It’s been more than two calendar years since the Chicago Fire last won an MLS road match. That’s 36 futile attempts at claiming three points dating back to their 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution on July 12th, 2014.
For a bit of perspective, Chivas USA (the defunct MLS club which folded after the 2014 season) experienced their last road win on that same date. It’s a staggering statistic that’s unbelievably damning for the club that’s won an MLS Cup (1998), MLS Supporters’ Shield (2003) and has won the US Open Cup four times — more than any other MLS club.
Ouch. Photo: @SoccerCooligans | Twitter
While the Fire have continued to enjoy success in the US Open Cup, they've also begun amassing another painful streak in that competition. They were defeated by New England in the semifinals on Tuesday. That means the club have reached the semis of North America’s premier cup competition for four straight years, but they’ve failed to win the trophy on any of those occasions.
Counting Open Cup road defeats, their defeat on Tuesday has moved them into second place on the list of longest road winless streaks in all of North American sports (NBA, NHL, NFL, MLS and MLB). If they’re unable to win any of their next four road matches, they’ll pull even with the 1990-92 Sacramento Kings as the worst professional road team in the history of North America.
For a major soccer market like Chicago, the Fire are simply embarrassing. Their attendance at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois has dropped from an average of 16,409 in 2012 to 14,503 this year.
An overhaul of the club’s technical staff by new GM Nelson Rodriguez and the appointment of former Serbian U-20 coach Veljko Paunovic has so far failed to give supporters a reason to hope for an improvement.
For a club that’s featured the likes of Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Brian McBride, Ante Razov and Carlos Bocanegra, the current state of the Fire is inexcusable.
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