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Fire Fri Aug 31 2012
Fire Loses Guatemalan Midfielder Early After All
In a surprising turn of events, the Chicago Fire announced that midfielder Marco Pappa will be transferring to Heerenveen SC immediately. It's a direct U-Turn from the previous announcement that he would be finishing out the Fire's season before his departure to the Dutch club.
This isn't the first confusing personnel move from the Fire this season. No sooner had they announced that they had extended midfielder Sebastien Grazzini's contract through the 2012 season than he packed his bags and went home to Argentina. So, the question does have to be asked, what's up with the Fire and these player contracts?
With wingers Alvaro Fernandez and Patrick Nyarko playing well, losing Pappa is not the end of the world. But it does hurt the team's depth and competition for places. When Patrick Nyarko found himself the odd man out after Fernandez's arrival, he responded by playing some of his best soccer in a Fire shirt when he got his chance. Will he be able to keep it up if he isn't looking over his shoulder to keep his spot?
Meanwhile, the Fire has an important game against the Houston Dynamo at Toyota Park this Sunday. They spent the last few weeks grinding out wins against minnows of the Eastern Conference like the New England Revolution, Toronto FC, and the Philadelphia Union before a tough loss to DC United. Can a Pappa-less Fire rebound and show they're good enough to beat the top teams in the East?
