Kings of The Cup

"Kings of the Cup"

It wasn’t a very long period of time, but the Chicago Fire really wanted to make that name stick. For that period of time, it made sense. That name was a selling point for U.S. Open Cup tickets from about 2011 to 2014. The Fire were only one title away from tying for the most Open Cups in the history of the storied competition. They still are. They’ve sat on that precipice since 2006, when they had the sole possession of the most USOC wins with four. Since then, however, both Kansas City (Wizards and Sporting) and the Seattle Sounders have caught up, ready to take that crown to call themselves “Kings of the Cup.”

With the Fire preparing to go into another U.S. Open Cup tournament against another Chicago-based opponent, Chicago House, I think we should look back on the history of this tournament and the City of Chicago.

The U.S. Open Cup, up until 2020, was the longest continuously running sports tournament in North America. While the Stanley Cup is older, it was canceled in 2005 due to a lockout in the NHL. So, the Open Cup no longer has that title, but that’s still pretty impressive how there was a winner every single year from 1913 up until the cancellation of the 2020 tournament.

Speaking of 1913, that was around the time when we see the early dynasty of Bethlehem Steel, who picked up the bulk of their record five Cups within just 7 years of the tournament’s creation. It would still take them until 1926 to pick up that fifth title, 8 years after their previous win, but that’s still only a period of 11 years to get five Cups.

If you’re wondering why no NASL teams are ever mentioned in the history of the Open Cup, that’s because none of them actually participated in it. They thought it would draw attention away from the NASL playoffs and the Soccer Bowl, so it was mostly ignored by those super teams. However, that allowed another quickdraw team to win their five Cups from 1973-1981, Macabee Los Angeles. In fact, they made the final in 1982 but lost to New York Pancyprian-Freedoms 4-3 in extra time. That game, despite being between an LA and NY team, actually took place in Hanson Stadium. If you’re wondering why that’s so weird, Hanson Stadium is a high school stadium in North Austin, Chicago. It’s actually less than a mile from the Fire’s new North Austin campus, literally across the tracks and then a few blocks down.

So let’s actually look into the pre-Fire history of Chicago in the U.S. Open Cup, specifically the finals because this is way too much ground to cover and even then it’s gonna take a while.

The first Chicago team to make it to the final was Chicago Canadian Club, who lost 3-0 in 1925 to a team with a name that feels too problematic to mention (although the history behind the team is actually interesting). That game was in Rhode Island, while the first final in Chicago was between the New York Nationals and the Chicago Bricklayers a couple of years later in 1928. The Bricklayers gave up an early lead back in New York at the Polo Grounds, so they were forced into a replay back at a young Soldier Field where they were hammered 3-0.

The Bricklayers did not have a good time in the Open Cup, losing in 1931 to Fall River FC 9-3 on aggregate. Technically, it was listed as 8-2 on aggregate because the second leg of the finals ended in a 1-1 tie, and they decided that they needed a replay instead of just going on aggregate already. The first game of that second leg was played in Mills Stadium, located just off Cicero and Lake. The replay was still in Chicago, played at Sparta Stadium (I’ll get to it) where Fall River still won with just 10 men because their captain got injured in a friendly they decided to play in-between games, and they just didn’t have any reserve players to replace him. By the way, Fall River would actually fold right after that game. While they did merge into the New Bedford Whalers, who won the next year, they count as a separate team.

Anyway, back to Sparta Stadium, which was the home of Chicago Sparta located on the corner of Kostner and Cermak. And Sparta was the first Chicago team to actually win the Open Cup in 1938, taking a 3-0 win at home before finishing it off at Starlight Park in The Bronx against Brooklyn St. Mary’s Celtic to take it 6-2 on aggregate. But Brooklyn got its revenge the next year with a narrow victory at Sparta Stadium, not against Chicago Sparta, but against Chicago Manhattan Beer. Chicago Manhattan Beer was owned by, you guessed it, a beer company of the same name. What you may not know is that the company had very strong ties to Al Capone during his heyday and that’s a story for another time.

Chicago Sparta returned to the finals the year afterward in 1940, which ended up being the only instance in the history of the tournament where the honors were shared by two teams. Basically, they played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Bugle Field in Baltimore. Then they came back to Sparta Stadium, drew again after extra time, this time 2-2, and just decided they didn’t want to play a third game. There were no away goals in those days, so the USSF (then the USFA) decided to just give them both the title. Also, while still Chicago Sparta, they were listed as “Sparta Fallstaff” this year. No clue why.

