Chicago Fire snag first home opener victory since 2012

This is something Chicago Fire fans haven't seen in a few years, and that's a good thing.

The Fire opened the home portion of its 2017 schedule with a solid 2-0 victory against Real Salt Lake, the club's first win in a home opener since 2012.

"It was very important to start the season, especially in the home opener, to win the game," said Fire coach Veljko Paunovic, whose team had the worst record in Major League Soccer in 2016. "Very important for our confidence, very important for everything. And it's a huge reward for the great preseason and a tough preseason we had."

It also was a good indicator that the team successfully defended its early lead. That frequently hasn't happened the past few seasons, when wins turned into late draws and draws turned into heartbreaking losses.

Call it the Dax Factor, for new central midfielder Dax McCarty, but that neglects the good work Juninho did alongside McCarty to control the pace of the game and keep pressure off the back line and goalkeeper Jorge Bava. Bava was never tested, making 1 easy save.

"Our midfielders did a fantastic effort," Paunovic said. "Their leadership, their commitment, consistency in hard work and winning all these drills and battles that we had in the midfield were very important. They are contagious for Juninho and Dax. They are contagious for the rest of the team, and that mentality is, you can see that it's getting all over the team."

The Fire took the lead when new forward Nemanja Nikolic scored his first Fire goal in the 11th minute. Nikolic was in the offside position when he received the ball, but referee Kevin Stott correctly waved off the assistant referee's flag because Real Salt Lake's Sunny kicked the ball away from Fire forward Michael de Leeuw but to Nikolic.

"That was the most important thing in that game," Juninho said of the early goals. "Of course they had in the second half more possession than us for the most part in the second half. But we were very solid and the back line was fantastic today."

The Fire found its second goal in the 15th minute when Arturo Alvarez's shot deflected off a RSL defender, leaving goalkeeper Nick Rimando off balance and unable to react.

Call it luck, but the Fire earned these breaks with its effort.

"Sometimes that's how it goes," Alvarez said. "You kind of do all the hard work and need a little bit of luck sometimes, and I'm glad it went in."

"To be honest I think we were in the right spot," Juninho added. "Something happened because we were there."

The key is whether that something keeps happening. It's a long season.