In week 4, this would have seemed a pretty solid result. Now, though – eeugh. That was some ugly sheet, mang.

Not ugly from a technique standpoint, really. The passing in MLS can surprise me sometimes now, and the quality of the balls Conde and Segares (from one end) and Conrad (from the other) were serving up made it look like these teams were actually, honestly playing long-ball, and not just hoofing the damned thing every chance they got. But in the end, does that increase in quality matter, if the team is still so bereft of ideas?

NobodyBeatsTheWiz got the better chances in transition, and no wonder – KC has always had good speed to counter, and this edition is no different. The Chicago attackers (putting aside Blanco from all criticism here) are generally better in combination – Rolfe, Frankowski and Thorrington, particularly – but the possessions seldom led to anything. The ball would cycle through, the movement was compelling, but no one seemed to agree who should do the daring thing and actually try to score.

I’m afraid the reason for that is that the team, generally, has delegated all the creative thinking to our very favorite L’il Hunchback, Señor Blanco. Blanco’s brain was disconnected from everyone else’s feet by Kansas City’s double- and triple-teaming of the man. And so, except for a few wild slaloms from Mapp, and a couple of mule-kick half-chances from Rolfe, the Fire went quietly.

Until the – uhhh – let’s say, the non-Mexican attackers rediscover aggressiveness, this club is going to struggle to score goals. McBride isn’t coming for a month. It’s time for Rolfe to show he’s got what we all hope he’s got, and for Frankowski to show he’s worth that sack of coin.

And now I’m finally watching Temo make his MLS debut, and it’s an away game at Toronto – one of the most physical, British-style teams. Sure, he’s fallen over a few times and looked a little annoyed with the referee from time to time, when he hasn’t received calls in his favour.

But right now, he’s literally toying with the opposition: taking the ball in midfield, holding off defenders for as long as he wants, finding his forwards at will, caressing the ball with care, and generally looking like he’s been playing in MLS his entire career.

His assist for the first goal, a gorgeous chip wrong-siding the defender and laid perfectly into the stride of Ivan Guererro, was the best pass I’ve seen a Fire player make all season. The Fire are winning 3-0, and it could easily be 5 or 6.

Temo is leaving the field now, in the 78th minute. What a start.

There was also a two-page spread inside Hoy. Beckham’s debut, meanwhile, was relegated to half a page.

The Chicago Tribune, unsurprisingly, covered Blanco’s arrival very well, with Luis’ blog particularly scathing about the disappointing attendence.

The best photos I’ve seen from the game come from the Chicagoist’s Todd, and can be seen on this Flickr slideshow.

Anyone spot any other good stories on Blanco’s debut?

And a struggle it has been. The Galaxy and the Fire have been abysmal; how far this is the result of the distraction each circus has provided (not to mention committing a large portion of salary cap space to a player not able to participate in half the season) will never be known for sure.

In the meantime, the Fire have moved on a to a new manager (and how convenient it is he speaks Spanish) and are closing out a deal for new ownership.

The Blanco affair has, of course, been a mere county fair compared to the mega-ESPN-hype-machine surrounding Beckham’s arrival. At the press conference on Friday, there were around 25 reporters and 25 photographers, as a shy looking Blanco answered ten minutes of questions – all in Spanish – in an atmosphere that was lively, but hardly overwhelming.

At the practice later, donning a number ten jersey, he looked in fairly good shape, in front of half a dozen tv cameras. I found it disappointing that the practice was a closed media event: create some buzz! Get fans out!

And in a reminder of the Fire’s marketing issues, alarmingly (as of yesterday) there were still tickets available for his debut today – alarming in particular, as playing Celtic should already have been a big enough draw. The Fire’s marketing folks were practically begging journalists on Friday to mention there were “good seats still available”. One wonders if taking a few questions in English might have been a good idea (there was a translator available) – shouldn’t the Fire be ensuring the buzz Blanco has created in the Hispanic community spills over elsewhere? Concentrating solely on the Hispanic media would be a big mistake.

This afternoon, I’ll be at the game and will report back with photos. I also have photos from the press conference and training session that I’ll try to upload soon.

Tonight, Blanco faces the press for the first time as a Fire player. You can catch it on the official website. He’ll then train with the team in front of the media.

I will be there myself, and will try to takes as many notes and snap as many photos as I can before someone kicks me out for being a total impostor. I might even liveblog some stuff so check back here tonight.

First off, the crowd: the passion for Blanco was clear. He got the loudest cheers for any player on any team when he was introduced in the semi-final on Thursday, and the final on Sunday. I lost count of the amount of Blanco jerseys I saw – mostly Mexico’s, but quite a few Fire ones already too. Every Mexican fan I spoke said they’d come out to Toyota Park for a couple of games once he arrives.

On the field? The Herald’s Kent McGill ripped Blanco for his condition. “He ran slowly, carefully, and rickety. This was no gazelle; this was a bulky flamingo.” True, he runs funny, and does not look to be in, say, David Beckham’s superb shape. My girlfriend kept laughing at his ungainly gait. But obviously, his game does not rely on running quickly or looking good. As far as I know, he’s always looked funny.

It’s hard for my to believe that someone who just starred for Club America in the Mexican league, at least as good as MLS, is suddenly past it. He played quite well in the semi-final, and looked like the only Mexican player who understood they had to maintain possession and knock the ball around against an athletic Guadaloupe team. He had a couple of outstanding passes.

Blanco did not start in the final. It’s slightly worrying that Sanchez sat him because he was worried Blanco would not stand up to the “physical” challenge. On Sunday, after he came on, he did look tired and played poorly. Was his apparent lethargy due to playing three days earlier, or was it the rapid closing down of the U.S. players? How will he deal with this in MLS? Given how many games he’s played over recent months, it’s no surprise that he’s worn out, and it looks like it’ll take time for him to adapt to playing against a different style. I suspect that we won’t see the best of Blanco until 2008, and we can’t count on him to be any kind of saviour this season.

And what about Cuah as a person? According to Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez, he’s not the devil U.S. soccer fans sometimes say he is. “He has a lot of personality,” Mexico manager Hugo Sanchez said. “Besides that, he has a talent that all teams in the world would want. “It might be hard to communicate with [Fire] teammates because of the language barrier, but he’s a jokester.”

He was also notably honest after Mexico’s defeat, saying “They [the U.S.] deserve to the No. 1 team in CONCACAF.”

I’m sure we’ll all be watching Blanco closely in Copa America, but any other thoughts on him after this weekend?

Apart from that, though, not much news. I know many of you yearn to hear Sarachan has been canned, and I don’t blame you, but I don’t see it happening unless the Fire’s abysmal form stretches a couple more weeks, and really endangers their playoff hopes ahead of Blanco’s arrival.

And I also know many of you are sick of waiting for Blanco. Well, if he keeps elbowing people in the chest, at least he won’t be worn out from playing too many games for Mexico. The video below of the incident is quite fantastic, if only for the music and graphics appended.

Anyway, I haven’t been updating much as my blogging time has been taken up launching a new site. Please go and check it out if you have a moment: pitchinvasion.net. It’s all about football fan culture around the world, and I’ll be covering MLS and the Fire there periodically too.

And if he has any goals like that one from last night left in his locker, following the Fire will soon be a lot more fun than it has been lately; beats watching Chad Barrett run into people, anyway.

Also, though it’s a shame for Blanco that America fell short in the latter stages of both the Clausura and the Copa Libertadores, at least he’ll have a little rest. Welcome, Temo.