NY State of Mind: Previewing Chicago Fire vs. NYCFC and Berhalter Out!

[Music] hey soccer fans welcome back to the feed the fire podcast I am your host Nick we have a lot to talk about not just within Chicago but in the greater American soccer landscape as there was a big shakeup with Greg burh halter being relieved of his coaching duties but before we get into all of that juicy usmnt news I am here with the special guest and friend of the show with Anthony CSUS his number one fan we're going to talk about the Chicago fires upcoming match against New York City Anthony I want to welcome you to the feed the fire podcast you are actually my first guest on the show outside of our featured guest John Donovan so are are you up for the challenge of of setting a high bar for us here oh absolutely I'm I'm a I'm I've been a big fan of this podcast for a good minute now you know I'm always listening to it in my free time and I always deeply enjoy it I'm like honored to be one of the first like guest awesome well I appreciate you being here and bringing your experience and bringing your just your fandom to the show because that's really what what I'm doing here is bringing a little bit of the fan perspective and just having a lot of fun talking about the fire but let's learn a little bit about you tell us about yourself how did you start getting into soccer to MLS to Chicago all right well it all started pretty much in I have to say 2013 when uh I came here from Mexico cuz I'm originally from there grew up as a a clubbe America fan if you know them uh oh yeah definitely no I I don't watch as much Liga MX as I'm sure you do but obviously with League's cup and with C cocka C Champions Cup the the exposure is there for sure yeah I grew up as a Club America fan uh with my dad you know I've always always had that thing of following everything he likes and when I came here we uh he I found out he liked the fire and so I started getting into the fire around that 2013 region when they made the playoffs uh and I'm pretty sure that was the last like the second time I think in the 2010s they made the playoffs 2013 yeah so I think it was 2012 and then they did have a a real quick appearance in 2017 did not 17 was heartbreaking for sure man but go ahead go ahead keep telling us yeah um yeah it was pretty much my dad who helped me into the Chicago Fire you know I always grew up going to games at SeatGeek or to park as I still call it uh like a good Chicago in we can never change the name it's still the Sears to I I always tell my dad about that how people say it's SeatGeek now but it's Toyota Park in my heart of course yeah I loved going to games over there at Toyota Park I always especially during the 2017 season I was actually there when basan schweigger debuted I I actually saw his first ever goal in person and that's like a core memory it was it was amazing uh I also met him outside uh SeatGeek one time well theot park that's awesome how was it meeting him oh he's a really nice guy he's super nice he was uh he was one of the best one of the like nicest players I've ever met oh that's great man love to hear those stories so you definitely got some fire credentials behind you for sure and you have actually been a little influential in the Chicago Fire Community lately on social media with with the the tug in your freaking shirt and as well as doing some Jersey designs and things you want to talk about that a little bit uh yeah it's it's been a pretty crazy couple weeks with this whole tuck in your shirt uh the front office has been emailing me left and right you know um with the Philadelphia game they invited me uh Fields side and honestly that would that was the best game to get uh to be fieldside at I saw the Hugo creepers go in the 90 92nd minute it was um yeah I felt I fell to the floor when that happened I uh I think I may have annoyed some of the people sitting next to me when I uh I fell to my knees when he scored that goal I I almost I think I cried if I recall that I mean that that was a pretty emotional game I mean I was jumping around my living room here definitely freaking out waking up my wife and kids from from their Slumber that night so if there's ever a game to cry to this season I suppose it could be that one or it could have been the San Jose game last week man I'll do you have any thoughts on on that collapse it's uh it's it's hard to say what happened I mean San Jose are pretty horrible right now to say the least honestly the fire could have won that game like five to five to zero if they had tried but I think Kus not being there is would cause the fire to lose one to zero against like historically one of the worst teams I've ever seen oh for sure and we talked about that for all our listeners go back and check out the last episode of the feed the fire podcast uh we kind of broke down some of the Tactical shifts away from what the fire usually did with Frank Kos shifting kypers to almost a second Striker and a chance Creator rather than the main attacking threat I think that had a lot to do with with their offensive