I watched the Chicago Fire’s loss to the New York Red Bulls on Saturday on my phone, in the middle of a packed schedule of youth soccer games. I was coaching my younger son and cheering on my older son at our club’s annual Spring Classic tournament. In the middle of all the fun and joy that is youth soccer, I was subjected to the flat, joyless Fire failing to score—and even failing to run hard, at times—against the then-winless Red Bulls.
Football misery, in the middle of happiness.
The irony is that joy is one of the things Raphael Wicky has stressed to the players since arriving at the beginning of last season.