Lider Marmol signs with the Chicago Fire

The Chicago Fire signed Paraguayan defender Lider Marmol, the team announced on Tuesday. The signing ends a three-month long saga that saw Marmol train with the Red Bulls for two months before eventually joining the Fire and agreeing to terms.

"We are excited to hae Lider join our organization," Fire technical director Frank Klopas said. "He is a good young player that is going to make our team stronger."

Marmol is expected to give the Fire depth both in central defense and defensive midfield. His strength on the ball, sharp passing ability and strong shot from long range could make him an ideal defensive midfielder, but he could also help provide a steadying force in central defense.

The signing is a victory for Chicago, which not only kept Marmol away from the Red Bulls, who also filed a discovery claim on Marmol, but also signed a young player with the talent to start at multiple positions.

Marmol is not without his own question marks. He has bounced around to various clubs at a young age (the Fire will be his sixth club at age 22, and that is after spending the past 10 months without a team) and also had a drunk driving arrest during his half season with Spanish club Hercules a year ago.

What do you think of the signing? Love it? Hate it? Think he's the missing piece to the Fire puzzle? Just happy to see Juan Carlos Osorio not get his player? Angry that the MLS discovery process cost the Red Bulls Marmol? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

[Keith G.]

Just knew it was going to happen, well guess we can move on and look else where.

[Chow]

Is he still depressed??

[Brendan]

I knew he would come around.

[Steve]

About time.

It will be interesting to finally see this guy on the field after all this talk.

Ives - I know the league doesn't share but any early indication on what salary he ended up signing at?

[Tony in Quakeland]

If he delivers as advertized, it's hard to see the Fire as solidifying their place as the league's top team.

[Barry Jive and His Uptown Five]

It's a shame that all the unpleasantness had to occur but now it seems as if everything is in order and both teams can just focus on their play on the field.

[Jeffrey]

Somehow a nice new salary cheered him up.

[MetroFlip73]

Someone get him a beer or four and a car...

[Joamiq]

Good for him. Sorry he can't be on Metro. Now, when is MLS going to get rid of discovery claims?

[Andre]

I love Major League Soccer.
The player had no intentions of ever joining the Fire, and being given an ultimatum of "It's us, or smell you later." just gives more testament to how badly this league needs to seriously restructure alot of these "Training wheel rules" as I like to call them.

[JSquaredNY]

Boooooooo

[Frank the Frowner]

I hope he stinks. Doubt he's happy about signing with that crap club, but 10 months w/o a team and no pay check, of course he's gonna sign.

[Matt]

Cue Ives abuse from Fire fans in 3... 2... 1...

[EDB]

I would have prefered to see the moldovan winger was signed.

[Mikemike]

Nice yellow journalism, Ives!
Entirely unbelieveable. If he was signing with NY, you totally would not have brought up that DWI. Disgraceful!

[bkfiv]

Wow, once he came to Chicago, it didn't take him long to sign. I was sure this would take longer, as I was believing wholeheartedly that Lider only wanted to play for the Metros. I know he said he didn't care what team he played for, but multiple times on this site I read unbiased opinions that stated he would play for Metros, or not in MLS at all.

Seriously though, hopefully this patty-cake game off the field between Chi-NY can be over now. I want to go back to the good ol' days of not paying attention to the Metros due to their proven history of futility and irrelevence.

[Matt]

Cue whining from from Red Bull fans in 3... 2... oh wait, did someone come in early?

[anotherbodymurdered]

Just wait you guys, wait until he finds really likes it here, how much farther his salary will go here, and how much nicer the people are. Not to mention the real tradition of the Fire and playing in front of an appreciative, energetic crowd... he'll be just fine. Try harder, New York!

[Brick]

I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE ARE YELLING ABOUT!!!!

[Ethan]

"Marmol is not without his own question marks. He has bounced around to various clubs at a young age (the Fire will be his sixth club at age 22, and that is after spending the past 10 months without a team) and also had a drunk driving arrest during his half season with Spanish club Hercules a year ago."

Now that Marmol is signed w/Chicago this is clearly the time to report this...

[Adam]

I'm glad the off-field drama is finally over with, so he can get on the field and play.

And I don't feel like tracking back and checking, but this is the first I recall hearing about Marmol's potential downside. Perhaps Red Bull fans now have a head start on their sour grapes campaign.

[el fuego 10]

Cue whining by Red Bull fans in 3... 2... 1... oh, wait, yeah....

[Squard]

A Blogger accused of yellow journalism, thats rich.
_________________
The term originated during the Gilded Age with the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. They ran from 1895 to about 1898 and can refer specifically to this period. Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well. The New York Press coined the term yellow kid journalism in early 1897 after a then-popular comic strip to describe the down-market papers of Pulitzer and Hearst, which both published versions of it during a circulation war. This was soon shortened to yellow journalism with the New York Press insisting, "We called them Yellow because they are Yellow."

[Matt]

I'm fairly certain that Ives mentioned the DUI when Marmol's name first came up in connection with the Red Bulls, but the search function on this blog is inadequate to say the least.

[Dante]

Fire fans are never happy. You won the standoff for Marmol. I hope you enjoy having a player you have never seen play before. Good luck.

[nicholas s.]

Can someone please tell Gerber that the way to deal with whiny petulant children (the fire) is not to give in and let them have their way.

I heard they are only signing him as cover for when they deal NY Conde on the cheap.

[Steve]

26 days until we can actually meet on the field *.

* Field herein defined as green slab of concrete painted with repetitive white stripes surrounded by less than 10,000 fans and over 60,000 empty seats.

