# 1998 Chicago Fire season

The 1998 Chicago Fire season was the Chicago Fire Soccer Club's inaugural season of existence, and their first season in Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer.
The Chicago Fire enjoyed one of the strongest debuts for an expansion club in the history of American soccer and of the North American sports leagues in general. The Fire won the double by winning both MLS Cup '98 and the 1998 U.S. Open Cup Final, both in a five-day timespan. It was the first time that an expansion franchise in any of the major American sports leagues won the league championship. The next time an expansion franchise would reach the championship of their respective sports league would be 20 years later, when the first-year Vegas Golden Knights NHL ice hockey team reached the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals.

## Background

The last professional soccer club to play in the Chicago area was the Chicago Sting, who played in the original NASL from 1974 to 1983, and then in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 to 1988. The Sting won two Soccer Bowl championships: in 1981 and again in 1984.
The Chicago Fire were one of two new MLS expansion teams to join MLS in 1998, and the first two ever expansion teams in league history, the other team being the now-defunct Miami Fusion. The Fire were founded on October 8, 1997, on the 126th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. The club was named after the event. The club focused on recruiting players of various descent to reflect on the diversity of the region. The team brought in Polish players Piotr Nowak, Jerzy Podbrożny, and Roman Kosecki; the Mexican Jorge Campos; and the Czech Luboš Kubík.

## Club
### Roster

| No. | Name | Position | Date of Birth (Age) | Previous Club |
| Goalkeepers ||||||
| | Jorge Campos | GK | (1966-10-15)October 15, 1966 (aged 32) | Cruz Azul |
| | Scott Coufal | GK | (1974-09-27)September 27, 1974 (aged 24) | |
| | Kevin Rueda | GK | (1969-03-16)March 16, 1969 (aged 29) | |
| | Zach Thornton | GK | (1973-10-10)October 10, 1973 (aged 25) | |
| | David Winner | GK | (1971-04-23)April 23, 1971 (aged 27) | |
| Defenders ||||||
| | Diego Gutiérrez | DF | (1972-11-03)November 3, 1972 (aged 25) | |
| | Ritchie Kotschau | DF | (1975-11-22)November 22, 1975 (aged 22) | |
| | Luboš Kubík | CB | (1964-01-20)January 20, 1964 (aged 34) | |
| | Francis Okaroh | CB | (1963-08-25)August 25, 1963 (aged 35) | |
| | Mike Richardson | DF | (1968-10-08)October 8, 1968 (aged 30) | |
| | Tom Soehn | DF | (1966-04-15)April 15, 1966 (aged 32) | |
| | Brian Bates | DF | (1972-08-16)August 16, 1972 (aged 26) | Colorado Rapids |
| | C. J. Brown | CB | (1975-06-15)June 15, 1975 (aged 23) | San Francisco Bay Seals |
| | Andrew Lewis | DF | (1974-07-10)July 10, 1974 (aged 24) | |
| | Joe Carver | DF | (1971-06-11)June 11, 1971 (aged 27) | |
| Midfielders ||||||
| | Chris Armas | MF | (1972-08-22)August 22, 1972 (aged 26) | LA Galaxy |
| | Zak Ibsen | MF | (1972-06-02)June 2, 1972 (aged 26) | |
| | Josh Keller | MF | (1975-02-16)February 16, 1975 (aged 23) | |
| | Manny Lagos | MF | (1971-06-11)June 11, 1971 (aged 27) | |
| | Jesse Marsch | MF | (1973-11-08)November 8, 1973 (aged 24) | |
| | Peter Nowak | MF | (1964-07-05)July 5, 1964 (aged 34) | |
| | Jorge Salcedo | MF | (1972-09-27)September 27, 1972 (aged 26) | |
| Forwards ||||||
| | Frank Klopas | FW | (1966-09-01)September 1, 1966 (aged 32) | |
| | Roman Kosecki | FW | (1966-02-15)February 15, 1966 (aged 32) | |
| | Tony Kuhn | FW | (1975-12-15)December 15, 1975 (aged 22) | |
| | Jerzy Podbrożny | FW | (1966-12-17)December 17, 1966 (aged 31) | |
| | Ante Razov | FW | (1974-03-02)March 2, 1974 (aged 24) | |
| | Josh Wolff | FW | (1977-02-25)February 25, 1977 (aged 21) | |

