Chicago Fire terminate Gilberto contract
After struggling to adapt to the MLS ever since his move from Brazil, midfielder Gilberto has had his contract with the Chicago Fire Soccer Club mutually terminated, and has now headed back to his homeland to link up with Sao Paulo. The 27-year-old joined the Fire back in 2015 as a designated player, and started his career stateside in positive fashion. During his first season with the club, Gilberto found the back of the net on five occasions, as well as adding two assists, however, during nine matches in 2016, the Brazilian failed to score a single goal, and only assisted twice.
With the Fire currently sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with just four wins from their nineteen matches so far, Gilberto’s exit comes as more unwelcome news, in what has been a season to forget so far for fans at Toyota Park. The Fire take on second placed New York Red Bulls this weekend, and with bookmakers Betway offering the home team soccer odds of 21/10 to win the matchup, coach Velko Paunovic certainly has hit work cut out to change the fortunes of his team. The squad returned to training during the week following a two-day rest period following their defeat at the hands of New England, and Paunovic certainly knows the importance of keeping the teams solid home form up for the remainder of the campaign. You can bet on the match here, with the Red Bulls the favourites in the soccer odds from Betway at 5/4 on.
Toyota Park has become something of a fortress for the Fire over recent months, with Paunovic’s team holding an undefeated run of 5-0-3 in all matches, dating back to the middle of April. Those heading to the game on Sunday will certainly be hoping that such a streak continues for the foreseeable future.
Elsewhere for the Fire, Brandon Vincent made his All-Star debut this week, as Arsenal visited San Jose, where they would eventually run out 2-1 winners, despite a goal from Montreal Impact’s Didier Drogba. The 22-year-old defender came on for the All-Stars during the second half, to cap yet another memorable moment in his young career, having earned a first international cap just last year. The former California State man has started in 12 of his 13 appearances for the Fire so far in 2016, and will certainly be happy with his performance in front of over 18,000 people at the Avaya Stadium.
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