Raphael Wicky — a former ‘water carrier’ with a ‘California vibe’ — is tasked with getting the Chicago Fire back to the playoffs. But despite a 1st season filled with struggles, he’s optimistic entering 2021.

When the Chicago Fire unveiled Raphael Wicky as their new coach ahead of the 2020 season, he cautioned that rebuilding the team and establishing a new culture would take time.

“Building a team is really exciting, but building a team also takes time,” he said. “It’s not going to be done overnight.”

What no one could have predicted was how much patience would be required during a season defined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Fire played two games in March, then stopped as Major League Soccer halted its season. Fast forward to July and the Fire played three matches in the MLS Is Back Tournament before being eliminated, not playing again until late August and not hosting fans at Soldier Field.

When the dust settled on 2020, it was hardly anything to write home about: A 5-10-8 record, no victories on the road, a winless stretch in the final six matches and a missed postseason.

But as the Fire get set to start preseason training Monday in Bridgeview, Wicky’s glass is, as ever, half full.

“We laid out a good foundation for the 2021 season with the style of play, the identity, how the group wants to play and work together,” he told the Tribune. “But we were not able for many reasons to convert it into more wins, and that was the disappointment.

“We need to do much, much better — every single one of us — for the next step in ’21. That’s something I expect from everyone.”

Chicago Fire coach Raphael Wicky, takes questions during a news conference at the CIBC Fire Pitch on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Taking the next step will be crucial for the Fire, who stressed a desire for continuity and brought in only a handful of offseason additions.

It’s also crucial for Wicky, 43, as he enters the final season of a two-year deal with the Fire, who have a club option for 2022.

Not that he feels any additional pressure.

“Every coach, we always feel pressure, we always put pressure on ourselves,” Wicky said. “But I’m not having sleepless nights now because there’s more pressure. No. I want to win. I’m going every day into the club to get better, to make my players better, to help everyone to improve. I want to get better and I want to win.

“But the only thing I can control is that I’m doing the best I can every single day. I go in with the mentality to give my best version of me as a coach and as a person, to my staff and my team, and with that we can then hopefully win games.”

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There are two coincidences to Wicky being named the Fire coach in December 2019 after a stint as the U.S. under-17 men’s national team coach.

The first is that he already was living in Wrigleyville.

The second is that his final match as a professional was against the Fire, and he was subbed off for Jonathan Bornstein, whom Wicky now coaches.

After a career that took him from Switzerland (Sion) to Germany (Werder Bremen, Hamburg) and Spain (Atletico Madrid), Wicky got his first taste of MLS in 2008 when he joined Chivas USA, the gone-but-never forgotten Southern California club.

Wicky was a self-described “water carrier,” a grinder in central midfield who serves an important role but never gets the headlines. (“Never dreamed of that as a little boy,” he said.)

Wicky, who made 75 appearances for the Swiss national team and played in two European Championships and one World Cup, played just five matches with Chivas because of injuries. But it was there he was teammates with Jesse Marsch, Jim Curtin, Ante Razov and Zach Thornton, all of whom loom large in Fire lore.

“It was really cool to see a European player that wasn’t snobbish about MLS or didn’t look down on MLS,” said Marsch, now coach of Red Bull Salzburg in Austria. “He came to try to learn and figure out what was happening here, and he was so excited to live in the U.S. He was obsessed with American culture.”

Marsch and Wicky would engage in long conversations about tactics, something Curtin picked up on as well.

Curtin, who coached the Philadelphia Union to their first Supporters’ Shield last season, described Wicky as “calm and cerebral.”

“You talk with him and he’s very laid-back,” Curtin said. “He has a California vibe to him where he is very intelligent and he thinks things through and he doesn’t really overreact. It’s a great quality in a coach.”

After injuries forced his retirement in early 2009, Wicky embarked on a coaching career, working his way through the youth ranks of FC Thun, Servette and Swiss powerhouse Basel, where he got his first senior head coaching job in 2017.

Wicky’s stint at Basel lasted 13 months and came with highs and lows: He guided the club to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League and won a Swiss Cup but was fired for failing to win a ninth straight league title.

He then guided the U.S. under-17 team to a second-place finish in the CONCACAF Championship. But at the under-17 World Cup, the Americans went 0-2-1 and were outscored 8-1.

Still, Fire owner and Chairman Joe Mansueto cited Wicky’s coolheadedness and ability to develop players as reasons he has faith Wicky can turn around the Fire in his second season.

“He’s thoughtful, he’s analytical, he’s very even-keeled,” Mansueto said. “He’s not this volatile, up-in-the-sky-one-moment, down-in-the-dumps-the-next guy.”

Mansueto said Wicky “pivoted adroitly” to the work-from-home environment caused by the COVID-19 shutdown and said Wicky’s ability to connect with players — including speaking four languages (English, French, German and Spanish) — enables them to buy into what he’s building.

One lesson Wicky said he shares with his players is that careers are short and fleeting.

“It’s the best job because it isn’t a job,” he said. “It’s something we loved to do as a kid and it became a hobby and then out of a hobby you make money. I was lucky to play in different countries and see the world through football and to realize all my dreams.

“So I tell them to enjoy that as long as they can because it’s very difficult to find something which satisfies you as much as playing after your career. It’s not easy to find the same joy.”

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When the Fire’s MLS Is Back matches were broadcast on ESPN, Twitter couldn’t resist having fun, inventing stories about Wicky because of his tortoise shell eyeglass frames and pompadour haircut.

“Raphael Wicky looks like he has a really expansive record collection and an ‘artisan vape,’ ” one tweet read.

“(Raphael) Wicky brought you breakfast in bed, but he has to go volunteer at the animal shelter,” read another.

The real Raphael Wicky is a bit simpler. He enjoys skiing but said he mostly pursues easier-going activities such as bike rides, walks or spending time at home with his wife, Laura, whom he met at the airport.

Wicky moved to Chicago in April 2019, “when life was still free and pre-corona.”

“A really beautiful city, an amazing city that offers so much,” he said. “An amazing sports city, but it also has a lot of culture.”

But despite his nearly two years as a Chicagoan, there are things Wicky still hasn’t quite experienced — or mastered.

In a post-pandemic world, he hopes to attend a Cubs game because of his proximity to Wrigley Field and because it “seems like a huge party.” (He might be amenable to a White Sox game, South Siders.)

The acronym “LSD” brings to mind an hallucinogenic drug, not Lake Shore Drive.

And he thinks ketchup belongs on a hot dog — though, in his defense, he’s a pescatarian, so he’s not eating hot dogs anyway.

But if Wicky failed that Chicago quiz, Chicago doesn’t quite live up to something he’s “very, very vulnerable” to: chocolate. American chocolate is fine, but when it comes down to it, it just doesn’t compare to his home country.

“If you’re going to sin, then you ought to sin with the right chocolate,” he said with a laugh.