The Cup would return to Chicago in 1946 when Chicago Viking A.A. picked up a decisive 2-1 victory in the second leg at Comiskey Park against Ponta Delgada, another team playing out of Fall River, Massachusetts. It was also another example of the losing team immediately clapping back against another Chicago team the very next year, with Ponta Delgada smashing Chicago Sparta 6-1 in just the first leg.

Chicago would get another win at Sparta Stadium, this time in 1953 with the Chicago Falcons winning against reigning champs the Harmarville Hurricanes. The Hurricanes, once again, took that personally. So, despite Chicago Schwaben’s first-leg victory at home in 1956, they’d come back to win 3-2 on aggregate on their own turf. But Schwaben didn’t actually play at Sparta Stadium, their game was played at Winnemac Park Stadium, which still technically exists at Winnemac Park, just a couple blocks east of Western around Lincoln Square.

It took a while longer, but the previously mentioned Hanson Stadium would make its first appearance in 1965, when Chicago Hansa fumbled it in the second leg in extra time, losing 4-1 to the New York Ukranians. It is interesting to note that while the Open Cup final has never been played in the home of the Chicago Cubs, it was played at Wrigley Field the year before when the Los Angeles Kickers beat the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals 2-0. There are so many things that I can mention about why that stadium exists, but that’s a story for another time and another sport entirely.

Moving on into the dark ages of the Open Cup, with the NASL overtaking soccer in the country while refusing to play in the tournament, Chicago Olympic hosted Greek American A.A. at Hanson Stadium in 1968. While they held the New York team to a 1-1 draw, they couldn’t stop them from picking up their second of three straight titles in the second leg. Greek American A.A. really liked beating Chicago teams, as their fourth title came against Chicago Croatian in 1974, although that was in New York. I couldn’t find where exactly. In fact, Chicago Croatian made the final again in 1979 against Brooklyn Italians (then the Brooklyn Dodgers for one season), but there’s no available record for where that game even took place.

Finally, we reach the last game held in Chicago before the Fire. The 1982 game at Hanson Stadium between New York Pancyprian-Freedoms and Maccabee Los Angeles. This was the first game of many that was held at a neutral location, although sort of not. St. Louis hosted the final from 1984-1989, with a team from St. Louis playing in the final in three of those games. So while there wasn’t another final played in Chicago, there was a Chicago team that still made it to the final in 1990, AAC Eagles. They beat Brooklyn Italians 2-1 in Kuntz Stadium, which is just down the street, east of the Indianapolis Speedway.

Now, after all that, can we talk about the Chicago Fire in 1998?

While we’ve all heard plenty about The Double and the goal that was scored in it, not much is made about the lead-up to that game. The Fire’s first-ever U.S. Open Cup game was against the Chicago Stingers. No, this wasn’t a remnant of the NASL Chicago Sting, but actually the original name of the Chicago Sockers, who are still an active youth soccer program in Schaumburg. The Fire won 3-1 at Forest View Park in Arlington Heights. This led to a game against the San Jose Clash, which came down to penalties. Both Josh Wolff and Eric Wynalda had their penalties saved for either team, but it was Rangers legend Richard Gough who pinged the right post and allowed the Fire to advance.

The 1998 U.S. Open Cup final between the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew is a story on its own, mostly thanks to what surrounded the game. It was played on October 30th in Chicago, despite the fact that it was supposed to be at a neutral venue in late August. That neutral venue was in Richmond, Virginia. While individual storms have produced more damage, the 1998 hurricane season as a whole is considered one of the most devastating seasons for the Atlantic Coast. Around the time that the final was originally supposed to be played, Hurricane had made landfall in South Carolina, barreling its way north. After a month of trying to reschedule the game to fit in with the MLS playoffs, they finally just put the game in Chicago at Soldier Field. However, Columbus had won the coin toss back in August to be the home team, so the Fire ended up playing the game at home in their away kits.

And maybe it was for the best that the game was in Chicago, as it was the first USOC final crowd that reached five digits since Chicago Sparta’s 3-2 finisher against Brooklyn St. Mary’s in The Bronx back in 1939. It was also the second largest crowd total at the time, with the 18,615 people there being more than the estimated 18k that saw Bethlehem Steel’s fifth and final Open Cup win in 1926, but still less than the 21,583 that saw the 1929 final between New York Hakoah and St. Louis Madison Kennel at Dexter Park in Queens, NY.

