BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Dave Sarachan was fired Wednesday as the coach of Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire following a 4-6-2 start and was replaced on an interim basis by assistant Denis Hamlett.
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"Dave is a very good soccer coach," Fire president John Guppy said. "At this point, I felt the team needed some new energy. We want to be an MLS Cup contending team."
Fire captain Chris Armas disagreed with the move.
"You resign him and after 12 games, that's it? I don't think this is the right time," Armas said. "It doesn't seem fair due to all the injuries. You should have given him a year."
Guppy hopes to have a new coach in place by the time Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco arrives next month. Blanco is currently playing for Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean, and is expected to be part of Mexico's team for Copa America, South America's championship.
MLS's coach of the year in 2003, Sarachan was 55-50-31 in five seasons with Chicago. The Fire are winless in seven of their last eight games, and have dropped from first to fifth place in the Eastern Conference. They are tied for last in the East with 12 goals and have allowed a conference-high 19.
Chicago reached the playoffs in three of Sarachan's first four seasons and won the U.S. Open Cup in 2003 and 2006. The Fire had the league's best regular-season record in 2003.
