There was one person missing from the Chicago Fire's annual Season Kickoff Luncheon on Tuesday -- goalkeeper Dominic Cervi. It turns out Cervi will not be joining the Fire or any other MLS team at the current time.
"Unfortunately, Dominic has chosen not to sign with the league," said Fire president and general manager John Guppy. "We believe he will have a tremendous future. He indicated many times that he felt the Fire was the right place for him.
"His representative was looking for a change in policy in terms of Major League Soccer. Several players signed with the league before the draft and received many benefits. Cervi did not sign and his representative was requesting the same benefits. At the end of the day, we could not accommodate his wishes."
Going into the MLS SuperDraft, Chicago had not yet signed goalkeeper Matt Pickens. So one of their missions was to find a strong young goalkeeper. They thought they had found that with the No. 12 pick when they selected Dominic Cervi.
"We watched Dominic play for two days, before he went to train with the U-23s," Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said after the draft. "He has certain good starting points and he can hold his own."
Cervi performed strong for the U.S. under-23 national team in Olympic qualifying. He started in goal for two of the team's five games -- a 1-0 win against Honduras March 15 and a 0-1 loss to Honduras March 23. In the other three games, he served as reserve 'keeper behind Chris Seitz.
Meanwhile, the Fire have a strong core of goalkeepers, with reliable veteran Jon Busch and second-year 'keeper Nick Noble.
"We're very happy with Jon and Nick," Guppy said. "We feel very safe with the two of them in goal. We're looking at various options for our third goalkeeper. We definitely don't feel that we're in a rush. We will figure out what works best for the team."
Busch has spent six seasons in Major League Soccer. He joined the Fire just before the 2007 campaign and saw limited action as a backup to Matt Pickens. Busch started three games, made 15 saves and posted a 1-2-0 record. He has a career record of 36-26-23 with 382 saves, while playing for the Columbus Crew and Chicago.
Noble spent last season training under Pickens and Busch. He saw limited action in exhibitions and has yet to see MLS action. Regardless, he is 6-4 and 200 lbs., with long arms and is quite a presence in goal.
Both goalies played in the Fire's reserve division games. Busch started all five matches with a 0-3-2 record and allowing five goals. Noble saw action in 90 minutes, allowing one goal.
Busch and Noble have a strong bond. "Coach Daryl Shore jokes that Nick is my little son," Busch said. "We've played together for a year now. We had a good friendly camp. We had three goalkeepers pushing each other throughout camp. That's what you need."
Noble said the best part of training was the team being together in isolation.
"If you're in one place with each other for 20 days, you have to come together," Noble said. "On the goalkeeping side, we had three very good 'keepers in camp. It was very competitive. We made the strikers work hard and that's what you want."
Either goalkeeper is an option. As for number three, the search is on.
Kathryn L. Knapp is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
