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The Rewind: USOC semi in one word - FAILURE - ratings, rantings & more

We're running out of new ways to talk about losing and heartbreak

By Adam Merges
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

So how was your Wednesday? Mine started out with an 11 1/2  day at work which was consumed by thoughts on how the USOC semi final against the Philadelphia Union would go later that night. Once I got home, I took my dog for a long walk, then settled in to watch the match not knowing the utter disgust I would feel afterwards while trying to get to sleep.

I'm not going to go into detail about the match - but I will say the first half started with much hope; that lasted for about the first 5 minutes, then it was all down hill. The Fire showed absolutely nothing that would warrant any hope of actually hosting the USOC final. Errant passes finding no one, a DP having to be subbed after 15 minutes, and no one actually playing except for Sean Johnson, without whom the Fire would have been having a repeat of last year's USOC semi final versus Seattle. But for some odd reason the scoreline was still 0-0 at the half.

The second half was much the same. David Accam, the most dangerous attacker for the Fire, which on the night wasn't really saying much, had to be subbed out because he wasn't his normal speedy self. Then it happened for the Union. Sebastian Le Toux was able to capitalize on a Polster mistake and take a weak shot that ultimately found its way between Fire defenders and past Sean Johnson into the back of the net. The Fire tried to get forward but nothing was working. Yallop's "final piece" to his roster puzzle was absent most of the night, players looked like they really didn't care (I may be wrong, but that is the impression that I got while watching), and there was absolutely no energy or urgency from the Men in Red. They had a few corners at the end of the game but it wasn't good enough.

It wasn't good enough. The match can be summed up with one word: Failure. Complete and utter failure. Failure from the players on the field to not get anything going on the field. Failure from the coaching staff to not get their players ready both mentally and physically. I'm not going to criticize Yallop for choices he made in this match because in all honesty I'm tired of it. I'm tired of repeating myself week-in and week-out. I'm tired of reading the same quotes by Yallop saying "I don't know why it went wrong in the game we had a great week in training." The disappointment of failure in this match will be felt not just for a couple games, but if results continue to be like Wednesday night or last Friday in Portland or the double dip loss to the Crew in July, the feeling will continue for the final 12 games of the regular season. How much more failure can you handle?

MOTM

I'll get this done with quickly, it goes to Sean Johnson. Without him in net the score could have been a lot worse than 1-0, plain and simple. Everyone else on that was on the field for the Fire should send a mass apology to the supporters for having to watch that hot mess of garbage.

Your view

So what did you think? Here are a few #cf97 tweets that stood out to me. There are some from longtime supporters, former ISA board members, and supporters that are also just tired of the Fire's garbage. Have a look.

What's your take, Fire supporters? Who's to blame for the degradation of the Chicago Fire since the publication of that editorial? Probably us - gosh darn us!

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