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Bratislav Ristic
The big lead this morning is Bratislav Ristic has reportedly been cut by the Chicago Fire. As one source came in, they continued to pour in to the point it's nearly impossible the 31 year-old Serbian is still a member of the team. The Fire have not sent out anything official but that announcement will likely come out some time this week if not today. Bratislav's release follows the speculation we made last week that Ristic was the most likely player to be cut if the team wanted to free up an international slot for Pavel Pardo instead of trying to acquire a slot from another team. If you doubted Pardo was coming to the team before, you have little to nothing left in your line of reasoning now. Pardo's announcement for joining the team will probably come at the same time Ristic's release does. We'll have more analysis once the moves are officially announced.
Victor Pineda
Former Chicago Fire assistant coach Mike Matkovich is the head coach for the USMNT U-18 Milk Cup squad that includes Chicago Fire player Victor Pineda. The U-18 team opened their 2011 Milk Cup by defeating Israel 2-0 yesterday. The Vancouver Whitecaps' Omar Salgado and Hertha BSC (Berlin, Germany)'s Jerome Kiesewetter scored the goals. Pineda entered the game for Salgado in the 84th minute. Pineda might get more minutes this Wednesday, July 27th when the US plays Mexico at 2:00 PM CST (8:00 PM their local time).
Chicago Fire PDL game today
The regular season might be over but the Chicago Fire PDL play FC London today at Toyota Park at 6:00 PM. Admission is free for this playoff play-in game which will determine the team that advances to the USL Premier Development League's Central Conference final four in Pontiac, Michigan. The Thunder Bay Chill await tonight's winner while Great Lakes Division Champions the Michigan Bucks take on the Des Moines Menace.
There are a couple of other Fire related games going on this week and hopefully we'll be cranking out some roster update related posts in the next coming days. Who said this was going to be a boring stretch of days without a Fire MLS Regular Season game?