Last week The Chicago Fire acquired Aleksandar Katai on loan, introduced the new 2018 home kit, and remained undefeated in the preseason with an uneventful draw with the Philadelphia Union, but here side bits that you may of have missed last week.

Red Stars add to their coaching staff

Last Thursday, the Chicago Red Stars announced that they have named Gary Curneen and Craig Harrington as Assistant Coaches for their upcoming season.

Curneen started out his coaching career at Wingate University where during nine seasons he led the team to a 95-48-8 record. He later moved to be the Assistant Coach for the women’s team at the University of Cincinnati.

Prior to joining the Red Stars, his most recent stint was at California State University Bakersfield as Head Coach. There he led the women’s team to a second place finish on the table in 2016. Curneen was later named the Coach of the Year in the Western Athletic Conference.

Oh, and he’s also an author.

Harrington on the other hand started out his coaching career with LA Galaxy’s youth academy. He led U-16 team to the 2011-2012 USSDA SoCal Division Championship.

After leaving LA Galaxy, he moved on to become the Technical Director of the Turks and Caicos National Team. During his two year tenure, he helped the team jump up 27 spots in the FIFA ranking.

Forget the World Cup, the Fire can win the Olympics!

In the spirit of the Winter Olympics, some of the lads talk about what events they would like to participate in. Captain Dax McCarty thinks he would excel in ski jumping.

“I’m a little bit of a daredevil,” says McCarty, “I can probably break a few records.”

If it’s still piling snow next month, I’m sure we would like to see daredevil Dax ski jump. The grounds crew at Toyota Park can probably brew something up that they can host an exhibition on the pitch. Maybe he can jump over the Harlem End?

Not to be outdone by Dax, Bastian Schweinsteiger outright says he can win some medals.

Let’s hope that the club can win some actual medals at the end of the season.