I freeze framed the coverage and tried drawing some lines and I think it's basically impossible to tell either way. What I think it should be is a no call since it's not clear and obvious, but there wasn't a call on the field so they weren't overturning that part, so....

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Extended thoughts on the home opener:

A Clear and Obvious™ Win at Home
sparkandember.knowthedata.com/a-clear-and-...

#cf97

Mbekezeli Mbokazi is the most popular player in MLS you’ve never heard of The rising South African talent has brought his skill – and intense following – with him to the Chicago Fire

When Messi and Son came to MLS, they brought their many social media followers with them.

Meet the player you (might not) have heard of who boosted the Chicago Fire's social media following by more than half a million people.

The Mbokazi Effect.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

Not the 3-0 I would have wanted to see, but they got it done in the end.

I know how that DOGSO looked in real time, from the stands, after a game of dirty play and flopping from Montreal, but I have not yet had a chance to see VAR footage and will reserve a final judgment till then

2/2

#cf97

Initial thoughts at FT: Attitude is still king for this team. After a fairly boring first half, going down a man ignited a spark. Cuypers nails his PK and we get one more in an obscene amount of stoppage time to close it out.

1/2

#cf97

First half quick thoughts: Lots of missed opportunities for the Fire, could easily be 3 or 4 up with how bad Montreal are playing.

I'm interested to see how they come back out in the second half. Both teams were happy to slow the game down to a halt.

Need to go all gas, no brakes

#cf97

Lot happier with that backline and Maren's spot in the formation.... But what is up with this midfield choice? Pineda over both Lod and D'Avilla?

#cf97

Inspirational. Aspirational.

A Recharged Houston Dynamo Take Down A Faded Fire Side After a lackluster 2025 performance in which Houston finished 12th in the West, an already softer conference overall despite some big table-topping sides like LAFC, you could be tempted to draw parall...

Published some extended thoughts about our season opener over on Ghost.

sparkandember.knowthedata.com/a-recharged-...

#cf97

At the end of the day Guilherme balling out in the second half beat out our tired legs.

Gonna write up fuller thoughts on the new blog tomorrow once I can pull the stats.

2/2
#cf97

Initial thoughts: That game was more about Houston than the Fire in so many ways. I like Maren overall but I'm still not feeling him as a leftback. Zinck with some heavy touches in the first half fumbled some promising attacks.

1/2
#cf97

One more Int'l slot we need to cover then? I've lost track lol

I wasn't feeling Maren at LB to be honest, which is a lot of my concern. Just going to assume Gutman can ball out for 3000 minutes and just not worry about it.

I see what you're saying, but without knowing how Radojevic performs with this team and in this league, we can't be sure he's a backup. Compared to how I'm feeling about our CB situation...

Honestly, that last preseason game doesn't give me a lot of faith in our own depth. Barroso, Gutman, Dean as backup and then... what? Radojevich being Schrodinger's fullback isn't helping.

Not my fault you earned them.

If anyone's curious, the others are @tombogert.bsky.social and @empiregass.bsky.social ( @soccerwisehq.bsky.social) and most importantly the @meninred97.com pod and site and @timhotze.com specifically.

I'm a tiny voice here but @mattdoyle.bsky.social is one of a handful of content makers who got me up to speed on this sport and league when I got into it.

It's a travesty that when they can still milk the Messi Cash Cow and there's also a World Cup, MLS is choosing less content and fewer voices.

LOL, I need to keep
bsky.app/profile/timh...

Not featuring Sunday and individual training today probably means Bamba is working through an injury, no?

Personally, not a fan of collars, but I know it's a thing and plenty of people do and it's still pretty slick.

Really happy to see Mueller score a goal, even with the asterisk of preseason, after all he's been through and the club's faith to hold on to him. #cf97

Bull (2016 TV series) - Wikipedia

Dr Phil also got a glow up fictional drama. It should be its own genre

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_(2...

It's certainly not a negative

Available on Peacock! So excited for him.

Presented without comment

Seeing the depth chart really highlights how helpful it is for the team and for him to move on from Acosta. Such a great guy, got the chance to briefly meet him, but yea

If he's a summer transfer and Cuypers is only on contract until the end of 2026, seems like a reasonable proposition that we're just getting our striker replacement a little early, no?

Probably not some two striker situation I would think