BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- It wasn't supposed to be this way.
The Chicago Fire are at the midway point of the 2008 season, and they stand in third place in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer with a record of 7-5-3 (24 points). They play the surprise team of the Western Conference, first-place Real Salt Lake, Saturday at Toyota Park to begin the second half.
But the Fire are in third place only because they pulled out a 2-1 win against Toronto FC last Saturday with a stoppage-time goal by John Thorrington. Otherwise, they would be in a tie with TFC and D.C. United for third place, and clinging to a spot among the top eight teams in the league which translates to a playoff spot.
While third place might seem acceptable at the midpoint of the season, the Fire had greater expectations thanks to a quick start. They were 5-1-1 after seven games and cruising atop the Eastern Conference.
The seventh game of the season was their uber-impressive 5-1 win against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium, the so-called revenge game for coach Juan Carlos Osorio, who abandoned the Fire after half a season to move to New York.
Since then, results have been worse than mixed. The Fire went 340 consecutive minutes without a goal in league games while going 1-4-2 through their second seven games, prior to beating the Reds.
"The glass is half-full, half-empty," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. "We played some wonderful games away from home against very good teams and we played not so great at home."
The Fire have been solid on the back end, although second-year defender Bakary Soumare has been caught a couple of times playing as a central defender. The addition of Brandon Prideaux has solidified the right side, Gonzalo Segares has played solid on the left side, and the combination of Diego Gutierrez, C.J. Brown and Wilman Conde has helped when coach Denis Hamlett played with four in the back.
The midfield has belonged to Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the second year player who brought his Mexican superstardom to Chicago. Blanco, who at the age of 35 has played every minute of every MLS game this season, has four goals and a team-high six assists.
Hamlett said Blanco, the Fire's only MLS All-Star, has gotten through the first half in the peak of health.
"He is getting back into the form that he was (prior to last year)," Hamlett said. "He takes a lot of fouls, with players coming at him. He's doing very well health-wise."
Hamlett said he would consider substituting him late in the game if he wasn't so dangerous with the ball at all times.
"In the 90th minute he is a guy who can score a goal," Hamlett said. "He is a guy who can still make a play offensively. In the games we have been behind we are pushing to get the goal. If we were up with a goal with 10 minutes to go, I would think so, but there are other guys I take off because they are a little more fatigued."
Logan Pause, the long-time steady hand, has served as Blanco's backup, filling holes left by Blanco's opportunist wanderings. John Thorrington, after a lengthy bout with injuries, filled another hole in the midfield, and moving forward Chris Rolfe into an attacking midfield spot gave the team a lot of veteran talent. Justin Mapp, a national team player pool member, has played all 15 games, patrolling the wings.
The forward spot has most often been held by Chad Barrett, who leads the team in scoring with five goals but has been somewhat inconsistent around the net. That inconsistency, most prominently displayed in a 2-0 loss at Chivas USA, might have been responsible for his exclusion from the U.S. Olympic team, announced Thursday by coach Peter Nowak.
Polish star Tomasz Frankowski was primed to win the forward spot, but Barrett beat him out and Frankowski is reduced to spot reserve status.
The fact of the matter is that the Fire could have won, or at least tied, every game they played. They had chances to score. So to Hamlett's way of thinking, the first half was more success than failure.
"The last three league games before Saturday, we had two ties and a loss, and we had opportunities to come away with two wins," Hamlett said. "The breaks didn't go for us in those games. Draws are disappointing. We train well but we are not finishing our chances. It's not like we are not playing well and getting run off the field. We are playing in good stretches. There are more positives than negatives."
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