There is frustration inside the Chicago Fire locker room, to be sure. But if, as Frank Yallop attests, the entire group takes its cues from veterans like Jeff Larentowicz and Razvan Cocis, there also remains confidence and a hunger for the next opportunity to prove their merits.
“Our leaders have not quit,” he told reporters via teleconference Monday. “They’re vocal. They’re encouraging. We haven’t quit. I feel that the performances were good in this part of the season. We’re trying our best to put it right. Plus you’ve gone a goal down in a minute [against Colorado]. We could’ve crumbled and gave up, but we didn’t. We kept going. It says a lot for the guys on the field and the guys that are the leaders.”
Though the remainder of the season figures to be an uphill climb toward the postseason, Yallop still has high hopes. Playoffs are still on his mind, and he won’t begin calling on young players just for the sake of giving them first-team experience. He wants to win.
“We’re not out of the playoff hunt yet, so you’ve got to go with your strongest lineup who you think is going to win games,” he said. “Mathematically, we still have a chance.”
To get back on track, the Fire will need a good result against New York Red Bulls at home Wednesday (7:30 p.m. CT, CSN Chicago Plus), the first of three meetings between the two clubs over the next two months. After Wednesday, the Fire will be on the road for five of their next six matches.
The Red Bulls, who brought on Chicago Fire original and longtime standout Jesse Marsch as head coach at this season's outset despite winning the 2013 Supporters Shield under Mike Petke, have advanced to the playoffs each of the last five seasons. Even after losing the likes of Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, the Red Bulls -- whose Fire ties on the bench extends to assistant coaches Chris Armas and Denis Hamlett -- have a strong cast of characters that has helped them to second place in the Eastern Conference.
“They’re a little more youthful, a little more team-oriented rather than individual now,” Yallop said. “They move the ball pretty sharply, and [Bradley] Wright-Phillips is a sniper. Not much has changed. I like Lloyd Sam. He’s a good player as well. They’ve got some good players and good weapons, and they seem to stay pretty healthy, which is always a key in our league.”
Yallop can derive confidence from being at home, where the Fire are unbeaten against the Red Bulls in 12 regular season games at Toyota Park, including the 2-0 grand opening win at the venue on June 25, 2006. Chicago also fared well against a formidable 2014 Red Bulls side, with the Fire taking seven points from a possible nine against their opponents from Harrison, N.J.
Of course, the personnel on both sides is greatly changed from last season and, for the Fire, even from last month. Harry Shipp, who raised his national profile with a road hat trick against the Red Bulls on May 10, 2014, looks to have assumed the withdrawn striker role recently left vacant by Shaun Maloney.
"I thought he played well on the weekend," Yallop said. "We moved the ball well, we created some chances, maybe not directly through Harry but he's in that spot. I thought he did a nice job of mixing it up, coming a little deeper to get invovled in the build-up, and then being around the edge of the box to try and create something. Harry's played pretty well this year, maybe the numbers don't show it but he's been in a number of different positions."
The Fire have 10 games remaining, all against Eastern Conference teams and eight against those currently holding a playoff spot. But Yallop continues to believe he’s got a team capable of more than the table has shown.
“We really feel, and I do as their coach and leader, that we haven’t been as bad as the record’s shown in performances,” Yallop said. “We feel that we still have a good side that’s not got the right results. … We’ve just got to keep plugging away and see where the end of the season takes us.”