struggles um but let's now let's turn our attention to the Chicago Fire uh let's take a look at their upcoming opponent New York City let me set this stage a little bit here New York is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference on 35 points 11 wins n losses two draws 33 goals for 27 goals against they have a great home record eight wins at home only three wins away out of 10 so that does kind of bod well a little bit for the fire uh additionally uh New York City from a statistical perspective has pretty decent attacking stats their shooting numbers are about I'd say top third to top half of the league uh they have a better defensive performance as far as goals allowed than I would have thought but the one thing that the fire I think could take advantage of is that New York City of all the passes they've attempted this season only about 10% of them are long balls are over 30 yards they love being in the middle of the field they love being in the attacking third of the field about 45% of all of their defensive tackles are in the middle third about 45% in the attacking third and only about 10% of their of their tackles maybe that's a general trend teams is you're tackling Less in your own third because you're not trying to overcommit but the fact that it's so lopsided to me suggests that New York is playing a much higher line they are looking to turn you over they are looking to maintain possession Anthony is that what you've seen is that what you would expect from from this New York City team a real Highline possession kind of a game uh honestly I think yeah I think New York they uh it's pretty solid team I uh got to give him the some some there I mean they're pretty good but I mean away they're not as good uh I just quickly looked over on uh at their record right now and yeah they're pretty pretty bad away they've lost to uh LA Galaxy nashille and Austin away but they've won their last two home games so I mean fire they they may have a solid chance if they take advantage of that yeah and speaking of that Austin game that was their last game they are coming off a 2-1 loss in Austin uh actually a 2-1 com from behind loss New York City ended up scoring in the fifth minute and then giving up a brace to gasi zaris uh in first half stoppage time and then in the 69th minute so giving up giving up the lead and then losing the game um by the way real quick Jesse zaris 10th all time in Major League scoring right now um I I find that to be incredible as maligned as he has been I always like josi zaris Anthony I don't know how how you felt if you remember watching him a lot with the us or with Columbus or even back when he started his career in LA but I always liked him I always thought in the right system he could be a good Striker so I don't know any any thoughts on GS zaris moving into the top 10 all time oh I'm I'm I'm uh I'm I'm proud of him I I I like seeing him play at the LA Galaxy I uh that's where I always saw him I think in I think it was the FIFA 18 video game he was like on the uh what's it called it was like a story mode in FIFA 18 and Sardis appears in it for some reason yeah I've always been fond of him he's uh he's a great player he's a great player excellent so now let's let's take a look at Chicago what do you expect from Chicago coming into this New York City game coming off probably you know if you want to go back six weeks or so you know this has probably been the better part of the fire season having that four game point streak dropping a couple games winning one but then you know heartbreak at San Jose as bad of a team as they've been how do you expect the fire to come out both from like intensity tactics like what are you looking for in this match I hope they attack a lot more CU their San Jose game was not the greatest attacking display I've ever seen I mean high salasi was I think he miss missed two big chances if I recall one in the early in the early of the game I just honestly hope they start attacking a lot more because I feel like if they got the what's what's the word they got the proper tools to be a great attacking team they just need to take advantage of it for sure and you know they're going to be attacking more than that San Jose game because they only had one shot or I should say one shot on goal in that San Jose game so they can't be worse I hope they had 10 total shots one shot on goal um so yeah I'm hoping they can get back into a little bit of a better formation bring a little bit of of that intensity that was absolutely missing uh but a couple things we have to point out now from the New York side of things let's take a look at their lineup and how they could potentially line up against and and where we could run into some problems so looking at their matchup against Austin you had Matt free and go uh they played a 433 they had Kevin otou as their left outside back Str tanasovich and Thiago martines as their center backs and it's funny my my son was looking constantly at the yellow card numbers because he thought Thiago Martin would have a yellow card suspension by now but