BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The Chicago Fire will need to arrest a disappointing run of 19 games without a win on the road if they are to book a record-tying seventh appearance in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final.
Frank Yallop’s side are in Philadelphia for the first of two games against the Union, the first of which is Wednesday night’s Open Cup semifinal (7:30 pm ET; Youtube.com) which could earn them a home tilt against the winner of Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake.
“Yeah, it’s a good question,” Yallop told reporters when asked about his side’s inability to win on the road. “We don’t set up any differently, we try to do the same type of things that we do at home, maybe we play a little bit deeper but not by intention.
“Obviously most teams win their home games or they tend to be good at home and the odd teams that do well in the league have a good record on the road also. For us, we’ve just got to keep plugging away and hope that tide will turn and we’ll get that win.”
The upcoming cup and league doubleheader against fellow Eastern Conference strugglers Philadelphia will go a long way to dictating the Fire’s season. Two wins and the Men in Red would be set up for a home cup final and some momentum as they attempt to haul themselves back into the playoff picture. Lose both, and the recent frustrations surrounding the club and amongst the fanbase will intensify.
“It will be everything if we can get through this game and host the final, you can’t ask for more,” Yallop added. “So we’re hoping that we can get through this game Wednesday with a great result, we’re desperate to win it, that’s for sure. I’ve just been talking to Jeff Larentowicz and he’s like ‘this is it, this is the one’.”
“It’s massive and the biggest game since I’ve been here,” Chicago native Mike Magee told MLSsoccer.com. “I’ve been on clubs where it wasn’t as important and when I got here I might have been a little skeptical to what was really going on, but after speaking to the fans and the club, guys that have been here and played here, it’s everything, it’s huge. To continue that and knowing where we are at in the table only makes it that much more important. To play a cup final at home is a dream so we have to take advantage of it.”
Magee, who returned to full training this week after recent knee problems, admits he is “close enough to help the team” and also contended that the team’s struggles away from Toyota Park will not be an issue at PPL Park.
“I don’t care about that, and I don’t think any of the other guys do either,” Magee said of their poor record on the road. “In a one-off game it’s obviously different as well and there’s enough at stake to not care about the past, our away record, or anything else. A one-off game to have a chance to host a final should take any doubt or past results out of our minds.”
Fellow Chicago native Eric Gehrig experienced Open Cup success with the club as a fan from the terraces, and reveled in Frank Klopas’ dramatic extratime winner against Columbus Crew SC to claim the first of four titles for the club in 1998.
“I remember that inaugural year when the Fire did the double, at home too, Frank Klopas, game-winner, jumped over the board, I was in the stands for that game,” Gehrig recalled. “I know the club is hunting for some trophies and the Open Cup obviously means a lot to the club, probably more to the Fire than most clubs in the league. We are historically successful in the tournament and we’ve a huge opportunity on our hands on Wednesday. If we win that game we get to host the final, so it’s a dream opportunity and I hope everyone will be ready.”
After two successful stints with the San Jose Earthquakes that sandwiched a stop with the LA Galaxy, Yallop is still without an Open Cup, and lost the 2006 Cup final 3-1 to the Fire at Toyota Park while in charge at LA.
And he admits that defeat still hurts, nine years on.
“The importance of the trophy and the prestige of winning the Open Cup is massive and this club’s won it a lot,” he said. “I haven’t won it at all as a coach, I got to the final and lost to Chicago with the Galaxy, so it hurts, it still hurts.”
