Fire "Three Players Short," says Berhalter

On Tuesday, the Fire completed the second of three days of training at Intentional Sports Complex, the $31 million, 10-acre compound in North Austin built with the support of the Chicago Fire Foundation and baseball player Jason Heyward.

The Fire are training in the facility that is normally devoted to youth and community sports because the team’s new, state-of-the-art facility, the Endeavor Health Performance Center, is not yet ready, missing the opening date the team hoped to meet. The preseason schedule the Fire released last week shows that the team is slated to practice in the new facility when they return to Chicago at the end of the month.

Team staff expressed optimism that the facility would be ready in time, though as anyone who has experienced renovation and construction work is aware, completion dates are subject to move – and seldom, if ever, forward.

(Some) New Faces

Center-backs Jack Elliott, signed as a free agent after a number of years with the Philadelphia Union, as well as Sam Rogers, whose signing from Norwegian club Lillestrøm was announced just yesterday, were both with the team and fully integrated into training. The third all-new face in the squad was Fire SuperDraft pick Dean Boltz, now in his second active day as a professional soccer player.

Rogers was able to join the team so quickly because, as a U.S. citizen, visas were not an issue. Meanwhile, the team is still waiting for attacker Philip Zinckernagel and newly-announced U22 initiative signing Leonardo Barroso to acquire visas so they can join the team. The team is hopeful that Zinckernagel, whose signing was announced January 6th, will be able to join the team in the coming days, with Barroso set to follow some time later.

In addition to the new faces, Omari Glasgow and David Poreba experienced their second day of training as formal members of the first team, though they did often train with the main squad last year. They were joined by several players from the Fire II squad, including Harold Osorio and Diego Konincks.

More to come

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Fire Director of Football and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said that the team is “another three players short of being where we want to be.”

The rumor mill around the Fire is in full swing on who those players might be, with a report from Fabrizio Romano and Tom Bogert stating the Fire have been interested in Gaëtan Perrin from French club Auxerre. The interest appears to have been genuine but Auxerre’s transfer fee demands likely scuttling the deal as it appears that the Fire wish to acquire him for a low enough transfer fee so that he would not have to be a Designated Player.

Since then, rumors have tried to link the Fire with a wide array of players, from former Fulham player Sylvester Jasper to Jonathan Ikone. Although the team is considering multiple options, it is truly becoming silly season out there.

The Fire have Barroso’s addition, the Fire now have one Designated Player three U22 Initiative players, meaning the team can sign two more “marquee” players, whether 1 DP and 1 U22 or 2 U22s.

Looking forward

The Fire wrap up their opening three days of preseason in Chicago on Wednesday before heading to South Florida, with a game coming on Sunday against Fortaleza FC, who Berhalter called a “top team” in media availability.

Coming less than a week into the Fire’s training camp under a new coach, Acosta has said the game will be a “great test,” noting that the Brazilian side finished near the top of the table last year. He called the matchup against the South American giant a “different kind of competition,” and an “opportunity to learn the kind of tactics, the system and understand each other. I think for us, we love to play and so having that opportunity to have a high level expedition match is huge, and it’s also going to be sunny there.”

Elliott is also relishing the challenge, saying “I think it’s good to startup preseason against a good opponent to see where you are, and see how everyone looks and try to do the best you can to play the system. That is what we’re trying to learn.”

We’re hearing that the game should be available to stream – a rarity for MLS preseason matchups over the past few years – with an official announcement coming soon.