The Chicago Fire removed the interim tag from Frank Klopas and named him the team's new head coach. more ›

Coming into the match, the Fire had just set the unenviable league record of 15 ties in a season. more ›

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme, from Lollapalooza headlining act Muse came to Bridgeview to run with the Chicago Fire and play a few pickup games before the fest. more ›

We caught up with Yuck bassist Max Bloom and drummer Jonny Rogoff after their intense Sunday afternoon set at Pitchfork. more ›

The U.S. Women's Soccer Team, fresh off their late win against Brazil, face off against France in the World Cup semi-finals. more ›

Because Toyota Park remains without power following yesterday's storm, today's Fire match will start at 5 p.m. Oh, and it's free admission, also. more ›

The Fire's 1-4-6 start to the season led to the firing of coach Carlos de los Cobos yesterday. more ›

The Chicago Fire (1-3-2) was on the edge of a much-needed victory over the Houston Dynamo (2-1-3) Saturday night at Toyota Park until a Houston goal in the 83rd minute dropped Chicago to a 1-1 draw. more ›

A series of easy mistakes and minor breakdowns led to the Chicago Fire's 2-1 loss to the L.A. Galaxy Sunday at Toyota Park. Despite lacking in their usual star power, the Los Angeles (3-1-1) squad was able to capitalize on the Fire's errors, netting two goals before Chicago (1-1-3) made it to the board. more ›

So it's a team in flux. It's a team without a go-to guy. New leaders will emerge, they must. Fans are looking especially towards new captain Logan Pause and break out goalie star Sean Johnson (who got his first cap in January against Chile). But who's going to get that critical goal in a tight game? Can Marco Pappa, Calen Carr, and/or Patrick Nyarko make the jump from quick skillsters to menacing poachers? more ›

College Football more ›

There are still some tickets available for the USMNT's friendly against Poland at Soldier Field on Saturday at 7pm. more ›

College Football more ›

Chicago Fire fan group Section 8 is one of the best in the country not only because of their organization, unity, and commitment but because they're creative. So, when the Fire played the Seattle Sounders at Toyota Park this Saturday, they poked fun at the fledgling former expansion team (just its second year in the MLS) that is sponsored by Xbox 360 with an old school Mario Bros. inspired tifo. more ›

Cubs Trip Up Cards more ›

The Sox take a step forward one night and then the next they take a step back. After picking up a game on the Twins on Friday, the Sox got routed by the Royals last night 8-2 and subsequently lost that game back to Minnesota. Edwin Jackson struggled on the hill for the Sox, giving up 13 hits and 6 runs to Kansas City while the Sox offense didn't produce much of anything in the way of offense, hitting only 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine men on base. Said A.J. Pierzynski, "Just one of those things. It goes up and down, and we had eight hits tonight, scored a couple of runs. We had some chances, and we just didn't get it done." The Sox hope to bounce back and get it done in the series finale today before the Twins come calling - the Sox last chance to make a run at the division - later this week (1:05 p.m., CSN). more ›

USAMNT coach Bob Bradley stopped by the Toyota Park press box on Wednesday night to talk to the various media outlets assembled therein. We asked him about the next four years, about the October 9th friendly against Poland at Soldier Field, about the US's World Cup 2018/2022 bid, about Brian McBride, and much more: more ›

The Fire head into Philly tomorrow afternoon (5PM CST/ FSC) to check out the expansion Union and the new PPL stadium. Philly is racked with injuries all over the place, especially in defense, and hopefully Fire midfielders and whoever starts up top (probably John again) can take advantage this time. Marco Pappa's return should help connect the midfield to attack, too. Last time the two played, the Fire beat Peter Nowak's squad 2-1. This time there's another former Fire staple representing Philly - surely Justin Mapp will want to show the Fire they made a mistake in letting him go. more ›

The White Sox struggled to get any offense going and the Tigers rode a big fourth inning to a 5-1 victory last night. An Omar Vizquel solo shot gave the Sox an early 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth but the Tigers cracked the game open with four runs in the bottom of the inning off of Sox starter John Danks, who fell to 13-10 on the season. Overall, the Sox only managed four hits on the night off of Jeremy Bonderman: Vizquel's homer and three singles, not the kind of offensive performance the team needed. Meanwhile, the Twins won their sixth straight, extending their AL Central lead to 5.5 games. The Sox play the Tigers once more this afternoon before returning home (12:05 p.m., CSN). more ›

Alright here's the thing. Over the past few disappointing weeks, it seemed as if the Fire (6-7-7) have done everything they could to blow their shot at the playoffs. They give up late goals, they give up soft goals on set pieces, they make bad decisions, and they don't collect full points at home. But - BUT - despite all that, despite sitting in 11th place at the moment, they can still make the playoffs. And everybody knows that once you're in, anything is possible. more ›