unfortunately not the case for the fire and then they've got T Tavon gray out on the right um Tavon gray we need to note is number nine in major league socer with assists per 90 he is averaging 045 assists per 90 minutes uh so that is impressive for an outside back and just shows you how much forward uh that New York City likes to play so Anthony looking at that backline otou Tanya svage Thiago gray Matt Freez and go you know any do any of those players were you do you think kypers and H salassi will have a good match up with them I think uh H Cassi and creers they might they might uh yeah they might have a good match up they've uh been on fire recently if you've noticed like they're they've been incredible I feel like if they get the they get the proper attack going they could they could put up quite a bit of goals did you like or first of all did you agree with my assessment last week that kypers in the second half kind of took a step back and became more of a chance Creator uh and do you think that'll work against New York City if they try to do that again yeah I I don't I don't agree with with the fire dat with that one I think they should let quers be the main goal scor since he if you look at his goals he's he's very good at scoring from difficult angles and from weird challenges and stuff so I feel like yeah he would uh feel like he should be the main goal scorer here and high salassi should you know be what gers was last game absolutely and I thought for a while this season that H Salas was starting to become a guy who could look for a pass early on in the season he was a shoot first kind of a player especially coming in from the wing but he started finding a little bit of of linkup play with with kypers getting some passes so hopefully the two of them can work a little bit of magic against New York City now continuing up New York City's lineup last match they had in their Midfield from left to right Keaton Parks James sanss and Andres perea uh some just well-known MLS names I think James Sans had even gotten some looks from the US team at some point uh so these are guys who know the league who know MLS who are going to have a good game uh regardless of where they play when they play so I I feel like there's a really big Advantage for New York City in the Midfield here and looking at their attacking line Santi Rodriguez on um the left wing Alonzo Martinez as their Striker and hanis wolf as their rightwing I do want to mention Alonzo Martinez is second in MLS with goals per 90 he is averaging 99 goals per 90 on about four shots per game so he's very efficient as an offensive player um hey Anthony let me let me let you take a wild guess here who's the one player ahead of Martinez and MLS goals per 90 can you take a wild guess uh creers goals per 90 no no no what which which big name Major League Soccer headlining player which $20 million player oh uh Messi right yeah absolutely Messi is averaging 1.04 goals per 90 he's the only one ahead of Martinez and those stats are from the website fb.com if anyone wants to go check out their Advanced stats there um so yeah how do you feel about the Chicago fires defense lately coming up against a player as as efficient as Alonzo Martinez well um from what I recall from the San Jose game uh I looked at the foot foot mob stats after the game yeah and I saw that the defense actually did pretty good despite letting in a goal I feel like this defense is is somewhat solid there's yeah like I'm looking right here all the players got above seven rating uh and I feel like they do have a solid defense the fire has a solid defense you know I'm I'm I'm glad with what they're going right now amsburg I feel like he should he should get another start with amsburg yeah yeah I I've always been high on him and you know I know you listen to the show so you know my opinion but if you disagree with me please tell me because there's a lot of people out there who think he is a you know a USL player and ML MLS next Pro kind of a player um I'm glad to see him back in the starting lineup like what have you seen about sburg that makes you think he should get another start well obviously that last game he he was playing uh very well I feel like he should maybe get another second chance at this game you know maybe maybe become a solidified starter if he can I've I've also always been high on amsburg you know he's a great player great guy um I I really don't see why he should be a USL player the only defender on the fire who I who I think should go back to the USL is Jonathan Dean but okay I mean the Jonathan Dean's had he's had a rough stretch of games and I wonder if just the extended time in MLS is finally catching up to him a little bit uh but yeah there's there's a lot of people who love Jonathan Dean and a lot of people who would like to see him back in USL especially after uh couple of defensive mistakes dur in that Philly game um I you know looking at the fire defense I I'm very worried about them coming up against New York City I I'm happy they're at home I think that'll give them a little bit of