Back in red, Fire ignite nostalgia and new hopes in home opener

For the first time since Sept. 29, 2019, the Fire will be in red uniforms with a broad white stripe across their chest when they host FC Cincinnati in their home opener Saturday night (7:30 p.m., Apple TV+, 890-AM).

To coach Frank Klopas, the move back to the team’s traditional color scheme is about much more than just a new kit for a new season.

“I love the red. That’s just the Fire, for me,” Klopas said. “[Red] is just a [Fire] color, and it reminds me of the old days, of the beginnings where this organization started. When I saw that jersey, I was extremely excited and happy. And it’s just really powerful when you put that jersey on.”

As part of the infamous 2019 rebrand to coincide with the move back to the city, the Fire switched to blue shirts and shorts at home, reserving the red for their socks. Not only did the change break from the franchise’s once-winning heritage, but it also disregarded red’s importance to Fire fans, made the team look more generic and went against the norm of soccer clubs sticking to their primary color.

In fairness, the look wasn’t bad in a vacuum or out of place in a top-flight soccer league. The blue uniform even improved when the reviled Fire Crown badge was replaced by the current logo for the 2022 season.

It just never looked right as the Fire’s primary kit.

“The players, when they saw it and put [the red] on, they were also very excited because it’s just a great color, it’s a great jersey, and obviously it’s good to have that back,” Klopas said. “Our fans will be excited, also. [I’m] looking forward to that, but also to our first match at home this new season in front of our fans. We’re excited, and we’re just focusing on the preparation and making sure we come out with good energy against a very good team.

“We’re all excited about everything, especially the jerseys, also.”

One Fire player who understands the importance of the return to red is defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda. A Bolingbrook native, Pineda advanced through the Fire youth system wearing the same red as the senior team. But when he made his first-team debut in 2020, it was for a team that had strayed from its identity.

Finally, the Fire are back in their rightful color.

“Everyone’s excited for the red, and we know the history that this club has in that color,” Pineda said.

Klopas was a prominent part of that history. He wore the red during the club’s 1998 MLS Cup/U.S. Open Cup double and beamed when the new jerseys were presented to striker Hugo Cuypers and Kellyn Acosta during a February news conference.

Coming off an opening 2-2 draw at Philadelphia, Klopas hopes the Fire can build off that result and move just a little closer to better days.

“It’s an opportunity for us, with our performance, with the way we approach the match — the commitment, the energy, the hard work, everything there that the Fire fans expect — for us to come out and showcase that,” Klopas said. “There’s no better place to do it than at home with our new red jerseys, which reminds us all of the glory days of the past.”