The Fire's practice session on Saturday looked a bit lighter for good reason. Several players are no longer in camp and won't be headed to phase 2 of pre-season training in Florida next week.
Supplemental draft pick Yannick Salmon and trialists Barry Rice, Ashley McInnes, and Hunter Jarrett are the first casualties.
Filed under: 2011 Pre Season
Tags: Chicago Fire, Pre Season Training
Had to happen, always does. You just always hope that they either come back to you stronger (if ever again), or don't come back to haunt you.
Any word on the other striker?
Sounds like later this week.
suuuuuuuurrrrrreeee, i've heard that before! ;)
Move on from Peter Wilt please, people act like he is a god, but yet no other MLS team wanted him when the Fire got rid of him. He was involved with the Red Stars until they Folded no he is with the Riot until they fold, and he also failed in bringing a MLS team to Wisconsin the man is not the god you people make him out to be.
everyone is free to their opinion, but judging him on his work with the red stars and riot hardly counts in my book. both of those are enormous uphill battles in a crowded sports market that barely has enough room financially for a legit MLS team. the amount of teams like the RS and Riot that have folded over the years is countless.
Fair enough, but care to comment on why no other MLS team has ever touched him?
no, that's definitely a valid point. i honestly don't have a strong opinion either way...i can see how others love him and what he accomplished w/the fire but not being hired by another organization definitely raises a red flag.
He never wanted to leave the area. It's not as though he wasn't asked.
Peter Wilt is a classy guy and has great loyalty to the Chicago and Milwaukee area and I hope he comes back to the Fire in some capacity.
We have sure seen better days especially in year one winning the Hunt cup and MLS cup as an expansion team!
We have really fallen from the glorious days and are truely in a rebuilding mode but without direction and people in charge that know what they are doing!
Valid points by Eric and Drew. Let's not crown Peter Wilt as some kind of king. However, he did a lot for that organization while he was with the Fire. He hired an unknown coach Bob Bradley (now USMNT coach), drafted and signed players like Zach Thornton, Chris Armas, Jesse Marsch, CJ Brown, Roman Kosescki, Peter Nowak, Lubos Kubik, Carlos Bocanegra, DeMarcus Beasley, Ante Razov and etc. Also, he had done something that no other MLS franchise will ever accomplish for a while, a MLS Championship in their inaugural season. Currently, Wilt runs the Riot and fans have to move on and look at the present and the future. Quote from Mike Ditka: "You live in the past, you die in the past."
And Damani Ralph, Hristo Stoickov, and Logan Pause is certainly worthy of mention. .
The Fire need to go after Charlie Davies. We have no strikers at a top level.
Too late on that one....
Couldn't have gotten him anyway, as DC was on top of the allocation draft. I'm really pulling for him to tear up the MLS (but with no goals at the Fire's expense, of course).
The Leonardo that is currently on trial with the Fire is not the same Leonardo that played for the LA Galaxy last season. Seems that Leonardo is still in LA and started a scrimmage match for the Gals today.
God?? God is a myth for children. Wilt's record is not a myth, but brute material fact.
Eric,
You are correct Peter Wilt is not a God.
But he is "A Legend For Soccer In The
Chicago Area." He understands the game
and what will increase The Fan Base.
Look at what he has done for The Chicago Riot
so far. Inviting former Chicago Sting Players
and other well known player a couple of weeks
ago to mingle with the fans prior to the Baltimore
Blast game. Peter should be brought back to the
Fire to inspire the team and its Fans. The current
group are showing that they don't have their act
together. My vote Peter Wilt for Chicago - Fire President.
Look at what he's done with the Riot? I've seen more attendance at non-football high school sporting events (prep football attendance figures would look like El Dorado to Wilt and MISL).
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2011/02/wednesday_kickaround_71.html#more
Arnoux wouldn't look bad up front for the Men in Red! I'm grasping at straws here for things to get excited about.
Unfortunately the Fire would have to win a weighted allocation lottery for Arnoux....which is different from the regular allocation process that MLS uses for international players.
San Jose won the rights to goalkeeper David Bingham through the allocation lottery process a few weeks ago. Funny how a player from the San Jose area managed to end up in San Jose after the local team defies the odds to win his services in a lottery which wasn't made public.
An interesting fact about the Monte Carlo Casino is that citizen of Monaco are not allowed to enter; how, amazing. I guess this must be a policy decision so that locals are saved from the habit of playing casino games. Important aspect of such a policy is that despite such a tactics the Monte Carlo Casino attracts a large number of overseas casino players. Quite strange to believe an industry surviving on customers from outside has become an attractive travel destination and a widely known casino center.
Gaston Puerari started training yesterday and is wearing #18. Mike Banner has switched to #7.
Yep. I wouldn't mind sharing a beer with Peter, but not interested in bringing him back.
Best of luck Peter, see you in the East Lot.
Hunter Jarrett is Greg Jarrett's son fyi.
Guillermo,
Did the Fire actually say they are going to announce
the signing of another veteran Striker this week?
Now that the Super Bowl hype is over, "Julian Posada needs
to start performing and work on getting a Jersey Sponsor
and getting the needed Media attention. I thought we were
told that he had a top position with The Chicago Tribune.
Why doesn't he use his connections there and start getting
some attention for The fire.
Tiger,
The Fire haven't actually said that the announcement would come this week. That's my guess based on everything I've heard.
Posada didn't hold a top position at the Tribune but he was in charge of Hoy....the spanish language newspaper that is a Tribune property. He surely has connections over at Trib tower...we'll see what that produces.
The Chicago fire is a hidden professional soccer team located in Chicago. You could ask almost anyone in the city to name just one player and I would be surprised if 1 in a thousand could produce a players name. Please bring back Peter Wilt the team use to be a young well coached team. Today the only aspect of the team that I am sure of is that is the worst coached team in the league. I will continue to try to follow the team but it is a difficult team and organization to understand.
The Chicago Fire are so hidden they're not even in Chicago. And let's not bring back Peter Wilt . . . unless he's named Director of Fan Relations and has the authority to offer an open tab at the park for STH's.
For all the Wilt years the Fire were consistently one of the best, if not the best, teams in MLS. he plucked both Armas and Beasley from LA, among many shrewd deals. There is much more to Wilt than being gregarious and fan friendly. I would happily see him return as President.
Peter Wilt pulled off one of the shrewdest deals in MLS history when he fleeced the Galaxy to get Armas. He selected Danny Pena and Kevin Hartman in the 1998 expansion draft. The Galaxy were left Pena unprotected because he had made it clear that he would play in LA or nowhere. Wilt also knew that the Galaxy were keen to unload Campos, whose trips between MLS and the Mexican league were very disruptive. Knowing that LA really wanted to keep Hartman, he offered to give Hartman and Pena back to LA in exchange for Armas. Campos was thrown into the deal to make it more palatable for LA.
I agree 100% bringing Peter Wilt back as President
of The Chicago-Fire is what is needed in order to
right the sinking ship. The current leadership isn't
getting the job done. Andrew Hauptman "Please Wake Up."