
Almost anybody forecasting the MLS season has the Fire near the bottom of the 15-team Eastern Conference. The reasoning is simple: The common thought is the club didn’t do enough to bolster a squad that wasted a strong start in 2022. Yes, selling goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina and forward Jhon Duran to Premier League teams was great business, but that won’t really help the Fire win games in 2023.
Coach Ezra Hendrickson has seen the dire predictions. To put it bluntly, he and his players don’t agree with the projections.