Are you hungry for some football? Are you dying to see the new Soldier Field live and in person? What if I told you that you could see a real first place football team play in the new Soldier Field tonight for only 15 bucks?

That's no joke. The Chicago Fire will play their first match at the newly renovated Soldier Field tonight. Yes, you might have to pay more to park your car than it costs to get in, but this is a great chance to see the new place and see the biggest surprise in the short history of Major League Soccer. (Park in the Monroe Street garage, it's cheaper).

Nobody expected much from the Fire this season. Before the season, head coach Bob Bradley decided to go home to New York and coach the Metrostars. Then, to clear salaries, the Fire traded Dema Kovalenko, who always had a knack for scoring. Then they traded Peter Nowak, the best player to ever wear a Fire uniform — Nowak would later retire and join the Fire's front office. Then they traded mainstay scoring threat Josh Wolff. Then they traded Bulgarian soccer god Hristo Stoitchkov.

The house cleaning was somewhat unexpected, and for the first time, Fire fans were not optimistic entering a season. Little did they know that this would be the most exciting and powerful Fire team in the organization's short history.

During the Bradley years, the Fire had tremendous success. He helped the Fire win an MLS Cup and two U.S. Open Cups. Honestly though, Bradley's teams were not the most exciting teams to watch. Bradley liked to sit back and wait for the opposing team to make mistakes, and his teams knew how to take advantage of those mistakes.

New head coach Dave Sarachan is the polar opposite. Sarachan's system forces opposing teams to make mistakes. He uses DeMarcus Beasley to perfection on the outside, sending the tireless Beasley on run after run down the left flank. It's also obvious that Sarachan preaches firing at will. Upstart rookie Damani Ralph will shoot the ball from anywhere on the field. The end product is a highly structured, yet exciting breed of soccer.

Ralph is a special soccer player. If you haven't had the chance to watch this guy play, you are missing poetry in motion. I have never seen anyone so light on his feet. He is what a former soccer coach of mine used to call an "ankle-turner" because Ralph is so quick that when he makes a move, defenders are left on their backs grabbing their ankles in agony.

Ralph's presence has given power forward Ante Razov room to maneuver. Razov has always been known as a scorer, but only this season have we seen his true ability. Other teams are keying in on Ralph, which opens the field up for Razov. Ralph and Razov lead the team in scoring with 28 and 29 points respectively. It's the best scoring tandem in the league.

On the defensive side of the ball, Carlos Bocanegra, Jim Curtain and C.J. Brown have been the anchors. Always the enforcer, Bocanegra just finished as the runner-up to Landon Donovan for the American player of the year award. People in the Fire circle never thought Curtain would be an everyday starter, but Curtain's strength is that he doesn't make costly mistakes. The same can be said for Brown, who is as reliable as any defender in the league.

The result has been a team that trails only San Jose in goal differential — the Fire have scored 45 and given up 34.

They will move into the new stadium and try to make a run at what is simply known as "the double." The double consists of winning the MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup in the same year. (The Fire will play Bradley's Metrostars in the U.S. Open Cup final on Oct. 15). The only other team to accomplish this feat was the 1998 Fire.

All this being said, the Fire are still learning Sarachan's aggressive system, and they are still adjusting to each other. With every game, they seem to get better, as improbable as that sounds considering soccer experts had them finishing last in the Eastern Conference at the season's onset. If this team pulls off "the double," and it's looking like they should, it will be quite the accomplishment for Sarachan.

In the meantime soccer fans, sit back and enjoy the Chicago Fire, because with Sarachan's new system and some explosive players, they are fun to watch.

Mike Szwaja is a junior in communications. He can be reached at sports@dailyillini.com.