As for the game itself, the main thing to note is that defender Lubos Kubik was playing on a broken bone that he’d picked up during the MLS Cup victory just five days prior to this final. He attempted to tough it out but ended up being replaced in the 14th minute by Josh Keller. Interestingly enough, Keller would be replaced later by Zak Ibsen. Ibsen, who would go on to be a legend in the world of beach soccer, had already made appearances for the USMNT between 1992-96 but is really only known for his assist of Dwayne De Rosario’s game-winner in the 2001 “El Clásico” MLS Cup final. He’s also got so much more to his story, but again, that’s for another time. Besides, this game would be decided by a different substitute, who came on in the first minute of extra time for Ritchie Kotschau: an allegedly washed-up Frank Klopas. I don’t think I need to re-tell this story too hard. Klopas would score the golden goal in the 99th minute off of a corner kick. And that was The Double.

Before I move on from that, I do want to mention one thing, which is that the Dewar Cup, the official U.S. Open Cup trophy that had been retired from use back in 1979, was actually recently brought back out of retirement the year prior. The Fire broke it in their celebrations, and Francis Okaroh ran around using the now completely detached top of the Dewar Cup as a hat. It was quickly re-retired.

The story of the Fire’s 1999 USOC campaign is fairly short, as they lost in their first round against the Rochester Rhinos. The Rhinos, for their part, would go on to win the whole thing, so it’s nothing to feel bad about. What’s interesting, though, is that the lone goal in the game was scored by Yari Allnutt, who actually played for the USMNT in the 1992 Olympics and is one of the few players to have ever been drafted into MLS twice, both times by the New England Revolution. The first was in the inaugural draft in 1996 where he was picked up in the 6th round and immediately cut. Then, he returned to the Revs through the draft in 2001, at the age of 32. This time he was a 4th round pick and made 9 appearances before promptly returning to Rochester.

Anyway, the year 2000 came around, and the Fire once again faced off against a Chicago-based adversary early on. The very same one, actually, as they beat down the Chicago Sockers in Forest View Park, the home of Robert Morris University (who no longer appear to be playing sports). The Sockers actually made it to this point thanks to beating the Milwaukee Bavarians and a penalty win over the Kansas City Wizards. But yeah, Fire won in what was the last time there were two Chicago teams playing against each other in the U.S. Open Cup.

The next game was fun, in which the Fire smashed the Dallas Burn 5-1 in Naperville. Josh Wolff scored four goals in total. Is that a record? I don’t know, who’s keeping count? No, seriously, who’s keeping count? The USOC site has no relevant information on the topic.

It kept getting even better with an extra-time win on the road against the Los Angeles Galaxy in the semifinals. This game was filled with 41 total shots, 45 fouls, 15 yellows, and a straight red for Carlos Bocanegra in the 51st minute. Both coaches were shouting at both refs (Don’t ask) and there wasn’t a breakthrough until the 79th minute with a Cobi Jones goal. Ante Razov scored an equalizer in the 85th minute, and Josh Wolff finished it in the 112th minute, sending the Fire to their second Open Cup final.

After the Fire’s wonderful turnout in ‘98 and a disappointing crowd in Columbus the following year, the USSF decided to do away with the neutral venue, and Soldier Field once again filled up pretty well with an attendance of 19,146. The Fire were up against the Miami Fusion, and it was Hristo Stoichkov who opened the scoring in this one late in the first half. The Fire would benefit from a Tyrone Marshall own goal in the 88th minute, which they really benefited from when Welton scored in the 90th minute. Again, very contentious and physical with a combined 47 fouls and 9 bookings in this one, but what mattered, in the end, was that the Fire got another in the trophy case and Josh Wolff won the golden boot alongside Welton.

Then things got weird for a couple of years.

The Fire once played a home game in Wisconsin. In 2001, they hosted the San Diego Flash at the Milwaukee Sports Complex (which is honestly closer to Waukesha than Milwaukee, but go off), where they won 3-0. Jamar Beasley scored. The weird thing is that it was a double-header alongside the Milwaukee Rampage. They then played the next game at McCully Field in Wheaton College where, as my dad describes it, “They put Section 8 in a cage.” This game went into extra time thanks to goals scored by former Fire player Paul Dougherty and the previously mentioned Welton, who had ended up in Pittsburgh somehow. The game-winner came from Amos Magee in the 111th minute, who scored it by essentially body-slamming the ball and sending it in with his chest. He is now forever known as “Chesty” Magee.

