BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – A return of just four points from five games has left the Chicago Fire looking upwards from near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. And with a trio of difficult games on the horizon, things could very well get worse before they get better for the Men in Red.
When the 2018 schedule was announced, Veljko Paunovic’s men were surely happy with the fact that four of their first five games at Toyota Park, where they had lost just three times in 18 games in 2017. Given the relatively heavy influence of home-field advantage throughout MLS, it could have been expected that the Fire would be sitting with a better record than the 1-3-1 mark they have managed to date.
Visits to the New York Red Bulls (Saturday, 3:30 pm ET | Univision, Twitter; Full TV & streaming info) and defending MLS Cup champions Toronto FC are next up for the Fire before they return home for a tantalizing matchup against red-hot Atlanta United. But head coach Paunovic believes his team is improving and getting closer to where he believes they should be.
"I think it was a pretty good game and very good execution of the plan that all our guys did,” Paunovic said after the 1-0 defeat to the LA Galaxy in front of a record crowd of 21,915 on Saturday. “I'm proud of the effort. I'm proud of the mentality. A small mistake decided the game and obviously they have quality and they converted that opportunity.
“But for me, most importantly, the team is growing. The team is getting better. I think we have more game now. We have more fluidity in our possession. We also create opportunities. I would like to see more and I would like to see more goals, but I think we're getting closer.”
Both Paunovic and president/GM Nelson Rodriguez have been vocal about their belief the roster is “incomplete,” and that they are actively looking to bring in some quality, whether that be before the current transfer window closes on May 1 or during the summer window, which runs from July 10 to August 8.
High-profile players like Lee Nguyen, Fernando Torres and Iker Casillas have been linked with the club. However, Paunovic kept his cards close to his chest when asked about any potential acquisitions before May 1.
"What we expect is to work with the team we have and as I said, I see progress,” the Serbian said. “That makes me feel very, very happy. I see important progress, in tactical understanding and maturity, even when we had a lot of young players today, it was a very mature approach. All I expect is to build on top of that. The window closes in two weeks, or a little bit more, everything's possible and we're active until we have the possibility. But we'll see what happens."
On Saturday Paunovic continued to start with Bastian Schweinsteiger as a sweeper at the heart of his defense, a role he has played to great effect in recent weeks, with Man of the Match performances against the Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew SC.
Ibrahimovic strikes on Saturday | USA Today Sports Images
The German’s duel with LA’s star man and former Manchester United teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic proved to be one of the most intriguing features of a bitterly cold afternoon in Chicago, the Swede coming out on top with the decisive goal in first-half injury time after escaping Schweinsteiger’s attention to head home Ashley Cole’s pinpoint cross from the left.
Will Paunovic persist with Schweinsteiger at sweeper?
"It depends on the game,” he said. “Second half, as you could see, in one moment we moved Bastian to midfield and he brought a different dimension to the game with his capacity, understanding of the game, execution, everything.
“The talent that Bastian has is amazing. One day, we should build a statue here in front of Bridgeview just like Michael Jordan has [outside the United Center]. So definitely he is, as I said in the past, very important for us and we appreciate a lot how much talent he has and can apply to different roles in our team."