Over the weekend, Chicagoland's own (and current Fire player) Brian McBride announced his retirement effective at the end of this season. Over 17 years, across major leagues including the English Premier League and MLS as well as multiple World Cup appearances for the US Mens National Team, McBride has proven to be one of the hardest working, most consistent U.S. players to hit the world stage. Taking bumps and bruises and coming up bloodied more times than we can count, McBride has never been afraid to throw his whole body into the game. We'll save our official retrospective of McBride's outstanding career for when he hangs his spikes up for good later this fall, but the below video compilation is a great way to celebrate one of the toughest men in soccer. (One downside to the video? The awful soundtrack. We suggest muting the video and playing this more appropriate song in another tab instead.) [via] more ›

Fire fans are thanking God their road trip is over. Going into Houston and Seattle (highlights above) is never easy, but giving up points the way they did - conceding late goals in 4-3 and 2-1 losses - is just devastating. more ›

The Cubs snapped their five-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Braves at Wrigley on Saturday. Aramis Ramirex and Tyler Colvin each had two RBI in the winning effort. The team seemed to be cruising, up 5-1 late after Tom Gorzelanny allowed just one run over seven innings. But rookie Andrew Cashner continued to struggle, allowing three runs in the eighth and making the game closer than it needed to be. The Cubs try to salvage the series against the Braves this afternoon with Randy Wells taking the mound (1:20 p.m., WGN). more ›

US Soccer announced yesterday that the boys are coming back to Chicago for a friendly against Poland on October 9. With the huge Polish community in Chicago, as well as Poland needing serious tuneup work before the 2012 Euro Cup, which they're hosting along with Ukraine, the game looks promising. USAMNT have an okay history against Poland (who did not qualify for this summer's World Cup). The 3-1 drubbing at the 2002 World Cup wasn't much fun, but the 3-0 win in 2008 sort of balances that. more ›

The Sox tried their best to keep up with the Twins but again fell to Minnesota, this time losing 7-6, their fourth straight loss, and falling five games back of the Twins in the AL Central. Down 2-0 early, Andruw Jones hit a three-run homer to give the Sox the lead. The Sox took a 5-3 lead in the fifth with a pair of runs, but the Twins mounted their own rally in the sixth to take the lead for good. Gavin Floyd (5.1 IP, 10 H , 7 ER) took the loss for the Sox. With the wildcard out of reach, the division crown is the only chance the Sox will likely have to get into the playoffs. There's still one series left this season between the Sox and Twins, a three-game set in mid-September at The Cell. The Sox turn to Mark Buehrle today to help them stop the skid and salvage something from this series (7:10 p.m., CSN). more ›

Chicago's soccer fans may have a home team to root for, but finding places to congregate and catch the game (other than Toyota Park) can be a bit of task. Baseball, football, basketball and now even hockey fans have their pick of the city when it comes to finding fan-friendly bars showing their game of choice. Soccer die-hards don't have it quite as easy (though spots like The Globe Pub and the Small Bar franchise have carved out dedicated niches) when it comes to finding a bar to call their own, but Chicago Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas hopes that will change with the new soccer-centric sports pub, The Pitch. more ›

Ever since our season preview this spring, we've maintained that the Fire have enough talent to succeed this year. The issue was whether the talent, and first year coach Carlos de los Cobos, could harmonize to get the most as a team. With much hyped midseason moves that brought even more talent to the squad now behind us, the harmonizing question is more pressing than ever. The chemistry, the formation, and the starting lineup have all been tweaked in the weeks since the All-Star break, but, besides an explosive opening half in Los Angeles, nothing's really clicked. more ›

Well, that was sort of a bummer. Despite an amped crowd of 21,868 - the biggest in Toyota Park history - the Fire’s 0-0 tie against the New York Red Bulls last night failed to live up to its hype. Thanks to a combination of 90 degree heat, some rusty legs, and a lack of cohesion between new players and regulars, we didn’t get the explosion of quality we had hoped for. Still, there was a lot to learn from the game, both from a Fire and a MLS perspective. more ›

Say what you want, but this Sunday’s game between our Chicago Fire and the New York Red Bulls at Toyota Park (8 PM) is the most important game in Chicago Fire history. Yeah yeah, we’ve been in bigger games. The 1998 MLS Championship and runner-up showings in 2000 and 2003 come to mind, as do the 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006 U.S. Open triumphs; then there are some of the more memorable friendlies (A.C. Milan visiting Soldier Field in 2005 especially). But Sunday night tops it all. more ›

We discussed Freddie Ljungberg, the Fire’s other major midseason addition, earlier today. more ›