And then they lost to the Galaxy in extra time. Ante Razov was sent off around halftime, and I don’t want to talk about who scored the game-winner for LA.

Following that, in 2002 the Fire were met by betrayal from their hosts last season as they lost 1-0 to the Milwaukee Rampage in the first round. The Rampage, who had an interesting start as a club back in 1993 with both Tony Sanneh and Brian McBride on their inaugural team, would fold following this season. If you look at their managerial history, it is almost a perfect palindrome of tenures.

But it didn’t take long for the Fire to get back in the driver’s seat. They would have their revenge on the City of Milwaukee in 2003 with a 4-1 thrashing of the Milwaukee Wave at Uihlein Soccer Park (which is literally in Menomonee, not Milwaukee, surrounded by six different golf courses). The next two games would be in Naperville. A second-half Robin Fraser own goal got them past Colorado while they almost blew a 3-0 lead on the Galaxy and just barely hung onto a 3-2 win.

This put the Fire into an amazing matchup with the MetroStars. It was the Pupil against the Master, as Dave Sarachan faced off against Bob Bradley. Sarachan was just appointed coach at the beginning of the season after the Fire traded Bradley for Rodrigo Faria, who will literally be on the bench for the opposing team when the Fire play in the MLS Cup next month. And that sheer confusion is perfect for this game, which sounds like it was an absolute snooze-fest. Barely more than 5k showed up to the game in the Meadowlands. Damani Ralph scored one in the 68th minute. That’s it.

I’m sure there are many out there who remember this one, but I’ve yet to find anyone who even talks about it or the 2001 final. If you have anything to say about this statement more than 3k words into this article, please tell me on Twitter. My @ is down at the bottom. Besides, I’m more excited about the next Open Cup win.

Before I talk about the Fire’s 2004 Open Cup, I want to mention that the Chicago Fire Reserves were in this tournament. For some reason, this was allowed. They’d be knocked out before the Fire entered, thanks to the Rochester Rhinos, but their path and squad was really interesting. The team included Brad Guzan, Drew Moor, Dasan Robinson, and Chris Rolfe. Rolfe actually scored in the first round against SAC Wisla at Redmond Stadium, which is literally just across the tracks from O’Hare airport. In fact, the Fire Reserves had the golden boot for the tournament, Julian Nash.

Anyway, the Chicago Fire. The Fire themselves would squeak their way into the final with a couple sudden death goals from Damani Ralph in Columbus against the Crew and Dipsy Selowane in Naperville against the Charleston Battery. And in between those two games was a 1-0 win over the Richmond Kickers with help from Dipsy again.

But, when you live by the sword, you die by the sword, and the Fire would lose the final in Arrowhead on a golden goal from Igor Suimutenkov. The Wizards would get their first and only Open Cup as the Wizards, maybe thanks to their former Fire players in Diego Gutiérrez and Josh Wolff.

In 2005, the Fire couldn’t catch a break. They made it far into the tournament but never got to play a single home game. They got past both the Western Mass Pioneers and the New England Revolution at the same ground, Lusitano Stadium, and the second ended in an extra time thriller with goals coming from Andy Herron and C.J. Brown. The Fire then got taken to penalties by the Rochester Rhinos in New York, with the “winning miss” coming from Jonathan Bolaños, who actually made two appearances for the Fire back in ‘03. But they just couldn’t keep going, losing to FC Dallas in Frisco in the semifinals.

I guess the USSF felt bad about assigning the Fire all away games the previous season, because the Fire played at their brand new home in Bridgeview all throughout the 2006 tournament. Toyota Park was a place for success as the Fire blew past MLS-only matchups. First, a 2-0 win over Kansas City, then a 2-1 win over the Revs, and a 3-0 dub over D.C. United where Calen Carr scored a brace. To this point, He and Andy Herron have scored three each.

Whenever I am asked to write about my “happiest moment” in a creative writing class, I have consistently written about the 2006 US Open Cup final. I was about 7 and remember mostly nothing about the game itself. Apparently, the Fire won 3-1 with goals from Herron, Nate Jaqua, and Thiago. Standard stuff. A young Alan Gordon scored for the Galaxy? And their coach was Frank Yallop?! And Diego Gutiérrez was sent off in the 90th minute?!

