Fire start homestand with emphatic win

by Dan Gaichas

BRIDGEVIEW, IL–The Chicago Fire followed their worst result of the season with one of their best as they romped the Philadelphia Union, 3-0, at Toyota Park. With results elsewhere on the night, the Fire once again move off the foot of the table into 9th. The win extends their home unbeaten streak to 12 (6-0-6) and moves them within six points of sixth place with eight matches to play.

Matt Polster sent a thru ball intended for Michael de Leeuw, but was instead deflected in by Ronald Alberg for an own goal in the 22nd minute. Both goalkeepers were under pressure for portions of the match and both Sean Johnson of the Fire and John McCarthy of the Union made four  saves.

However, McCarthy would end having to pick the ball out of the net twice in the second half. Razvan Cocis set up Luis Solignac in the 71st minute. McCarthy barely got a hand on Solignac’s chip attempt, but the rebound went right to Michael de Leeuw who headed into an open net. In the 90th minute, de Leeuw turned provided setting up Arturo Alvarez who scored from 15 yards out.

Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic spoke of the team’s character and how it should be the same after losses like last week against DC and wins like this night against Philadelphia.

“We have to understand that when we win like today, and when we lose like in games that we lost, we always stay the same,” said Paunovic. “It’s the process; we are working, we are a young team, not only in terms of age but in building, in the time that we are working together. That requires some certain time and process to perform well. This year, we’ve had some very good games, today was one of these games where we actually improved and played the way we prepared. It’s very important after the loss to D.C. I think that today we actually showed the character, that game was hard, very difficult for us, but we were able to recover. Honestly, all this week, we were just working on recovering and preparing for this game.

“I said it on our conference call on Tuesday, we were working to refresh our guys, energize them, motivate them, and recover them, physically of course, and then prepare in the last couple of days to focus on the game. That’s what we did, and we did it very well. The reason why I am very, very happy today is because our guys really have the character. We will say the same thing.

“Now, our next game, we go one game at a time, and the next game is the most important game. I heard it’s going to be standing room only for the game Saturday against Toronto, so we are very happy. We can’t wait actually, for the next game. We have now two days off, time to recover, prepare everything, but it is very important and exciting to hear that our crowd will be with us next game. We can expect that, and the guys are coming for a great victory like the one today. I think that’s going to be a perfect day to have another win, or at least have a great performance, and make everyone happy.”

One of the goalscorers on the night, Michael de Leeuw said that the team’s confidence is growing.

“It’s good, it’s big,” said de Leeuw. “The most important thing is that we create a lot of chances, that we score a lot of goals. You see it in the last four, five games. We create a lot of chances, because you can’t score all your chances, but the confidence is big because of that. We do it as a team, we play good as a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team. At this point, I think everybody’s confidence is high.”

That match against Toronto FC in Bridgeview is next Saturday at 7:30pm on CSN Chicago Plus.

SCORING SUMMARY:

CHI-Roland Alberg (own goal) 22

CHI-Michael de Leeuw (unassisted) 71

CHI-Arturo Alvarez (de Leeuw) 90

BOOKING SUMMARY:

CHI-Joao Meira (caution, tactical foul) 57

CHI-Razvan Cocis (caution, dissent) 61

CHI-Johan Kappelhof (caution, reckless tackle) 64

CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1):  #25-Sean Johnson; #4-Johan Kappelhof (#5-Michael Harrington 66), #16-Jonathan Campbell, #66-Joao Meira, #3-Brandon Vincent; #30-Razvan Cocis (C), #2-Matt Polster; #12-Arturo Alvarez (#15-Joey Calistri 92+), #7-John Goossens (#26-Michael Stephens 73), #9-Luis Solignac; #8-Michael de Leeuw

Subs not used:  #28-Matt Lampson, #6-Eric Gehrig, #13-Rodrigo Ramos, #21-Nick LaBrocca

PHILADELPHIA UNION (4-2-3-1):  #27-John McCarthy; #12-Keegan Rosenberry, #4-Ken Tribbett, #16-Richie Marquez, #33-Fabinho; #6-Roland Alberg, #2-Warren Creavalle (#22-Leo Fernandes 82); #14-Fabian Herbers (#25-Ilsinho 69), #10-Tranquilla Barnetta (C), #13-Chris Pontius; #17-CJ Sapong (#9-Charlie Davies 82)

Subs not used:  #24-Matthew Jones, #28-Raymon Gaddis, #26-Auston Trusty, #7-Brian Carroll

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 15-11 PHI

SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 5-3 PHI

FOULS:  CHI 16-8 PHI

OFFSIDES:  CHI 3-2 PHI

CORNER KICKS:  CHI 3-5 PHI

SAVES:  CHI 4-4 PHI

Referee: Baldomero Toledo

Referee’s Assistants:  Eric Boria, Logan Brown

4th Official: Marcos de Oliveira

Weather:  Partly Cloudy and 73º

Attendance:  16,102

Man of the Match:  Arturo Alvarez (CHI)