BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Don’t ask Frank Yallop about Didier Drogba. For now the Chicago Fire head coach can’t say anything, about Drogba or anyone else for that matter.
According to reports on Friday, the 37-year-old striker is in discussions with MLS, with Chicago in poll position to sign the Ivory Coast and Chelsea legend.
“Obviously, we can’t name names but we’re talking to some players and obviously someone like that would be great to bring to the club,” Yallop said when asked about the club’s interest in Drogba. “Obviously, I can’t say anything more than that, to be honest.”
For now, the Fire are focused on avenging a midweek defeat to Columbus Crew SC, with a scheduling quirk seeing the venue switch to MAPFRE Stadium for Sunday’s clash on national television (5 pm ET; ESPN2, TSN2).
Wednesday’s loss followed a 2-2 draw in Columbus in May which, despite the distance between them in the Eastern Conference table, suggests there isn’t much between the two sides. Crew SC (7-7-6, 27 points) climbed to second in the East in midweek, while the Men in Red (5-10-3, 18 points) remained anchored to the bottom of the table.
Having experienced the occasion from both sides, defender Eric Gehrig is acutely aware of the rivalry that’s blossomed between the Fire and Crew SC, his former club.
Gehrig, a native of Harvey, Illinois, knows all about the rivalry from both perspectives having made 46 appearances in four years with Columbus before his switch to Frank Yallop’s men ahead of this campaign.
“Growing up, when I was a kid, I was into it with the Fire so I got first hand experience and taste of the rivalry back in the Piotr Novak, [Hristo] Stoichkov days,” Gehrig told MLSsoccer.com. “There was a big rivalry. Definitely got a taste of it, big club for them, we won some games against the Fire in Columbus last year. I knew it meant a lot to them, and now I’m getting the same kind of feeling from the Chicago fans.”
Certainly, the relative geographical proximity to each other – it’s a six-hour drive – has helped foster a distinctive rivalry and competitive edge that may not exist with other teams league-wide, especially since both met with regularity in playoff games early in their existence.
However, given the Fire’s subsequent battles with the New England Revolution, D.C. United and even the LA Galaxy, it is fair to say that the strength of the rivalry may have weakened in recent years.
“Columbus fans definitely have a huge animosity for the Chicago Fire,” Gehrig added, however. “Obviously they’re a bigger market, close neighbors, pretty close in terms of Midwestern rivalries and when I first came over here [to Chicago] the first thing I heard from a lot of Columbus fans was that I was going to their biggest rival.”
Still, given the table position they find themselves in, the Fire figure to put the rivalry and what it means to the fans on each side to one side as they concentrate on securing their first road win of the season on Sunday, as the Crew did in Chicago midweek.
“I know the rivalry they have, between Chicago and Columbus, so it doesn’t go beyond our thoughts,” Yallop acknowledged. “It’s just another game where we’ve got to get three points.”