Look, my strongest memory from that game was leaving in the parking lot. I was hanging out of the car waving around what felt like the biggest bottle of Sierra Mist in the world, singing along to “No Loot, No Booze, No Fun” by The Tossers. It’s so weird that I can only ever associate a song like that with joy, but that’s how brains work. That was pure childhood joy for me.

I just want you guys to hold onto that feeling. This is the last piece of hardware the Chicago Fire have ever won. Knowing what comes next, I think that anyone who got to experience a win like that should be able to hold onto it for a moment and embrace the top of that mountain.

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Time to head downhill.

I’m not sure what it was about having Cuautehmoc Blanco on the team that made the Chicago Fire absolute garbage in the U.S. Open Cup, but that’s what happened. The first Open Cup game post-Blanco, a 1-0 loss in 2007 to the Carolina RailHawks in Cary, NC, was reportedly incredibly physical but mostly dominated by the RailHawks. Maybe Blanco took offense to that.

After demolishing the Cleveland City Stars 4-1 in the first round, they traveled to the Maryland SoccerPlex the next week to matchup against DC United. With the game heading into extra time thanks to a Francis Doe equalizer in the 77th minute, Blanco was deployed for the extra half hour of football. He only made it about 18 minutes before reportedly punching Clyde Simms square in the gut and attempting to gouge his eyes out. The Fire had already given up a goal less than 10 minutes prior to this, meaning that they would go on to lose. And Blanco would go on to receive a lifetime suspension from the Open Cup

Someone, please remind me to make a full retrospective article on this event.

The next year, the Fire immediately lost 1-0 in Wilmington to the Hammerheads. At least the PDL team got a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Bavarians under the watchful eye of Mount Bridgeview (it was literally played on the training pitch). They even got a red card thanks to current FC Dallas goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer. But the Minnesota Thunder ended up taking them out before the Fire even made it into the tournament.

Then comes 2010. What’s special about 2010? Nothing! The Fire lost on penalties in their first game against the Charleston Battery. Brian McBride, Krzysztof Król, and Wilman Conde all could not convert on their penalties, while the Battery scored all of theirs. This included Lamar Neagle, who despite having just been dumped by the Sounders without playing a single competitive match would go on to have a wonderful career with them.

It was 2011 when the Fire were finally ready to try to do something in the U.S. Open Cup. Especially since the Fire PDL were immediately dumped by Sporting Kansas City with goals from Teal Bunbury, Milos Stojcev, and Kei Kamara. It was the first team that beat the Rochester Rhinos with a goal from Diego Chaves in that first round.

But why am I talking about the first round when the qualifying round was so fun? There was the legendary “Peoria Fog” game against the Colorado Rapids at Shea Stadium in Peoria. Around the 60th minute, a “mysterious cloud” descended upon the pitch and Jalil Anibaba let rip a shot from WAY downtown to score what ended up being the game-winner. Then, over a month later, the Fire squeaked past the San Jose Earthquakes on penalties to make it to that game against the Rhinos in the first place.

After Rochester, the Fire bombed out the New York Red Bulls for a 4-0 with a brace out of Orr Barouch. The game itself, played at Toyota Park, was actually pushed back by a couple of hours due to a power outage that most of the area had been facing. Fire Open Cup games, especially in these years, had a tendency to happen in and around severe weather. Some I’ve already mentioned were also soaked in rain and just really hard games to be in. But there are more later, don’t worry. What you need to know now is that the Fire just beat the Richmond Kickers at home and have now sent themselves to the U.S. Open Cup final for the first time in five years.

This final would be against the Seattle Sounders, who were looking for their third straight Open Cup win, something that had only been done twice before (I told you, I don’t count New Bedford as Fall River FC). The first time was Stix, Baer, and Fuller winning in ‘33, ‘34, and then ‘35 under the new name “St. Louis Central Breweries”. The second time was the previously mentioned Greek American A.A. team that played Chicago Olympic in 1968 between their other two Open Cup titles. But while Seattle was looking for their history, the Fire had a chance to get that fifth total Open Cup, which had only been achieved twice before as well. And the matchup itself was perfect, as Seattle and the Fire were the only MLS teams to have won the Open Cup in their expansion season. Remember who scored that goal to win it back in ‘98? Well, he’s back.

