Fire, Fire II announce additional coaching and roster moves
The Chicago Fire announced a number of additional changes as the team continues to rebuild under Director of Football Gregg Berhalter and Sporting Director Gregg Broughton. The moves give the new front office further flexibility and also additional gaps to fill with just 12 weeks until the start of the 2025 MLS regular season.
Fire II Assistant Coach Patrick Nyarko announced he is leaving the team for personal reasons, and the team announced that they have exercised the 2025 option on goalkeeper Bryan Dowd, while declining options on forward Victor Bezerra and midfielder Laurence Wootton. The team also announced that they have waived forward Missael Rodríguez.
Nyarko, a former Ghana international, spent the first eight years of his professional career with the Fire after being drafted seventh overall in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft before finishing his playing career with D.C. United in 2017. In his time with the Fire, Nyarko became a fan-favorite off of his hard work. He was able to combine speed with ability on the ball and was a committed defender in transition and out of possession.
Following the end of his playing career and time coaching with Richmond United’s academy, Nyarko returned to Chicago in 2021 to become an assistant coach with the U-19 team shortly before their championship run in the inaugural MLS NEXT Cup.
The following year, he joined the newly-formed Fire II in MLS NEXT Pro, and was an influential part of a program that has, to date, had three successive years of improved results on the pitch. In a statement released to the press, Nyarko made sure to call out the “fans, who have always supported me, first as a player and most recently as a coach. Your presence, especially during this year’s U.S. Open Cup and playoff run was incredible, and you have always been outstanding on and off the field. I will be closely following the Club, and I am hopeful both the first and second teams will have a very successful year in 2025. Although I am stepping away, I will always be open to helping the Fire in any capacity in the future and wish the club nothing but the best.”
Although Nyarko’s departure is unexpected, it does follow the dismissal of Ludovic Tallandier as head coach, giving more room for the team’s new sporting staff to reshape the Fire II.
Chicago-area native Dowd was the team’s first pick (no. 6 overall) in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft and had seemed like Fire II’s likely starting goalkeeper before the emergence of Patrick Los. The team eventually loaned Dowd to Huntsville in MLS NEXT Pro, where he started seven matches and recorded one clean sheet. Dowd’s return to Chicago keeps the highly-touted goalkeeping prospect in the organization at a time when the team has already parted ways with the veteran Spencer Richey.
Bezerra, from Chicago, spent the majority of the season on loan to Detroit City in the USL Championship after spending most of the previous two seasons with Fire II in MLS NEXT Pro. Bezerra made his first team debut with the Fire in their U.S. Open Cup match against Union Omaha, coming on in the 77th minute for Jhon Durán. Although the Fire eventually fell in penalties to third-division Omaha, Bezerra converted his penalty, unlike fellow striker Kacper Przybyłko, then the team’s preferred starter at the position, whose attempt missed the target.
Wootton, selected 64th overall by the Fire in last year’s MLS SuperDraft, spent the majority of the season on loan to Indy Eleven in the USL Championship, where he recorded 24 appearances for Eleven, including a start in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match that saw Indy knock Atlanta United out of the competition, playing opposite Dax McCarty after the former Fire captain came on as a substitute for Atlanta.
Although Wootton spent his college career with the Ohio State Buckeyes, the former Big Ten Midfielder of the Year is English, coming up through Stoke City’s academy system (overlapping with former Fire player Xherdan Shaqiri’s time with the first team) before spending time in Stoke City’s academy before arriving in the United States for college. As such, putting him on an MLS or MLS NEXT Pro roster requires using a valuable international slot, explaining in part why the highly-touted prospect was still available by the Fire in the third round of the draft.
Both Wootton and Bezerra will be eligible for the MLS re-entry draft to be held in mid-December.
Although Rodríguez was initially under contract through the 2025 season, he was on a semi-guaranteed deal, allowing the team to place Bezerra on waivers, where he can be picked up by any MLS team. He spent most of 2024 with Union Omaha following two seasons with Fire II after having made his professional – and first team – debut against Omaha in the same ill-fated matchup in 2022 that saw the start of Bezerra’s professional career. Although Rodriguez would make the team sheet for a number of other matches in 2022 and 2023, that match remains the only appearance with the Fire first team.
Rodríguez went on to make 40 appearances with Fire II, scoring nine goals, and was a standout player on the U-19 academy team in 2021, scoring the only goal in the team’s 1-0 victory over Solar SC in the MLS NEXT U-19 Championship match and securing the U-19 MLS NEXT Cup Golden Boot in the process with eight goals over five matches. In Omaha, Rodríguez made 21 appearances (six starts) and scored three goals, including a brace over Charlotte Independence in May.