an advantage and I think it'll kind of keep New York City a little bit on their back heels uh if especially if the fire attack early but if New York can settle into this game I'm very worried about our defensive backline being able to keep up with some of these players as keep up with the runners keep up with uh their just their defensive shape I feel like the fire are going to be dropping Five Guys in that back line uh for parts of this game and I don't like them sitting back and absorbing pressure so that's just that's just my assessment of it uh but that being said let's get predictions here so what do you think the the score line will be when the final whistle blows this Saturday all right so I actually had two predictions in mind um either one the fire is going to win one to zero that's I I I find it likely because you know the fire they tend to play pretty good against really good teams for some reason and I feel like they could possibly win one zero and my other prediction was NYC possibly winning at least four to one or 3 to one really no middle ground there man explain that why it's cuz with the fire there's you never know what the fire it's either a small win or a huge loss okay that that's fair honestly I I'm the one that's going to be in the Middle Ground I'm looking at this as the fire will have Kos back on the bench not that his tactics will help them but just having a little bit of that familiarity being back at home having a little bit more energy after a week off when the last uh last couple weeks they've had short rest between games but I'm still nervous about our defense I'm going to go right in the middle of your result I think it's a two- two draw uh that's that's where I stand on it that seems very likely too yeah and we'll have to see what the odds are because it's funny I always you know looked at the odds in MLS and thought like the the bookkeepers they didn't know soccer yet but man they gave San Jose the odds to win that last matchup and sure enough it ended up true so we'll have to check the odds when they put him out all right let's take our quick sponsor break here where we recognize our our sponsor our water break here at feed the fire I want to thank skira Icelandic Spring Water Icelandic for clear skira water comes from a spring in a government protected Nature Preserve in Iceland with naturally low mineral content this isn't your average water clearly pun intended it's one of the best and skira Icelandic spring water is available at your local 7-Eleven and now turning to the second half of our show as we mentioned at the opening the big news around American soccer Greg burh halter has been relieved of his duties he's been canned he's been fired terminated let go pink slipped whatever you want to call it bur halter is out the hashtag has come true uh Anthony what was your reaction when you first saw this headline uh I saw it coming you know after that Copa America disaster I saw I I saw it coming I don't think the us would have kept in but I mean it's still pretty pretty huge news I've see the reactions over Twitter everyone's clearly excited about this people saying they haven't been this patriotic since the Fourth of July people declaring this a new national holiday yeah people are clearly happy about this and you know um as a as a Mexico fan you know I'm I was kind of bur halter in I'm not gonna lie I mean he he did he did give a few losses to to L tree there right that was the other joke llll tree um but I gotta say I think it was those Mexico games that that really got him that second shot that second bite at the Apple for for this 2026 World Cup cycle it was the fact that he was beating Mexico and he and the team was being measured in those matches and showing Improvement now he didn't improve anywhere else uh and I think this is why ultimately the decision was made to fire him is that the team had totally stagnated uh they were barely beating conquer opponents anymore uh they could not stack up against South American opponents couldn't even beat Panama again uh so I totally understand I I think it's a little late you know um we saw them stagnating a couple years ago when they decided to rehire him so I think it's a little late now I have always been and I know people are going to call me out on it on what I just said because I've always been there's a plan for 2026 follow through with the plan but the plan was progression and there was no progression over the last year year and a half so had to had to be let go uh and now you can totally Square in on 2026 and even bur halter said that uh when he spoke after the news broke he said like the plan was always for for the World Cup and and we weren't you know following the plan I guess uh so even he thought he was going to be there through the next couple years so that that's big news um I'm excited to see what US soccer does next I know people aren't very high on it I don't know what your faith is in US soccer do you have any candidates in mind anyone you'd like to obviously everyone wants Jurgen Klo but what do you think um I think