While Fire honor past, their present needs work

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The Fire are looking forward to celebrating their past. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like their present is worth savoring.

Before their game Saturday night at Soldier Field against Atlanta United, the Fire will induct former goalkeeper Zach Thornton into the Ring of Fire. Currently the Fire’s goalkeeping coach, Thornton was in the net for the team’s inaugural 1998 season, when it won the MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup.

On Wednesday, Thornton reflected on the road he took to the honor. He recalled how his first team, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, trained at Kean College in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and compared that to today’s state of the league and its growth of soccer-specific stadiums and modern training facilities.

“The quality of coaching has grown tremendously,” said Thornton, who will be the ninth member of the Ring of Fire. “The league is only going up and only getting to a higher and higher standard.”

Whether the Fire can rise to that standard remains to be seen.

After Thornton’s ceremony, the Fire will try to recover from one of their ugliest performances in years. After losing Brian Gutierrez to an injury he suffered in warmups and then seeing Xherdan Shaqiri leave in the 28th minute, the Fire were unable to adjust and convert on early opportunities. The result was a dispiriting 4-0 loss to Real Salt Lake in which the Fire looked more than a step behind their opponent.

“Just the consistency and the mentality really, as a group, it’s not just one or two players,” coach Frank Klopas said. “As a group in moments like that just to make it really hard without the ball for teams to break us down and stay more compact and then grind out results. When we get the chances, we have to put the chances away because that also gives a team confidence.”

The injuries to Gutierrez and Shaqiri don’t help. Klopas was hoping they’d be available for at least a few minutes Saturday to help a banged-up team.

“It’s a little bit difficult for us right now, you know? It’s not an excuse,” Klopas said. “The guys have worked really hard, the other guys. We just have to find a way now to approach this game and definitely come out with a much stronger mentality. We have to have a lot of pride [to move] on from the last game like that. We have to come on the field with a lot of energy and commitment and, I feel, do whatever it takes to get a result.”

Perhaps it would help if the Fire channeled the spirit of their earlier teams when they were consistently winning trophies and producing top players. Thornton was one of them.

“It’s a great honor for Zach,” Klopas said. “Obviously, if you look at his career, it speaks volumes for itself. He is a legend here in the club. He’s been involved in every championship that the club has [won].”