BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – While Mike Magee may not be enjoying the most productive of seasons for the Chicago Fire, the injury-hit striker has not given up on his dream of lifting MLS Cup with his hometown club.
And while that is highly unlikely to happen this season with the Men in Red (7-15-6, 27 points) propping up the Eastern Conference table, Magee insists his target remains returning silverware to the club he supported as a boy.
There has been speculation locally that Magee could be on his way out of Toyota Park, with former player Evan Whitfield suggesting the 31-year-old was not happy during a recent interview on Fire Confidential Live.
However, Magee insists his focus is on getting 100 percent fit and adding to his two MLS Cup wins (with the LA Galaxy in 2011 and 2012) with the Fire.
“I’m focused on this year,” Magee told MLSsoccer.com when asked if he expected to be at Toyota Park next season. “MLS has got a funky way of when they offer contracts and how they do things. My goal since I got here was to win the MLS Cup here, and although we’ve fallen incredibly short in my couple of years, that remains my goal until either a new challenge presents itself or someone tells me I can’t be here anymore.”
Following his stunning return of 15 goals in 22 starts after his arrival in Chicago in May 2013, Magee has struggled with a series of injuries, scoring seven goals in 17 starts in 2014, while he has yet to score in nine appearances and 269 regular season minutes this campaign. Having said that, he did score twice in the Fire’s 3-1 U.S. Open Cup win over the Charlotte Independence on June 30 to give a glimpse of what the team and head coach Frank Yallop have been missing.
Magee took a knock to his knee in his first, and only, full regular-season 90-minute outing against Columbus Crew SC on July 15, and has seen just 55 minutes in four substitute appearances since. However, with fellow strikers Gilberto (hamstring) and Kennedy Igboananike (ankle) both facing a race against time to be fit for the visit of Orlando City SC on Saturday, Magee could be in line to play a more involved role this weekend.
“Getting game time is more about me being healthy not other guys getting hurt,” Magee said. “In a dream world I’m ready to get more minutes, but we’ll see. Last time, I think it was my first game playing 90 minutes when I took the knock, so I don’t want to push it and get hurt, but I’ll listen to whatever they want me to do.”
“I’m still trying to get healthy, still following the doctors’ lead, they keep giving me good feedback, MRIs are showing good and telling me, more than anything, that this was always where I was going to be, which to me is frustrating,” he added. “I wish it was sooner and I wish I could help, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel on this year at all, I don’t think it’s in my mentality. At night when I’m sitting by myself I realize that next year I’ll be a lot better off. It’s actually frustrating to me that I couldn’t help this year, but we’ll see.”
If he stays in Chicago, Magee is confident he has what it takes to re-establish himself as the starting striker despite the presence of such stellar attackers as Gilberto, Igboananike and Jason Johnson.
“I laugh at that question,” the typically assured Magee smirked when asked if he could play a starting role next season. “I’m more than confident in myself. I’ve played on teams with some very good players and I’ve seemed to do alright, so my health won’t be an issue come next year, I’m just going to keep working and be as fit as I can be.”
