{"id":7389,"date":"2017-06-01T20:22:06","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T00:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=7389"},"modified":"2017-06-01T20:22:06","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T00:22:06","slug":"fire-return-to-action-after-holiday-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2017\/06\/01\/fire-return-to-action-after-holiday-break\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Fire return to action after holiday break"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\">During a busy may schedule, the Chicago Fire put together a landmark four game winning streak. The Fire\u2019s 4-0-1 record in May was the second best month-long run the Fire have ever put together. The ongoing run of form rates second only to the 5-0-0 recorded in June of 1998, the Fire&#8217;s inaugural and MLS cup winning\u00a0season.\u00a0The Men In Red begin a travel heavy June this weekend\u00a0with a trip to the wetlands of Orlando City Stadium. Sunday marks the first of two meetings in three weeks against the Lions.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"p2\">Chicago Fire return to action after welcome holiday break<\/h1>\n<p class=\"p2\">After playing and winning four games in under two weeks time, the Men In Red\u2019s four day break \u201ccouldn\u2019t have come at a better time\u201d according to Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez. The extended holiday break gave the players an opportunity to \u201creload\u201d and relax.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Reloading \ud83d\ude0e\u2600\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dgaUb6SFHq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/dgaUb6SFHq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nikolic Nemanja (@niko_nemanja) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/niko_nemanja\/status\/868595798573031424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 27, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BUmuMBxFNX6\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Dax McCarty however had a shorter layoff as he continues to be <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2017\/05\/28\/usmnt-roster-for-june\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">included in Bruce Arena\u2019s United States national team plans<\/a>. The Florida born midfielder has played every minute of every Fire game so far this season but will miss at least two games to play in the upcoming world cup qualifiers. McCarty\u2019s rollercoaster year continues its upward trajectory with him in career best form and\u00a0a regular national team call-up. A truly remarkable situation when considering that just months ago the player had mulled over<a href=\"http:\/\/www.espnfc.com\/major-league-soccer\/story\/3101419\/dax-mccarty-admits-crazy-thought-of-taking-sabbatical-after-trade-to-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> taking a hiatus<\/a> from soccer following his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/2017\/01\/16\/red-bulls-trade-dax-mccarty-chicago-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shock trade<\/a> to Chicago in January.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just landed in Denver. Proud to be part of this group. Ready to compete and win some important games. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Get3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Get3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ussoccer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ussoccer<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FeUNckMXs5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/FeUNckMXs5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dax McCarty (@DaxMcCarty11) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaxMcCarty11\/status\/868919778152513537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 28, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p2\">McCarty\u2019s call-up opens the door for Juninho<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\">With the Men in Red\u2019s captain absent for the first time, now is the time for Juninho to slide in next to Bastian Schweinsteiger. The Brazilian midfielder has been limited by ankle issues lately but Nelson Rodriguez confirmed Tuesday night that he&#8217;s fully fit again. Juninho will likely re-enter the squad\u00a0playing in his more natural position as a defensive midfielder. Juninho can build a partnership with the German as Dax had done during the winning in May. Chicago\u2019s play improved greatly when Michael de Leeuw was placed in the advanced midfielder role instead of fielding all three of the Fire\u2019s star defensive midfielders at once. While de Leeuw has had a few comical misses in front of goal, his move in front of McCarty and Schweinsteiger has added great balance to the side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The moment is right\u00a0for Juninho to make his mark in a Chicago Fire shirt. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicago-fire.com\/players\/juninho\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multiple MLS Cup champion<\/a>\u00a0has had a somewhat sputtering start to the season. He has started just seven games and come on as a substitute twice in thirteen games so far. The on-loan midfielder missed two games in March through suspension and missed more time in May with injuries. Starting in a central pairing with<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Schweinsteiger on Sunday should bring out the best in the Brazilian. Fair to say that playing with the world cup champion has\u00a0improved the play of all the Fire players that have gotten on the field.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\">How high can the hot Fire fly?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\">The Men in Red have had a memorable season <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/2017\/02\/01\/2017-mls-all-star-game-expectations-rise-chicago\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on and off the field<\/a> already\u00a0in 2017. The Fire\u2019s current run of form is amongst their best ever and now it must be asked: just how far and good can this Fire team get? Earning\u00a0another road win against a dangerous Orlando City team Sunday would raise the high-water mark for results and expectations. If the Men In Red can replicate their stifling defensive performances seen in D.C. and most recently against Dallas, they may well earn another result away from Bridgeview. Head coach Veljko Paunovic and general manager Nelson Rodriguez have a far different \u2018management of expectations\u2019 job on their hands now. &#8216;Just reaching the playoffs&#8217; now seems a\u00a0bare minimum goal of what this new Fire team can do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During a busy may schedule, the Chicago Fire put together a landmark four game winning streak. The Fire\u2019s 4-0-1 record in May was the second best month-long run the Fire have ever put together. The ongoing run of form rates second only to the 5-0-0 recorded in June of 1998, the Fire&#8217;s inaugural and MLS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1809,"featured_media":6728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[92,86,120,720,1124],"class_list":["post-7389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fire","tag-bastian-schweinsteiger","tag-chicago-fire","tag-dax-mccarty","tag-juninho","tag-orlando-city"],"modified_by":"Daniel Sperry, Staff Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}