This is probably ill-timed, since the post season begins this evening, but none the less, what follows is a brief look at some of the stats from the Chicago Fire 2008 Regular Season. All of the statistics below include only Regular Season games, except for the season goal, foul, and card totals, which have been unabashedly stolen directly from www.chicago-fire.com.

Chicago Fire 2008 Regular Season Stats 

Top Scorer: Chris Rolfe – 9

It’s worth noting that Chad Barrett scored 5 regular season goals before being sent to Toronto, which is good enough to qualify him as Chicago’s 3rd best. Blanco was 2nd with 7. To put these numbers in perspective, Landon Donovan won the MLS Golden Boot with 20 goals. Both Rolfe and John Thorrington scored 3 game-winning-goals.

 Most Yellow Card Cautions Received: Bakare Soumare – 10

The starters with the least number of cautions are Rolfe, Justin Mapp, and Logan Pause, all with 1 apiece. I have not yet decided if a Defensive Midfielder with only one caution is a very good thing, or a very bad thing. Wilman Conde miraculously managed only 2 on the season.

There were only 2 red cards handed out to Fire players, one each to BrandonPrideaux and CJ Brown.

Most Fouls Suffered: Cuahtemoc Blanco - 76

As a yard stick, the team’s second-highest sufferer was Justin Mapp with a paltry 40.

Longest Unbeaten Streak
    5 games from July 12 through August 9
    v. Toronto: 2-1
    v. Real Salt Lake: 0-0
    @ Kansas City: 0-0
    v. Chivas USA: 1-0
    @ New England: 2-1

Longest Winless Streak
    4 games from June 15 through July 5
    @ Dallas 0-1
    @Chivas 0-2
    v. San Jose 0-0
    @ Nohio 2-2

Interestingly enough, the barren patch ended with the regular season game the launched the unbeaten run.  There a pair of Open Cup game flukes, but for the sake of simplicity, I have looked only at regular season streaks.

Record against Eastern Conference Opposition: 8 – 4 – 3
Record against Western Conference Opposition: 5 – 6 – 4

The Fire were pretty poor against Western Conference talent this season, especially considering the gap in strength between East and West. The Fire should have done much better against the lesser conference with teams like Colorado, Salt Lake, the dismal Galaxy, and San Jose.  It’s surprising that Chicago didn’t come away with a winning record here, but did so quite handily in the East.

Regular Season Record Against Potential Playoff Opponents
New England: 3 – 0 – 0     Nohio: 0 – 0 – 2         NYRB: 3 – 0 – 0
KC: 0 – 1 – 2                         Houston: 0 – 2 – 0    Chivas USA: 1 – 1 – 0
                                                 RSL: 0 – 0 – 2
 

The perfect records against both New England and New York help explain the strong Eastern Conference record but those two numbers are misleading here. Neither team is favored to advance in the playoffs. While the Fire are set to play their proscribed post-season match up against New England, it’s unlikely New York will make it past Western Conference champs Houston. The season history against the remaining potential foes is considerably less auspicious. Many pundits expect the Fire will meet Columbus in the conference final. Statistically it’s a neutral match up, exactly. Each of the two regular season meetings between the old rivals ended in a 2 – 2 draw, at Toyota Park and the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Beyond that, Houston Dynamo are yet again favored to win the West. This year, and in years past, Houston seems to have had the Fire’s number, and (along with FC Dallas) defeated the Fire in all meetings this season.  

***

I’ll go ahead and venture a prediction now, based on the above stats and others: Chicago will win the East, easily disposing of a depleted Revs side but struggling to narrowly pull through against Columbus (a note, your author is knocking furiously on wood).  But that’s it. If Houston progress as expected, the Fire will fall, failing to collect their second MLS Cup trophy at the third asking. Inconsistencies evident throughout the year will prove the final stumbling block. Both the offense and defense run hot and cold, and usually do so opposite the other. Unless the Hamlett can get both to hit hard, and in sync, in the Cup Final, the Fire won't quite make it.

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Ben October 31, 2008	Gotta love Baky!