The thing about Frank Klopas as a coach that people always seem to forget is that his tactical style is a bit… defensive. Which, for a former striker, is honestly just weird. But that’s what he did. And while the Fire held on for as long as possible to hold Seattle off, they fell behind on a corner kick goal from Fredy Montero in the 77th minute and just couldn’t climb out. Despite a late effort from Dominic Oduro that was both saved and offside, it was over. A dagger from Osvaldo Alonso in the 96th ended it officially in front of a crowd of 35 and a half thousand in CenturyLink Field. The Fire lost 2-0.

With an ending like that the previous season, you could expect a blaze of fury. Maybe like one of those teams that took their anger out on the City of Chicago by beating some other team that just happened to come from the same city. But 2012 was different. It was difficult. At this point, we really start to enter the period of time where I personally started to be more involved in Fire supporter culture. I know the people who went to that game in 2012. They did not deserve the team they saw on the pitch that night in what was effectively an aircraft hangar in Pontiac, Michigan.

Facing down the Michigan Bucks, then an affiliate of the Columbus Crew, the Fire decided to field a lineup of mostly second-string players. Maybe we were just that bad that year, but the only real consistent starters for the Fire that made it into the XI that game were Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry, and maybe Daniel Paladini (convicted abuser). But with no real attackers other than Corben Bone and with backup goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi in the net, there was just nothing there. Meanwhile, the Bucks had future MLS starters like Scott Caldwell and Kofi Opare (though, Opare never made it off the bench).

Around MLS, there were a lot of teams that lost to lower-division sides that night. The Revs, Galaxy, Crew, Dallas, Portland Timbers, Houston Dynamo, and Real Salt Lake all didn’t make it to the next round because of non-MLS teams. But this 3-2 extra-time loss just seemed to hit harder than those other games. In such an atmosphere, the enclosed environment that just felt amateur, it’s hard to look at your own professional team as anything other than an absolute joke. For many, this is just a forgotten footnote in a season that didn’t matter. But for some, it was one of the most viscerally humiliating moments in club history.

Before I enter the next period of the Chicago Fire’s history in the Open Cup, I want to talk about myself again. Though I am now retired, I did once play the beautiful game. Back in grade school, I went to a school in the Catholic School League, and we played indoor soccer. I’d started out as a goalkeeper but developed into more of an attacking midfield role (if you combined all the negative aspects of Fabian Herbers with Gennaro Gattuso). My ability aside, the team was actually pretty damn good. My dad was a solid coach, not just allowing all the kids to have time out on the pitch but still balancing that with the kids that were actually good getting plenty of chances to perform. We won plenty of games. But we never actually won a championship. We made it to the final once early on, but other than that we’d always get stuck in the semifinals, losing to St. Turibius. I didn’t even learn what that man was even the patron saint of until I started writing this article, but the school which bears his name was the bane of my eight-year-old existence. Every year, without fail, they’d just be there in the semifinals to stop us from getting any further. Sometimes I’d wonder if maybe we got another team instead of them, we could win it. But then we did, and we still lost in the semis. Still, it felt like St. Tribs would follow me throughout my life, as I’d constantly find myself a part of teams that lost in the semis. The Fire themselves experienced a similar existence in the Blanco era, losing to the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference semis, but they were just about to get the full St. Turibius experience in the Open Cup.

The only real hiccup through the 2013 Open Cup campaign was having to move a game by a day due to severe weather. First came a 2-0 win over the Charlotte Eagles thanks to goals from Mike Magee and Chris Rolfe. Then there was the game that was moved, where Magee and Patrick Nyarko sent the Fire past the Crew 2-1. Then, a 5-1 rout of soon-to-be MLS side Orlando City, which included two red cards from Orlando. But once they hit the semifinals, it all fell apart again.

On this particular $2 hot dog night, no one could actually redeem the deal. Apparently, it was a specific digital ticket that you had to have gotten for that night. People were not happy. And with the Fire losing 2-0 to a D.C. United team in the middle of one of the worst seasons in MLS history, they had no reason to be. Next to the owner’s box, some fans began to berate the owner, Andrew Hauptman. There are conflicting reports on how present Hauptman was during games, but this was one game where he was there, and he heard all of their complaints. I don’t think he liked what he heard. Following the loss, Communications Director Dan Lobring posted a piece that would go on to simply be called “The Editorial”. In this post, he chastises any fans disheartened by the way the club was being run. Whether or not Lobring actually wrote the article is widely speculated by those in the fanbase who still remember the absolute audacity of what was in it. Some say Hauptman himself wrote it, but at the end of the day, The Editorial became something that put a huge wedge between the fanbase and the front office. This was the game where things really started to change.