[Matt]

From Ives' original Marmol post, March 1...

"Marmol does come with some baggage though. He has bounced around quite a bit for such a young player and he also faced a drunk driving charge during his time with Herculez, an incident which expedited his departure from the Spanish club."

But go ahead and continue with your idiotic, misinformed abuse, Fire fans.

[Ives]

Ethan and MikeMike, perhaps if you read this site regularly rather than just popping in to stir things up, you would know that I reported all of these Marmol questions as soon as he showed up with the Red Bulls:

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/03/red-bulls-eyein.html

Now, what were you saying about "yellow journalism"?

[Dante]

Fire fans=Crew fans

[John]

What is it about football that turns people into obnoxious 12-year olds? He sounds like a player, too bad Metro couldn't get him, congrats to Fire fans and MLS needs to change those rules.

[Steve]

He's obviously got enough potential for two clubs in this league to overlook the baggage.

Maybe that proves to be incorrect and we (the Fire) end up making a mistake but as of right now, we win.

Ives-Thanks for keeping us all posted through all the drama. It's been fun.

[RS]

We've read about the DWI AT LEAST twice on this web site alone since this whole situation started. I love when people act cocky and then end up looking like fools. Try following along more than once per 6 months before making idiotic comments. I love the foolishness, though. Thank you for that.

[dabull]

glad this crap is finally over with.

as someone posted earlier, now we can go on with ignoring nyrb and their history of futility.

[kpugs]

Ethan, you are the definition of a tool. You must know how to read since you managed to get your post up here.

The "...." move only works when you are RIGHT about something though, not when you are too stupid to realize the issues have been covered repeatedly by Ives for MONTHS now. But great job, because your post just illustrates how stupid all Fire fans are, and justifies their reputations as a bunch of crybabies.

Unbelievable, even when things go right for the Fire idiots like you and Mike turn up to bitch, moan, and make uninformed statements. You sure you guys aren't originally from New England?

[Mikemike]

Hey Ives,
Come on, I was just joking.
I'm a NY fan myself.

I was just trying to impersonate the ChiTown fans.

I should have followed my comment with a "j/k"

Also, I check your site constantly. It's like crack. Keep up the good work.
-Mike

[Frank the Frowner]

Fire Fans= Kunts....

Steve funny how quick you forget Naperville.

[Homey Boehme]

If you do not like what Ives reports then don't read his blog! Troll elsewhere.

[Mikemike]

Again, apologies. Just joking.

[Steve]

Fortunately I can forget Naperville as its ancient history.

And all message board nonsense aside, I do hope for you guys to get your new park as quickly as possible.

I just hope you continue to lose when you move in.

[Frank]

new york pink cows = derby city

You have the coach that wanted to guide your "team" into a winning franchise. How is that working for you?

lol

[Trex]

Craaaaaaaaaaaap.

[Victor]

this is to the Dante kid who said the fire have never seen him play. If you could read he first trained with the Fire last year. So we have seen him play and if you say that doesnt count then well you haven't seen him play as well because thats all he did for you guys was just train. And o well this rule sucks but just shut up Red Bull fans that are complainning. The Fire could be screwed by this rule as well but with a bigger named player....Brian Mcbride. We are very interested to have him come back to the Fire and he wants to come back and play but they would have to work out a trade with Toronto because they placed a discovery claim on him.

[Frank the Frowner]

How's it working for us Frank? You sh1theads have 1 more win then us and we have a game in hand.

What are you talking about you dope.

[Ethan]

I was pointing out the timing of the statement.(when Marmol has signed w/another club) I guess I should type that my eyes were rolling while posting that, but I wasnt saying it hadnt already been reported before. I just thought it was in bad(bitter) taste. Remember the "it's NY or nothing" quote? I'll have hone my writing skills so my sarcasism comes thru. So exactly how am I bitching and crying? You might want to save your relpy and write a strongly worded email to Don Garber about how its "flagship," hardware-less, energy-drink team cant get special treatment when it brings in a player it doesnt have rights to, even though an ESPN associate has been telling you for months your team deserves him. That is all, consider the pot stirred.

[nicholas s.]

Frank

You're a fool. We have 7 points with a game in hand over everyone else. And even that would put us in 2nd place in the West. There are 4 teams over 10 points in the east because of the scheduling where all the teams in the east, play and beat teams in the west.

Also, who handed 'league leaders' Columbus their only loss? RBNY.

[Mighty]

Take the Fire Fans out of this site!!!

[brett]

you RBNJ fans crack me up... XD keep up with the quality posts...

we're banking on Marmol actually panning out, otherwise this whole situation would have looked foolish.... personally i agree with EDB in the aspect id like to see the moldovan winger sign, as that's where we are truely weak at.... but a solid player is always welcomed... hoping Marmol works out, and glad he's on our team

[Steve T]

I love these Fire fans. It isn't enough to get the player. You have to come around talking trash. Just take the player, accept the fact that you weren't his first choice, and move on. He wanted to be in New York and after spending two weeks in Chicago he finally said, you know what, I'll just play here. I doubt he's jumping for joy. He just didn't have any other choice.

[brett]

Mighty- dumbest idea ever... you know how dead this site would be without rival opinions?? git...

Nicholas s.- could have simpley said that RBNJ is in no worse position as the fire... in fact RBNJ, Fire and Columbus all have another game in hand on KC and NE... so either way, it seems to be working out fine for you guys...

congrats on beating Clb, but hold onto those types of arguements till everyone has played at least once.... fire havent playd the Crew, therefore using that seem moot when arguing with someone....