### Team management

| Position | Staff |
| General Manager | Peter Wilt |
| Head Coach | Bob Bradley |
| Assistant Coach | |
| Assistant Coach | |
| Goalkeeper Coach | |
Source:

## Competitive
### Major League Soccer
#### Standings
##### Western Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | SOW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 32 | 22 | 2 | 8 | 85 | 44 | +41 | 68 | MLS Cup Playoffs |
| 2 | Chicago Fire | 32 | 18 | 2 | 12 | 62 | 45 | +17 | 56 | MLS Cup Playoffs |
| 3 | Colorado Rapids | 32 | 14 | 2 | 16 | 62 | 69 | −7 | 44 | MLS Cup Playoffs |
| 4 | Dallas Burn | 32 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 43 | 59 | −16 | 37 | MLS Cup Playoffs |
| 5 | San Jose Clash | 32 | 10 | 3 | 19 | 48 | 60 | −12 | 33 | |
| 6 | Kansas City Wizards | 32 | 10 | 2 | 20 | 45 | 50 | −5 | 32 | |

##### Overall table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | SOW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Los Angeles Galaxy (S) | 32 | 22 | 2 | 8 | 85 | 44 | +41 | 68 | CONCACAF Champions' Cup |
| 2 | D.C. United | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 74 | 48 | +26 | 58 | CONCACAF Champions' Cup |
| 3 | Chicago Fire (C) | 32 | 18 | 2 | 12 | 62 | 45 | +17 | 56 | CONCACAF Champions' Cup |
| 4 | Columbus Crew | 32 | 15 | 0 | 17 | 67 | 56 | +11 | 45 | |
| 5 | Colorado Rapids | 32 | 14 | 2 | 16 | 62 | 69 | −7 | 44 | |

#### Results by round

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
| Stadium | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | A | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A |
| Result | W | W | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | SO | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | L |

#### Match reports
### U.S. Open Cup
## Statistics
### Appearances and Goalscorers

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | MLS | MLS | MLS Cup | MLS Cup | US Open Cup | US Open Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 14 | MF | USA | Chris Armas | 39 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | CZE | Luboš Kubík | 40 | 11 | 31 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 2 | DF | USA | C. J. Brown | 37 | 2 | 28 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | NGA | Francis Okaroh | 33 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | USA | Jesse Marsch | 38 | 3 | 25+4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | POL | Roman Kosecki | 28 | 10 | 25 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | POL | Jerzy Podbrożny | 34 | 8 | 25+1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | USA | Ante Razov | 38 | 11 | 24+6 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | POL | Piotr Nowak | 31 | 7 | 24 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 18 | GK | USA | Zach Thornton | 33 | 0 | 23+2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | USA | Ritchie Kotschau | 26 | 4 | 23+1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 41 | FW | USA | Frank Klopas | 33 | 8 | 17+10 | 6 | 1+2 | 0 | 2+1 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | USA | Diego Gutiérrez | 21 | 2 | 8+5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 | GK | MEX | Jorge Campos | 10 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | USA | Jorge Salcedo | 11 | 0 | 6+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | USA | Andrew Lewis | 15 | 0 | 6+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | USA | Tom Soehn | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | USA | Zak Ibsen | 34 | 0 | 5+22 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | USA | Josh Wolff | 23 | 9 | 4+10 | 8 | 3+2 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 19 | MF | USA | Josh Keller | 9 | 0 | 3+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 |
| | DF | USA | Brian Bates | 4 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | USA | Tony Kuhn | 7 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | GK | USA | Scott Coufal | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | USA | Manny Lagos | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Michael Richardson | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goalscorers

| Rank | Pos. | No. | Player | MLS | MLS Cup | US Open Cup | Total |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| No. | Pos. | Player | From | Fee | Date | Source |

### Transfers out

| No. | Pos. | Player | To | Fee | Date | Source |

### Loan in

| No. | Pos. | Player | Loaned from | Start | End | Source |

### Loan out

| No. | Pos. | Player | Loaned to | Start | End | Source |