Reinvention under way after Fire loses nine players

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Updated: May 7, 2011 5:44AM

The Fire never has faced a ­rebuilding job as big as this one.

With nine players departing from the 2010 club, technical director Frank Klopas added four forwards, three midfielders, three defenders and a goalkeeper in the offseason. He figures to do a lot more dealing during the 46-day preseason training camp, which begins today at the Bridgeview Sports Dome.

Coach Carlos de los Cobos will begin his second season on the job with two weeks of indoor workouts, followed by outdoor sessions Feb. 14-26 at Ave Maria University in Florida and March 2-12 in Charleston, S.C.

The first regular-season game is March 19 at FC Dallas. The home opener at Toyota Park is March 26 against Sporting Kansas City, formerly the Kansas City Wizards.

The heart of the disappointing 9-12-9 team last season is gone, with the exception of team MVP Logan Pause, arguably the best defensive midfielder in Major League Soccer, and outside midfielder Marco Pappa, an MLS Best 11 selection.

Brian McBride and C.J. Brown retired, with Brown taking an assistant-coaching job with Real Salt Lake. Wilman Conde (Atlas in Mexico), Nery Castillo (Aris in Greece) and Freddie Ljungberg (Celtic in Scotland) moved to new clubs. Peter Lowry and John Thorrington were taken in the MLS expansion draft.

At least Klopas will have plenty of room to supplement a roster that had two of MLS’ celebrated designated players (Castillo and Ljungberg) when last season ended and now has none. MLS expanded rosters from 24 to 30 players, and the Fire has only 27 — 16 from the 2010 team — on its preseason roster.

None of Klopas’ offseason moves could be considered major. The most significant was the acquisition of Cory Gibbs, a veteran defender, in the re-entry draft. Daniel Paladini and Josip Mikulic were picked up in free transfers. Jalil Anibaba, Jason Herrick and Davis Paul came in the draft, Amani Walker, Yannick Salmon and Sam Arthur in the supplemental draft, Pari Pantazopoulos in an open tryout and Jon Conway in the lone offseason trade.

Conway figures to battle Andrew Dykstra for the backup goalkeeper’s job. Sean Johnson, who split time with Dykstra last season, appears to be a lock for the starting role after earning his first cap with the U.S. national team in a 1-1 tie this month against Chile.

Klopas plans eight preseason matches, the first of which is Feb.  17 against Florida Gulf Coast University.