The last few days have brought some of the strongest winds the Chicagoland area has seen in years. Tornado sirens were blaring throughout the region while trees were falling down left and right with floods popping up in the usual places.
When Tobias Salquist signed with the Chicago Fire in the offseason, he was expecting a lot of things. Those winds were not one of them and it was jarring for the father of two young children.
“The first one, two days ago, we didn't know what to do,” Salquist told On Tap Sports Net after training on Thursday. So we went down [to ground level]. So by yesterday, it was fine we stayed in our apartment. The weather here is nothing that I have ever experienced. So it's kind of crazy to watch.”
Salquist’s experience in Chicago so far has come with a lot he didn’t expect.
He’d been tied to Chicago in the rumor mill for over a year before finally signing with the Fire in January but he’s since dealt with two injuries in succession that have thrown a wrench in his first MLS campaign . Salquist sustained a concussion in the Fire’s 0-0 draw at RBNY on April 13 and then suffered a sprained MCL in the Fire’s 0-0 draw against Atlanta on April 27.
The defender finally made his return to the bench over the weekend as an unused substitute but says he feels ready to get back on the pitch after suffering successive injuries in April.
“Yeah, it was a small bump. It was hard. I’ve been so unlucky. I think since I came here, there has been first concussion and then my MCL, and then plenty of things outside of the pitch as well. I have to adapt, it took a long time but finally, I’m ready.”
Salquist found that the best thing he could do to help himself was to focus on keeping things simple despite the injury.
“It was all about trying to do everything I could to make it easier. To do the right things, try to focus on something else sometimes, and have some happiness in other places than here.
“They’ve got great treatment, performance coaches that were always helping. I have a lot of guys helping me. I've told them if I should be injured, it's better to do it here than where I came from because you have everything here to take really good care of you.”
He wasn’t expecting such a voluminous medical staff when he arrived in Chicago and credits that support system for getting him through these past few months.
“I was surprised when I came here to see that we have like five or six physios and I don't know how many fitness coaches. I was surprised about that. But now I saw while having an injury, the treatment I got, the things to do, the knowledge about everything was great.
“So it's never it's never nice to be injured, but I mean, I never had a long injury before. So to experience that was hard but there were great people around me.”
Salquist has found joy in being around the team after the injury as he worked himself back into shape.
“I think when you have an injury like that you realize that okay, just to train, be running, to do [physical] things is nice. Now for me, it's all about getting myself back in football shape. Hopefully, I can get some minutes once the coach thinks I'm ready for that.”
What's On Tap for the Fire?
The Fire are still in desperate need of points. Fortunately for them, this matchup in Cincinnati couldn’t have come at a better time.
FCC will be without starting center backs Miles Robinson and Matt Miazga when the Fire journey to Ohio on Wednesday after the former was sent off in their loss last weekend and the latter sustained a season-ending injury. MLS assist leader and FCC leading goalscorer Luciano Acosta was listed as “Questionable” on the availability report after not training with the team on Tuesday, according to Pat Brennan.
It’s a prime opportunity for the Fire to steal points on the road and they are in desperate need of something to create momentum after not scoring in their previous two matches. The defense has been much better of late having only conceded a single goal in the aforementioned two matches, but the goals haven’t come for Chicago since their comeback win over Philadelphia on July 3rd.
Chicago will once again be without Xherdan Shaqiri, Chase Gasper, Carlos Terán, Andrew Gutman, and Federico Navarro, so they’re likely to sign a player or two up from Chicago Fire II on a short-term agreement for this trip.
The Fire are without a win in their last three against FC Cincinnati and their last win came on Oct. 1, 2022. Jhon Durán scored twice for Chicago in the win while Brian Gutiérrez scored his second MLS goal and collected an assist at TQL Stadium.
Who: Chicago Fire vs FC Cincinnati
Where: TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
When: July 17, 6:30 p.m. CT
How to Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+
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