In 2014, the raccoons appeared.

Both home games were greatly affected by severe weather this season. The first one, a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, was delayed and later suspended just after the 48th minute due to lightning. However, it included one of only two goals Grant Ward ever scored for the Fire. The second one was a game against the Columbus Crew, where the pitch was not only slowly deteriorating throughout the season anyway, but was completely water-logged. During this time, my seats were up in the Skydeck, but when regulation ended, we decided to move down to the nicer seats downstairs that were completely empty. So, we headed downstairs. Apparently, shortly after we left, the Skydeck was evacuated. The reason was that a family of raccoons had made their way up there and were just hanging out right next to our seats in Section 208. This instance gave those angry fans from earlier a mascot to work with. Anyway, the Fire would go on to win that game and then the next game, a 3-1 thumping of a coach-less Atlanta Silverbacks team.

Here come the semifinals again and it’s Seattle… Again. It’s not even a real stadium like CenturyLink. It’s the “Starfire Sports Complex” in Tukwila, Washington. Couldn’t even get Tacoma. Might as well have been Yakima. In a game that was too trash to remember, the Fire lost 6-0. I don’t even know if anyone even traveled to this game. Chad Barret opened the scoring in the 6th minute, and serial Fire antagonist Kenny Cooper finished it off with a brace between the 83rd and 84th minutes. Lamar Neagle was in this game too, picking up a booking. Seattle would go on to win in the final against the Philadelphia Union, suddenly matching the Fire’s total count in just five years of existence in MLS.

There were a few more games in Bridgeview in 2015. A late goal from Quincy Amarikwa saved the Fire from embarrassment against Louisville City in extra time to win 1-0. A Mike Magee brace sent them past the Charlotte Independence with a score of 3-1. Kennedy Igboananike scored twice at the death to get the Fire past Orlando City 3-1. But, the Fire had absolutely no ability to win on the road during this stretch of time. So when they were sent to Philadelphia to face the Union, they lost 1-0. Again. In the semifinals.

2016 was at least fun in the early rounds. The first game was against Indy Eleven, Peter Wilt’s newest venture at the time. This was actually the first and only time Wilt would personally face one of his former teams until this past Forward Madison v Chicago House game. It was also considered the first official instance of the Schlabst Cup. After things were scoreless in regulation, David Accam scrambled to pick up an equalizer that could answer Justin Braun’s go-ahead goal in extra time. When it came down to penalties, Matt Lampson stood firm, and the Schlabst Cup stayed in Chicago.

Then there were a couple of other games. 2-1 over Columbus, 3-0 over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and then another away game. I didn’t even remember that the Fire went up against the New England Revolution in the Open Cup. It must have been so boring that I just flushed it from my brain. It does have the most boring scoreline of 3-1, with goals from Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury, who appeared to match their 2011 performance against the Fire PDL team. It was becoming monotonous. Reaching the semifinals was almost a given at this point, as much as a given that the Fire wouldn’t actually reach the final.

In 2017, something amazing happened. For the most fleeting of moments, the Chicago Fire were not the same old “Fires”. Bastian Schweinsteiger had entered this team and changed its culture, its very molecular structure. By the All-Star break, they were on top of the Eastern Conference for the first time in years this deep into the season. And when the Fire pulled out a win in St. Louis, it was still such an amazing feat to the fanbase as this is just something that never happened! This was new!

Up next was FC Cincinnati. Cincinnati came into this game as the strongest team in the USL. Not only on the pitch, but off it with Nippert Stadium becoming their fortress. Everyone was excited to see them get past Columbus, but now it was the Fire. And I believe it when Fire fans said that they simply had a really good time at the game. But with the context that night lived in, with a Fire team like that, it’s hard not to wince at the result. Mitch Hildebrandt won that game for Cincy in the penalty shootout. The Fire player to convert his attempt was Bastian Schweinsteiger. There’s only so much one man can do. And maybe it was for the best. Cincy would end up losing to the New York Red Bulls, who later that year would demolish the Fire at home in the playoffs. But at the end of the day, Sporting Kansas City picked up their franchise’s fourth Open Cup. Three titles in just five years.

The Fire decided to get back to their roots in 2018, both in the league and in the Open Cup. In MLS play, they fell off hard. But in the Open Cup, they did pretty okay. Say what you will about the rest of Richard Sanchez’s tenure between the sticks, that penalty shootout against Columbus was his shining moment and one of the most clutch things I’ve seen out of a goalkeeper. Then, somehow Nemanja Nikolić pulled out a road win in Atlanta for the Fire to move on. Back home they’d thrash Louisville 4-0, a game that included two straight reds for Louisville and one of Elliot Collier’s only two goals for the Fire in a competitive match.

