Fire move into first place with win over Vancouver
Circumstances suggested the Chicago Fire might have a tough time defeating Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday night.
Those circumstances weren't enough of a handicap to make the game a fair fight.
The Fire remained undefeated at home this season and extended its overall undefeated streak to 10 MLS games by crushing Vancouver 4-0 in front of a capacity crowd of 20,187 fans at Toyota Park.
"When you're winning games and you're playing well, it's just hard work paying off," said veteran midfielder Arturo Alvarez, who scored the game's third goal in the 25th minute on a side volley off right back Matt Polster's second assist of the game.
With the 3 points the Fire (11-3-4, 37 points) passed Toronto FC for the best record in the league, the first time it's been atop the table this late in the season since July 2005.
Let that sink in.
Not bad for a lineup that played 120 minutes on turf at FC Cincinnati on Wednesday night and was without midfielder Dax McCarty and David Accam again, both on national-team duty.
"That's a good point," said team captain Juninho, whom Fire coach Veljko Paunovic called "fantastic" for his play in place of McCarty. " ... I think we have a very good group, very good, talented players in this group where in situations like this where you're missing players, they have to step up. The opportunity was out there for them and they did a very good job."
The Fire had no problem bouncing back from the disappointment of being eliminated from U.S. Open Cup play Wednesday.
"The main focus today was just to make sure we didn't have any excuses in terms of the game on Wednesday going 120 minutes," added Alvarez, who started in place of Accam. "It's part of the profession."
Despite reaching new heights, the Fire didn't need any reminders it is only just starting the second half of the season.
"I'm going to be the party (pooper) now and I just want to stop the euphoria because I think it's important to know we still haven't done anything," Paunovic said.
For the second week in a row, the party started early. Nemanja Nikolic added to his league-leading total with 2 goals, giving him 16 on the season.
Michael de Leeuw ended the game by ending his season-long frustrations, notching his first goal of 2017 in the 84th minute off Nikolic's assist.
Goalkeeper Matt Lampson made 3 saves for his sixth shutout in 10 games.
The only bad news for the Fire was that German superstar Bastian Schweinsteiger left in the 43rd minute with right hip pain.
"We will see when we evaluate him in the next couple of days how he recovers and we expect him to be ready for Portland (on Wednesday)," Paunovic said.