31st July 2000
Injured starters Lubos Kubik and Hristo Stoitchkov will be part of the traveling
roster for Wednesday's game at Tampa Bay and both will be available for
selection in the first XI. Kubik has been suffering from a sprained MCL in his
right knee, and he last played on 5-20 v New England. Stoitchkov suffered a
right groin tear on 6-10 @ Miami and has not played since.
Fans Can Vote for the Fire Goal of the Year on chicagosports.com
Chicago Fans can vote for their favorite Fire Goal of the Year by logging onto
www.chicagosports.com. The contest will run for six weeks and the results will
be announced during the Fire's final regular season match, Sept. 9 @ Columbus.
Chicagosports.com has streaming video of all four goals and fans can vote for
one of the following goals; Diego Gutierrez's dribbling and finish on 3-25 @ KC,
Hristo Stoitchkov's 30-yard freekick bomb @ DC United, Ante Razov's diving
header on 5-6 @ Miami, and Andrew Lewis' give-and-go with Chris Armas, in
which 11 Fire players touched the ball before the finish on 7-4 @ Colorado.
31st July 2000
Stoitchkov missed the All-Star game of MLS and the team of the West lost to the East by 9:4. The star of Chicago Fire is still curing an injury.
8th July 2000 7th July 2000
Only fans, who had previously signed for the
'Fire Insider' knew about the Live Internet chat. Here is the whole chat.
Fire's Stoichkov burning out
CHICAGO (July 7, 2000 3:30 p.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) -
Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov is considering retirement after
being out for a month with a groin injury and facing at least another
month on the bench of Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire.
"I'm thinking about retiring and I want to do it in Chicago," Stoichkov
said.
"The players and coaches have made me feel at home since I arrived
and this is where I want to end my career," he added.
The 34-year-old was joint-top scorer at the 1994 World Cup with six
goals and played in Japan before signing a one-year, $270,000 MLS
deal for this season, where scoring five goals in nine games.
The 1994 European Player of the Year is not expected to return until
late August for the Fire's final four games of the season after suffering
a right groin strain in a 4-2 loss at Miami last month.
Stoichkov has opened a soccer school in Barcelona, where he won
the Spanish League title four years in a row in the early 1990s, and
plans to retire there.
"It's an honor for me to teach the little ones," he said. "It's a passion
because I think it's important youngsters learn everything the right
way."
6th July 2000 3rd July 2000
Stoichkov participated in a LIVE Internet Chat on the Chicago Fire Web Site on the 6th of July from 7 o'clock ET.
Stoichkov sets sights on Barcelona comeback
SPAIN (goalnetwork) -- Hristo Stoichkov
could fulfill his coaching ambitions at
Barcelona if Lluis Bassat wins the club’s
presidential elections on July 23. Stoichkov,
34-year-old Bulgarian, is winding down his
career with Chicago Fire in Major League
Soccer.
Bassat, who is running second in the polls
behind outgoing vice-president Joan
Gaspart, boasts Txiki Begiristain on his ticket as potential coaching
supremo. Word is that Begiristain has offered his former Barça
teammate Stoichkov a four-year $1million contract to come on board.
Stoichkov will not comment on his own future until after the elections
but last week he held a press-conference in Barcelona to announce
his support for Bassat and Begiristain. His potential role is in youth
development and as Barça’s tzar in the Eastern European markets.
Stoichkov has already put on his coaching hat to dissect Spain’s Euro
2000 performance.
He said: "The Spanish fail at every European Championship and World
Cup for the same reason: mentality. They are a country that lacks
confidence in a clear footballing philosophy.That lack of identity was
in evidence at Euro 2000. Jose Camacho confused everybody with his
constant changes.
"Something is obviously wrong when a coach uses 20 players in four
games. Spain’s tactics changed far too often as well: one game it
was 4-2-3-1, the next 4-4-2, the next 3-2-5.
"Molina made a dreadful mistake against Norway and Cañizares was a
bag of nerves against Yugoslavia and France yet Casillas, the best
keeper in Spain, didn’t get a game. Camacho also changed his
defence constantly to no avail. Why didn’t Sergi, one of the most
decisive players against Yugoslavia, play against France?
