Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports The Firehose finally come for us In news that will shock absolutely no one, I have accomplished what no editor, not even Sean Spence, has done before. I have successfully killed Hot Time In Old Town. We were informed today that the company is laying off around 7 percent of its workforce, and some of our members have been impacted. We're furious at the way the company has approached these layoffs, and are currently discussing how to best serve those who just lost their jobs. — VOX MEDIA UNION WON A FAIR CONTRACT (@vox_union) January 20, 2023 That’s basically it ..read more

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports The Chicago Fire’s Colombian wonderkid joins the English giants for a club-record fee. For the second time in just a few months, the Chicago Fire have sold a teenage wonderkid to the Premier League for an eight-figure sum. Not too long ago, that statement would have seemed like a very optimistic prediction, but with the official confirmation of Colombian forward Jhon Durán’s sale to Aston Villa for close to 20 million dollars, it is now a reality. Durán’s sale breaks Gaga Slonina’s record as the most expensive Fire sale in history, and it is also one of the most e ..read more

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports The Fire made a few moves as preseason looms, while the Academy is also building for the future. The Chicago Fire’s preseason kicks off tomorrow, and the team’s roster for the 2023 season is taking shape. A pair of new defensive reinforcements were brought in this week, and while neither will be starters, they fill holes in the squad and provide depth. While two were brought in, Stanislav Ivanov left the club by mutual consent and is now a free agent. There were also some new developments surrounding the Fire’s academy, including unveiling a new Academy Director ..read more

Photo by John Berry/Getty Images The Fire announced the signing of the 30-year-old right back. The Chicago Fire revealed their second new offseason signing today, announcing the addition of French right-back Arnaud Souquet from Montpellier. Souquet arrives in Chicago on a free transfer, bringing a decade of European experience to the Fire dressing room. He has appeared 12 times this season in Ligue 1, though only three of his games were starts. Souquet has 4 goals and 6 assists during his three-and-a-half-year stay at Montpellier; previously, he played for Gent, Nice, and Dijon. With starter B ..read more

Photo by Graham Stokes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images With the Transfer window open, Hot Time has put together a rough depth chart of the Fire roster so we can track where the needs are and keep an up-to-date tab on the Roster as it forms. It will be updated as the preseason and season goes on. A Note: Each player is only placed once on the chart since this is more for tracking roster needs than anything else. Players with the ability to play multiple positions are placed where we think they are most effective. For Example, Xherdan Shaqiri is probably the number one attacking midfielder and ..read more

Photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images The Chicago Fire have their first signing of 2023. The Chicago Fire have their first new player for 2023. In a move that has been brewing for the last several weeks, the Chicago Fire and their sister club FC Lugano completed the player swap that would send right back Jhan Espinoza to Switzerland and Maren Haile-Selassie to Chicago. Haile-Selassie comes to the club on loan with an option to buy for next season. The 23-year-old comes to the Fire having a decent start to the season for Lugano. While he only has one goal on the stat sheet, he c ..read more

Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports The Christmas season is in full swing and so is the MLS offseason. After making some early moves at the end of 2022, the Chicago Fire are now in need of reinforcements ahead of the upcoming season. Let’s take a look at the positions that need filling, and some ideal candidates to fill those roles. 1. A right back (or two) For the past three seasons, right back has not been a position of any concern for the Fire. Boris Sekulić had been a reliable, consistent presence, and he never missed any games through injury. However, his contract was not renewed at the end of 2 ..read more

Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The 2023 MLS Schedule is here, and Ruben Has Some Thoughts Merry Christmas, Fire fam. Santa Garber has given us the gift of the 2023 MLS schedule. The Club released the schedule by putting out a cute video of CJ Brown and Frank Klopas interviewing some potential future Fire and Red Stars players inside the dome at the Fire Pitch. The season will kick off at Soldier Field on Saturday, March 4th at home against NYCFC and will run until the 21st of October when the reverse fixture will take place at whichever baseball stadium does not have a pl ..read more

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images Welcome to a special series of World Cup podcasts from Hot Time Welcome to the World Cast! Hot Time in Old Town’s World Cup podcast. In this episode, Ruben and Alex preview the group stage and get you ready for the month-long journey in West Asia. They start by going over the USMNT roster and attempt to figure out who’s going to start up top and on the wings, as well as what their ideal XI is. They then go group by group talking about the teams and who will survive to the knockout stage. There are some spicy hot takes here, and you don’t want to miss out on which bi ..read more

Photo by Vedran Galijas/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images Quite a few players and coaches with Chicago connections are heading to the World Cup starting this week. The 2022 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner, and all 32 teams are now in Qatar as they prepare for the world’s biggest sporting event. While only one current Chicago Fire player, a number of CF97 alumni are headed to Doha. Let’s take a look at who they are. Xherdan Shaqiri - Switzerland The sole current Fire player going to the World Cup is Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri. With over 100 caps, he is widely regarded as the Alpine ..read more