Fire shows ability to beat best teams

If this is Brian Bliss' audition to be the next Chicago Fire coach, it got a big boost Saturday night.

Second-half goals by David Accam, Harry Shipp and Gilberto lifted the Fire to a 3-1 victory against New England at Toyota Park.

The last-place Fire (8-18-6, 30 points) again showed its ability to beat some of the league's best teams in the midst of probably the worst season in its 18-year history. The victory also ended a September-long, five-game losing streak.Bliss, in his third game since being named interim coach to replace the sacked Frank Yallop, earned his first win after two road losses.

Finishing his second season as Fire technical director, Bliss has said he wants to be considered for the coaching job.

Maybe this win is a sign he's already changed things for the better in his two weeks in the new job.

"It's difficult to say," Bliss said. "We're trying to change the mentality, OK? And that wasn't a pretty win. It was a mental win and maybe so. We bent but we didn't break, and that was all part of the mental that we're trying to instill. So I would say maybe a part of it today."

Former Mexico national team coach Miguel Herrera is rumored to be a candidate, though he seems an unlikely pick. Former Fire players and assistant coaches C.J. Brown and Tom Soehn could be considered by new Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez when he assumes that job in two weeks. U.S. national team youth coaches Tab Ramos and Richie Williams also might be good candidates.

Whoever gets the job will have his hands full, not only improving the quality of the roster but changing the culture in the locker room and on the practice field. He will take over a club that has played just one playoff game in six seasons, a dismal record in a league in which more than half the teams reach the playoffs.

Bliss is working on the team psyche now.

"They all have some meaning, all right?" he asked rhetorically. "But I think for me, more importantly, I said to the guys right after they came into the locker room, 'Guys, it's not helping us in the standings, but the amount of goodwill in your tank, and the amount of goodwill you put in your mentality is what's important today.' ...

"It was one for the guys, and I appreciate it for them."