Season Preview: Chicago Fire 2022

The MLS is back this weekend. Yes, it’s still snowing and temps are in the teens but soccer is back and so is TheThirdPost. This is the ninth post on Thethirdpost.com, which is fitting since the Fire finished last season with a grand total of 9 wins, but I don’t want to dwell on last year’s disappointment. Let’s get ready for the new season with some hope and positivity! Here are three things I’m thinking about going into the new season. 

How big of a deal is Xherdan Shaqiri?

In short, Xherdan Shaqiri is a huge deal for the fire. He is exactly the level of player a big market team like Chicago should be attempting to sign, and the Fire haven’t done that since 2017 when they brought in Bastian Schweinsteiger. And this deal is even better because Shaqiri is younger, only 30, and a more attack minded player. 

The new Fire coach Ezra Hendrickson said in a press conference last week that he plans on using Shaqiri as a number 10, which seems to make sense given his age, and qualities he brings to the team. He could play as a wide forward on the right but that doesn’t seem to be the best way to maximize his minutes and impact. 

While 30 isn’t old, it is the end of a player’s prime, and Shaqiri hasn’t played tons of minutes over recent seasons, partly due to injury and partly due to not being the first choice player at his position. So sending him bombing up and down the wing probably isn’t the best idea. 

Instead, allowing him to run the show and slide through balls behind opposition defenses, rip shots from the edge of the box and serve as the central hub to the whole Fire attack will make a much better use of his skillset. I honestly can’t wait to see him use his unique (picture a cube) frame to hold off MLS defenders while sliding passes through the opposition backline to onrushing Fire attackers. Or ripping shots from outside the box like in this excellent welcome video the Fire media team put together! 

In the past calendar year Shaqiri has played games for Liverpool, and then this season for Lyon in France, and internationally for Switzerland. Across those leagues and tournaments he has racked up 1131 minutes which comes out to only about 12 full 90 minute games. But with that relatively small sample size in mind we can still look at some of the data to see exactly what Shaqiri is good at, and how he can help the Fire improve on their second to last place goal tally.

The website Fbref.com has a scouting report for Shaqiri that compares him to players in his position across Europe’s big 5 leagues, and according to their data one thing is very clear. Shaqiri is a very good passer, and not just passing to keep possession, but he is great at passing forwards to create goal scoring opportunities. He ranks in the 91st percentile in progressive passes, defined as completed passes in the attacking half of the pitch that move the ball towards the goal at least 10 yards or passes into the penalty area. He’s also in the 69 percentile in assists, and the 76th percentile in shot creating actions.

So what does that all mean? Basically Shaqiri has proven at a very high level that he is an excellent passer. He looks for passes that create scoring chances, and completes those passes at a very high rate. This is all good news for the Fire and that leads us to the next thing that I’m thinking about…

Who will Shaqiri be making all of these passes to?

The two other players that I am most interested to see in the attack are Jhon Duran and Jairo Torres. They are two of the other new faces for Fire fans this season. Duran was actually signed last season, but he wasn’t eligible to complete his move to the MLS last season because he was still only 17. The noises coming out of preseason are very positive, and he is definitely in contention to start, probably on the left in the 4-2-3-1 formation that new coach Hendrickson says is his preferred system. Although depending on how things go Duran will also get some minutes as the center forward. 

The second biggest signing of the offseason in my mind is Jairo Torres. He is a 20 year-old winger from Atlas in Mexico. He has already played for the Mexican National team and he could provide the dynamic pace to get on the end of defense splitting passes from Shaqiri. The downside is that he won’t be available for the Fire until May 1, after the end of the current Mexican League Season. So we’ll have to wait a little while before getting to see him in action. 

How will first year coach Ezra Hendrickson want the Fire to play?

I have to admit here that I haven’t done very much research or reading on Hendrickson, beyond what he has said in press conferences, so this is very much an area that I’m excited to just wait and see how the team looks. I know that he wants to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is kind of the default formation these days, but it will be interesting to see exactly what tactics he gives to the players. In my opinion he needs to keep instructions simple and really solidify his best eleven. Last year Rapael Wicky seemed to be chopping and changing players every game, and they seemed unable to build any kind of rhythm or understanding between the players. 

Torres not being available for a few months is unfortunate, but hopefully Hendrickson can find the right mix of young players and experience to get the season off to a good start. 

As with every new season there are many more questions to be asked. Like will the homegrown players be given a chance? Or, how much will the defense improve without error-prone Francisco Calvo back there? What impact can center back Rafael Czichos have on the team? How much merchandise can the Fire finally sell now that they have the strange diamond crest thrown in the trash? And most importantly, can the Fire actually make the playoffs? But those questions will have to wait for another day. For now enjoy the return of the MLS and remember that the MLS season starting means there’s only about six more weeks of winter, Chicago!