Life if often unfair. And nowhere is this more evident than in the world of sports where coaches often lose their jobs when players fail to do theirs. On Monday, the Chicago Red Stars announced that Emma Hayes was “relieved of her duties” as head coach following the team’s dismal start to the season that saw them lose four of their first six games, all of them by shutouts.

Red Stars owner Peter Wilt was already in a dour mood prior to the Red Stars last game against Philadelphia after his beloved Fulham team lost to Atletico Madrid in the finals of the Europa Cup. His frustration was only exacerbated by what he witnessed on the pitch at Toyota Park on May 15th. The Red Stars and Philadelphia Independence both struggled to create even the semblance of an offensive attack, although Philadelphia managed to get their act together long enough to score a single goal in the first six minutes of play. By his own admission, as documented in his blog on the Pitch Invasion website (http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/05/19/sports-results-effect-on-one-fans-psyche/), events degenerated into one of those rare occasions when he left the game early. By the time the Chicago Fire completed his trifecta of travesty by losing a two-goal lead to the Kansas City Wizards, a perfect storm of football frustration was forming in his psyche. And it seems the one person left standing in its path was Emma Hayes.

Her dismissal does not come completely out of the blue, however, as a cacophony of nattering nabobs has been forming of late. Self-styled pundits have been posting furiously onto their blogs speculating upon, if not outright demanding, Hayes’ eventual firing. The tragic irony is that at least half of these quasi-experts have probably never even watched a Red Stars game this season. If they had, they would have seen that, with the exception of the Gold Pride game when Chicago played short-handed for 70 minutes, their opponents have never outright dominated the Red Stars.

The Red Stars’ single failing this season has been in finishing their attacks. When their forwards receive the ball inside the penalty area, they either freeze, like a deer staring into headlights, or else close their eyes and fire the ball off-frame. If goals were awarded for shooting the ball just outside the goalposts instead of inside, the Red Stars would probably be in first place right now. The only thing Emma Hayes has not done for her team this year is to run onto the pitch and take the shots for them herself—something she once threatened to do after one of the team’s bitter losses. And perhaps if the WPS schedule had allowed Chicago to beat up on Atlanta at least once by now, as four other teams have already done—twice by Washington and Philadelphia—then Emma Hayes might still be at the helm of her team.

As it stands, the Red Stars are back to square one in a rudderless ship. If they can claim any success this year, it may only be in getting their coach fired. We can only wish the best of luck to Emma Hayes. Maybe she’ll return to Europe where the footballers still play with a bit of hunger. In their press release, the Red Stars’ management praised Ms. Hayes for pouring her heart and soul into their team. In her absence, Chicago fans are left now with a team that has neither.