podbrozny and Guttierez to with the 1998 MLS Cup in their first year. The celebration would continue the following weekend when Frank Klopas would notch a golden goal over Columbus to win the US Open Cup and complete the Double.
While the 1999 season may have been frustrating, there were plenty of reasons to be upbeat as well. A third round exit in the US Open Cup, a semifinal overtime loss to Alajuela in The Football Confederation Champions Cup (decided by penalty kicks), and a first round MLS playoff series loss to the Dallas Burn were all frustrating. The positives began with Razov and Wolff emerging as two of the best strikers in the league. Newcomer Dema Kovalenko, the Fire’s top pick in the college draft that year, started to make noise in the second half of the season notching 6 points in his rookie campaign. And Armas would become a fixture in Arena’s World Cup plans.
Probably the most important development in 1999 was the full blooming of the rivalry with the Burn. Mostly egged on by Dallas Coach Dave Dir’s comments on the Fire, the matches between the two teams were full of passion, fouls and last-minute goals that made this a derby as good as those you saw in Europe. The rivalry would eventually get its own cup competition, as supporters on both sides would chip in to create the Brimstone Cup.
Chicago faced a retooling in 2000. . Focusing on getting younger, Bradley drafted defender Carlos Bocanegra from UCLA, a player who would make an impact almost immediately on the way to being named Rookie of the Year. Trading draft picks to the Galaxy would also bring 17-year-old midfielder DaMarcus Beasley to the Fire. Those deals would overshadow the coming of Hristo Stoitchkov. The former Bulgarian international had fond memories of Chicago when his team beat Greece in the 1994 World Cup and sought out the Fire. Chicago became a much more offensive team, leading the league in goals scored. Razov had his best year scoring 18 goals, Kovalenko had a breakout year scoring 10 goals from the midfield, and the biggest impact was Stoitchkov who elevated the play of the team overall with his skills and presence on the field.
The Fire had some of their most memorable matches of the year in the US Open Cup, destroying Dallas in the quarterfinal before playing Los Angeles in one of the greatest Open Cup matches of all time. Down 1-0 and a man down the Fire would get a late goal by Razov followed by a Wolff golden goal to send them into the Final for the second time in two seasons. Meanwhile Chicago would have to go to 3 games in their MLS Cup playoff series against New England and MetroStars, but would win the deciding matches in each series to send them back to the 2000 MLS Cup Final. Standing in the way was Kansas City and the combination of Miklos Molnar’s goal and Tony Meola’s performance in goal to deny another league title for Chicago. They would get their revenge on Miami at home the following weekend to become the first MLS side to win multiple Open Cups.
In 2001, the Fire had a successful regular season leading the MLS Central Division again, but were eliminated from both the US Open Cup and MLS Cup in the semifinal round by the Los Angeles Galaxy. In 2002, the Fire struggled to make the MLS playoffs and lost their quarterfinal series to the New England Revolution. Injuries and salary cap issues have been the cause of Chicago problems during these two years.
With Soldier Field scheduled to be shut down in 2002 for two years for remodeling, Peter Wilt spent most of 2001 trying to find a home for the club. Uncertainty ruled the Fire’s off-season plans as they prepared for 2002. It would go down to the wire before the club was able to agree to a deal to play at Cardinal Stadium on the campus of North Central College in western suburban Naperville. While the eventual stadium setup of 15,000 would provide the intimate experience that lacks in most MLS stadiums, the field, narrow and covered by artificial surface, quickly became unpopular to players throughout the league.
