Fire exit MLS is Back tournament with unanswered questions

There are two pressing questions around the Fire after they were dumped out of the MLS is Back tournament on Thursday: Where are they as a team? When will they play again?

Neither has a clear answer.

Thanks to their 2-0 loss to a shorthanded Vancouver team, the Fire fell to 1-2-0 this summer and 1-3-1 overall in 2020. In normal circumstances, that would show the Fire are off to a slow start and that the pieces aren’t fitting correctly.

Of course, the circumstances in 2020 are far from normal, and they were certainly unusual for the Fire in Florida, two factors that make any judgments unfair or premature. Their first game was postponed, they switched groups, and played two morning matches.

But at the same time, the Fire had two chances to book passage into the knockout round of the tournament but whiffed both times. And instead of responding after Thursday’s weather break, the Fire allowed two goals and were eliminated.

“I think what we learned is that we need to be tuned in at all moments,” Fire defender Jonathan Bornstein said. “Games are going to be tough in this league. We are going to have to overcome circumstances.”

There were some positives during the Fire’s three games, which began with an encouraging win over defending-champion Seattle before losses to San Jose and then Vancouver. Striker Robert Beric looked the part of a designated player and rookie Mauricio Pineda showed signs of justifying the excitement around his arrival.

However, the back line looked vulnerable without Johan Kappelhof. The Fire went scoreless over their final two games, and coach Raphael Wicky left creative midfielder Djordje Mihailovic on the bench for “tactical” reasons when they needed goals to stay alive against Vancouver.

“It’s a progress,” Wicky said. “It will take time. We will keep working. We are very disappointed now. We will talk about things, and then the only thing is we keep going. We keep working and we stand up again.”

When the Fire will get that chance is unclear.

The league is hoping to resume the season in its home markets following the MLS is Back event. On Thursday, Nashville SC coach Gary Smith told reporters he is preparing for a fall schedule, another sign season could go on in some way.

But nothing has been announced, and the trajectory of COVID-19 could preclude more games after the tournament. If that’s the case, the Fire won’t be playing again until 2021.

Yet, like so much else, nobody knows what’s coming next.

“We’ll keep ourselves prepared in whatever way we have to,” Bornstein said. “We went through three and a half months where we — as a team, and I think all our guys did a great job during that time, and so we’ll see what is ahead of us. It’s really hard to say without actually knowing.”