"In midfield it was a similar story: too many changes bred confusion;
not chalk or cheese. Mendieta, Spain’s best midfielder, started the
tournament on the bench and was taken off against France when it
really mattered - you never take off your dead-ball specialist at the
death unless he’s injured.
"In attack Raul, Urzaiz and Etxeberria all failed to live up to
expectations. Camacho doesn’t have to throw out the baby with the
bath water but he must decide what kind of team Spain are. A side
who play possession football or one-touch football and the long ball?
A side who use two midfield pivots or a player who floats behind the
forwards? A side who play with a big target man or two little guys up
front ?"
He added: "It is no coincidence France are now world and European
champions. They are a side who impose their character upon the
game. The French team inspire respect, even fear. Spain do not.
Until they decide what kind of football team they are, they never
will."
3rd July 2000
The megastar of Bulgarian football Hristo Stoitchkov will become a shareholder in the 3rd divisional Bulgarian football team Fairplay. The news was announced by the owner of the team from Varna, Ivan Petrov.
The friendly relations between Stoitchkov and Petrov date back a long period of time. A few years ago the two of them wanted to invest in the city stadium "Varna", famous under the name "Jurij Gagarin", but the local authorities categorically refused them, despite the attrcative investments that Hristo had promised to make.
28th June 2000
Fire's Stoitchkov says he could be a Barca coach
BARCELONA (Reuters) -- Hristo
Stoitchkov said on Wednesday he could
return to Barcelona as part of the club's
coaching staff.
"I'd like to work with the youth teams, the
face of the future," he said.
Stoitchkov, 34, is playing in the United States
with MLS team Chicago Fire. He is still a
popular figure in the Catalan city for his role in
Barcelona's 1992 European Cup success.
"At the moment I'm enjoying playing soccer
and I want to carry on with the Chicago Fire
but if I decide to retire I could be back," he
said before returning to Chicago.
The former Bulgarian international's contract with the Chicago Fire ends in
December.
Stoitchkov, the 1994 European player of the year, was a member of
Barcelona's so-called Dream Team, coached by Johan Cruyff, which won
the Spanish league four years in succession in the early 1990s.
Stoitchkov left Barcelona in March 1998 after a dispute with former coach
Louis van Gaal.
22nd June 2000
Stoitchkov, Hristo -- Grade 2 right groin tear -- out 8 to 10 weeks.
19th June 2000
Stoitchkov's return is the most uncertain. Bothered by groin strains since joining the
Fire a week before the first game, Stoitchkov could be sidelined for 10 more weeks
according to the Fire's latest medical update. He won't even dress for Wednesday's
match with the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., or
Saturday's game against the Earthquakes in San Jose, and he might not return until
the playoffs.
"I hope he does come back," Gutierrez said. "For now we've got to let time go by.
Groins are very complicated. If he's smart, he'll follow the doctor's advice."
16th June 2000
Stoitchkov might be out for Fire's season
The Fire had hoped to turn Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoitchkov loose on Major
League Soccer opponents, but that plan apparently is over.
Stoitchkov won't play in Saturday night's match with D.C. United at Soldier Field.
Fire general manager Peter Wilt said he will miss much more than that, and he could
be done for the season.
"It looks like eight to 12 weeks," Wilt said. "If it's 12, we'll have three games left."
Stoitchkov was sidelined first by a left groin strain; now the problem is on his right
side. He underwent a second MRI after he was forced out early in Saturday's 4-2
road loss to Miami.
Central defender Lubos Kubik (Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament of
his left knee) will be out another six weeks, meaning the Fire is down to just one
high-profile allocated player--captain Peter Nowak. Wilt said one possible
replacement--whom he wouldn't name--may be in training camp next week for a
tryout.
Even with Stoitchkov and Kubik out most of the season, the Fire (8-7-1) will enter
Saturday's game leading the MLS Central Division. In the past two years, a meeting
with D.C. United would be a season highlight. That's not the case this time with
United (3-9-3) in last place in the Eastern Division.
