Imagine you watch a kid playing in a Chicago Fire shirt for the youth Academy at the age of fifteen, who catches your eye and makes you think 'he's a bit special'. Then fast-forward five years, and he's scoring the winning goal in an MLS match for the Fire's senior team having signed directly with the club two years earlier.

For the first time ever, that scenario is possible in the future. Last July, the Chicago Fire became the first MLS team to make their Academy, which covers players from age of 13-17, free for all participants. The Academy consists of 44 players making up two teams, at U-16 and U-18 levels.

Throughout the season, Backdraft will be following the Academy closely, and today we explain the set-up and its importance for the future of the Fire.

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Since the Chicago Fire's inception in 1998, the Fireworks For Kids foundation has committed itself to devloping community programs to help the underprivileged children of Chicago. Last week at the Hilton Chicago, their annual benefit brought together players, fans, and coaches from past and present to refelect on the past decade of the Chicago Fire and look forward to the upcoming season.

Highlights and speeches from Denis Hamlett, John Guppy, Diego Gutierrez, CJ Brown can be found online courtesy of

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The Fire salvaged a point in the 92nd minute of the season opener thanks to a fine strike by Blanco, after Real Salt Lake had taken the lead twenty minutes earlier. We'll have a full wrap-up of the game later, but for now, you can watch the highlights at the MLS site and consider the varied reaction to the game below:

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Yet another off season middle finger has been shown to the Chicago Fire. Who is responsible for this one? MLS?  Ron Waxman/Dominic Cervi or the Fire front office?

All three parties certainly share culpability.

As an isolated case, it's understandable, but it's the fifth incident of its kind this past off season. Juan Carlos Osorio, John Spencer, Wilman Conde, Matt Pickens and now Cervi have all told Chicago that they aren't willing to make certain sacrifices or commitments to represent the Chicago Fire. This is cause for concern and indicates that Chicago's grass is no longer greener.

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Last week, the US U23 team qualified for the Beijing Olympics by defeating Canada at the semi-final stage. The 3-0 victory over their northern neighbors was the only convincing performance in a tournament that saw the US tie Cuba 1-1, beat Honduras and Panama 1-0, and lose to Honduras the second time around in the final 1-0.

Did the Fire's Chad Barrett do enough in the qualifiers to earn a spot for the Beijing Olympic team?

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When the Fire begin the 2008 season at RSL's Rice-Eccles Stadium this Saturday, they will face a Salt Lake team that has also seen its fair share of turnover this offseason.

Get to know the first opponents of the new year as we take a look at Jason Kreis' new roster and how it could fare this weekend.

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The latest in the irishoutsider series of MLS Previews is exclusively on Section8Chicago.com.

 

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Can you miss something you never had? Dominic Cervi, with his huge frame and promising performances for the U.S. Olympic team this spring, looked to be an ideal solution to the Fire's need for depth at the goalkeeping position and for a future starter, given the departure this offseason of Matt Pickens.

But he left before he even arrived. What does this final twist this offseason mean for the Fire?

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The Fire today announced a new television deal that will see them broadcast a record 18 games on My50 Chicago WPWR-TV. Good news for the team locally, but long-time announcer Kenn Tomasch will not be part of the commentary team this season. Fred Huebner will be the play-by-play man and he'll be joined by Chris Doran as color analyst. So what happened to Tomasch?

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Peter Wilt, the former GM and President of the Chicago Fire, is running a sweepstake as his women's team (which will begin play in 2009 at Toyota Park) chooses its name. The choices, available here, all relate in some way to the history of Chicago, in an echo of the origins of our own Chicago Fire. What will they choice, and why should Fire fans be interested?

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