Chicago Fire – The New Liverpool

By: irish_steve | May 7th, 2009

It’s taken me almost a week to write about last weekend’s game. One of my friends summed it up well when he said it was the worst he has felt after watching a home game in a long time. As we sat, dejected in the parking lot, a group of my friends and I came to the conclusion that the Fire are the MLS equivalent of Liverpool.

Now I know a lot of you will attack me for saying this and will be quick to point out the ways that the Fire are unlike Liverpool but I would like you to hear me out.

First off, the Fire have the deepest team in the league, Liverpool aren’t as deep as Chelsea or Man Utd. Liverpool have won the most league titles in England, the Fire have won only one. There are many other differences but lets not get too hung up on them.

On to the similarities!

Both teams play well in cup competitions. Since the beginning of the Premier League and the MLS, both Liverpool and the Fire have been there or there abouts at the end of the season, but between them, the Fire are the only one to have won a league trophy. Cup’s are a different story. Since their founding in 1998, the Fire have won 4, yes 4 Open Cups, in 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2006. Since the start of the premier league in 1992, Liverpool have won 3 FA Cups, 3 Carling Cups, 2 Charity Shields, 1 Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup, and 2 Super Cups. After seeing this list, it is clear that even though both haven’t won the league in awhile, they are a force to be reckoned with in knockout competitions.

Both teams have inconsistent league form. As we know, Liverpool are having one of their best Premier League campaigns in recent memory but in the past, they have been plagued by inconsistency. The Fire have suffered the same problem. Over the past decade in the league, both teams cannot seem to find a long stretch (10+ games) without losing. Too many draws for both sides over the years have cost them dearly. Last season Liverpool tied a massive 13 games or 34% on their way to coming in 4th place. The Fire tied 7 games or 23% of their games last season but look set to surpass that easily this season where they have tied an astounding 5 of their first 7 games.

The final major similarity goes hand in hand with the previous one, namely not killing off games. Rafa, Dirk Kuyt are only 2 of the many people connected with Liverpool who have criticized them for not killing off teams. Former Liverpool player Steve McManaman has been very outright with his comments on Setanta this season bemoaning the fact that Liverpool aren’t killing teams off. Don’t get me wrong, we have seen Liverpool smash 4 goals past a lot of teams this season but its the games where they are winning 1 nil and take off their strikers with 20 minutes to go only to give up an equalizer that are sure to drive their fans mad. The 4-4 Arsenal game is another example. As for the Fire, going unbeaten in the first 7 games of the season seems great but when you tie 5 of those and have dropped 2 points in at least 3 of the ties, its a recipe for disaster. Failing to hold a 1 goal lead at HOME against a 10 man expansion team is unacceptable and something has to change soon, or mumblings about firing coach Denis Hamlett will get a lot louder.

Both Liverpool fans and Fire fans expect the team to win every game and when that isn’t happening, the players, management, and ownership are sure to get an earful from the fans.