I think they should go after the guy from lafc I forget his name um shundo yeah yeah that's the one everyone on Twitter has been talking about I I feel like he would be great for the US Men's National Team okay I mean he's he's done a pretty good job with lafc came in um after Bob Bradley left was was let go and and really kind of picked up where they left off and didn't have too much of a dip in performance he knows the US he's played for the US MNT so it's it's not a bad consideration I just I just don't know how his style of play like he's very used to the club style I don't know how it would translate to to the international game which was another criticism of Greg burh halter um now let's let's look at it from the Chicago perspective here we all know Frank Kos isn't a long-term solution here Anthony would you like Greg berhalter as the next coach of the Chicago Fire that's a that's a difficult question um honestly I would like to see him come to Chicago Fire but I mean he he has coached in the MLS before right oh yeah he was with Columbus before he went to uh us yeah and I I don't I don't know if he did really good with the Columbus Crew um might someone might have to fact check that um but yeah I would I would like to see him try to try to have it go at the MLS again you know maybe he can finally be that long-term coach that everyone's been wanting so if I remember it correctly his time in in Columbus he didn't win any trophies there but he did uh he did get more out of his team than their talent level it seemed like they were always outperforming uh their talent level and then they went out when he went to the US they brought in Caleb Porter made some signings and then Porter helped them win some trophies or win a trophy um but I I wouldn't mind Greg burh halter in Chicago on the one hand because he is I think a better Club level coach I think he could get a lot more from the Chicago team and the job would be similar to what he did with the US the US was in freef Fall after not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup and he kind of brought some stability in brought in the new group of players really helped Bond them together I think he could do the same thing for the Chicago Fire team you know you got your core guys kypers Gutierrez uh pan chios if he is here for another couple years CSUS to build around you know you've got four or five core guys that he could really stabilize the culture with but on the other side I mean we we know what the ceiling is we know the ceiling for Greg bur halter is you're gonna have a really good MLS team and that's it you may not have a Trophy winning MLS team but but they'll be pretty good so I don't know if that's something that I would want but as a Chicago Fire fan we haven't made the playoffs in seven years maybe you're okay with that as a short-term rebuild I mean how does that sound to you I think that sounds pretty good you know U maybe try to do what Columbus did you know get a get a short-term rebuild coach I mean they want an MLs two MLS cuffs now that I think about it and now they got their long-term coach I think we should follow a route somewhat like that you know I don't think it's a bad idea and I hope that the Chicago Fire are considering it and uh we we'll have to see because even if even if you think it's a terrible idea listeners out there even if you think it's the worst idea to bring bur halter in Chicago the Chicago Fire front office would not be doing their jobs if they didn't at least consider it or reach out to him and have the conversation so um that's that's what I'll say about that now we are just about at the end of our show looking forward to seeing everyone out at Soldier Field this weekend Anthony I'm sure you'll be at the game right yeah the fire invited me out to the game oh fantastic man are you gonna be Fields side again uh no but I'm on the on the regular seats but like at the very front row um they actually reached out to me this morning uh regarding cuz uh the last game I went to Fields side I didn't get my cia's autograph and whole bunch of people on Twitter were rallying around me getting it and uh Dave Baldwin and some of the more font office people were kind enough to reach out to me and are they are currently setting up me getting a autograph postmatch that's fantastic man enjoy that experience um give cie us the best from everyone here at feed the fire uh thank you for joining me on this episode let everyone know where they can follow along with you and and maybe see some of your jersey design work that you're doing as well uh yeah uh people can follow me on hold let my Twitter uh at Anthony cf97 on Twitter and that's where I'm I'm mostly giving my thoughts on the Chicago Fire and that's also where I post some of my jersey designs that I design in my free time um and yeah that's pretty much all I have to plug from for right now well great man I appreci appreciate being on the show thank you for your time for your thoughts for your energy thank you to all of our viewers and listeners and as always fans let's go fire [Music]