But it’s Philly on the road in the semifinal again. It’s St. Tribs. You just can’t win against St. Tribs. Serial Fire antagonist Corey Burke scored twice, and C.J. Sapong rounded it out for a 3-0 win. How does this keep happening? Every damn year. It’s always the semifinals.

Maybe it’s best to stop asking questions.

Again, in a game that’s too stupid and horrible to fully recount, the Fire lost in the first round. In 2019, the team was St. Louis FC, who couldn’t even play in their official stadium due to flooding. Maybe if the Fire had been on the pitch that hosted all those Open Cup finals in the 80s, they might’ve had the magic to beat a non-MLS team. Instead, at the Harlen C. Hunter Stadium, originally built to be the training camp location for the St. Louis Football Cardinals, the Fire could barely muster a goal in the 2-1 defeat. After the game, it’s reported that homegrown player Djordje Mihailovic flipped off fans after the team was booed off the pitch.

At this point, with the mention of multiple occasions in which there’s animosity between players and fans, it’s important to note that Chicago Fire fans always expect so much more in the U.S. Open Cup. As the title says, the team even attempted to create a brand out of being the “Kings of the Cup.” But with so much squandered during that time, the crown just isn’t there anymore. At this point in the club’s history, there are so few involved with the team that actually understand everything that had come before. How important it is to the fans that the Fire win in the Open Cup. With the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 tournaments, Raphael Wicky was spared from judgment in the Open Cup. However, the Cup came back in 2022, and it came back to Soldier Field.

During that stretch of time in between Open Cup games, I’d moved on from community college and decided to go to a film school located within the Loop. As we’ve established, I’m a weeb, I go to an art school. But for some reason, I’d never actually been to a single anime club meeting. Look, I commute, the meetings are 7-10 PM, and I just don’t want to deal with public transportation that late at night. But, the anime club announced a special meeting that just happened to be around 5:30 on the day of the Fire’s Open Cup game against Union Omaha. I thought it’d be a great plan. My dad and I get to the game, I walk over to campus to say hi and talk to the other weebs, then I walk back to the tailgate. I got the first part down, then I found out that all three members of Sad Bois FC were going to be at this game. This was an unprecedented event, as we started the podcast after the 2019 season ended and all three of us had never actually been in the same place since before we started the podcast. So, we met up, and I immediately had to head up to the Waldron Deck, where I was met with Tyler Terens, who apparently had the day off. This game, this entire day, did not feel real.

What happened afterward is still so fresh in all of our memories that it’s not worth recounting. Soldier Field was so empty I’m not even sure if they bothered to announce the attendance. Ezra Hendrickson started the kids against a professional team. The only actual starter out there was captain Rafael Czichos, who was only there because the original starter for this game, Carlos Terán, got injured. He scored three total penalties that game, but the Fire themselves lost on penalties. After the game, Union Omaha players began to taunt Fire fans, almost starting a brawl on the pitch with the Fire players who were still there trying to thank the fans. It was an absolute mess.

So… Now what?

We’re here in the present, about to watch the Fire play another lower-division side, possibly the biggest difference in leagues they’ve ever truly faced. The Chicago House playing in the Midwest Premier League. The first Chicago-on-Chicago violence we’ve seen since that game back in 2000, the first Fire v Wilt game since 2016. It’s all connected in some small way. Everything is. History is what leads up to the present. Cause creates an effect, and we are constantly crashing into it now. This game is no different. There’s a narrative to chase. There’s a legacy to uphold. So much of it has been forgotten, but it’s all still a pivotal part of the story. From the struggle of the Chicago Bricklayers to the Sparta Stadium era to the Fire’s dramatic game-winners and brawls. It’s all woven into what happens next.

The Chicago Fire tried to call themselves the Kings of the Cup until someone realized that another MLS team is more likely to take that spot before us. But the thing is, they haven’t yet. No MLS team has taken that fifth U.S. Open Cup. It’s still there for us to grab. It doesn’t matter who is in front of us, Chicago needs to solidify their place in the soccer world again. That starts with respecting the opponent and putting out a team that will win. Because who’s going to respect a team that doesn’t even understand the weight of the history they carry on their shoulders?