Fire Sidebar: All-Team Effort Boosts Fire

CHICAGO, IL–The Chicago Fire has gone through a stretch of matches in which they have won five of their last six and three straight at home in Soldier Field.

The Fire has moved itself from near the bottom of the Eastern Conference to up above the playoff line and sit in eighth place all after Chicago scored a late goal against visiting Toronto FC and picked up a 1-0 victory on Saturday night.

In recent matches, the Fire have been able to score goals to lead to its victories. But against Toronto, it was a battle more defensively and it took an entire effort across the field for the third straight clean sheet.

“It’s the whole team,” Chicago Fire interim coach Frank Klopas said. “I say to the team, it’s that I have no problem when guys take risks, they make mistakes, as long as everybody works hard for the team. When we lose the ball or pressure is broken, it’s just about always sprinting back and getting behind the ball.”

Seeing the way that the Fire has been playing recently, Klopas can relate and sees how his keeper is growing with every match.

“I think Chris Brady is growing within every game,” Klopas said. “He’s really young, but you can see how confident he’s getting in goal, his decision-making is much better. He has the ability to make big saves, but now he’s more commanding in the box, coming out well on crosses.  Within every game, he’s gaining confidence, and so is the backline with him. He’s got tremendous support from all those guys. But it’s always a team effort when you get clean sheets. It’s not easy, everybody’s got to be committed and willing to work hard off the ball.”

Brady didn’t want all the credit for another clean sheet and handed out the effort was right in front of him the entire match.

“They really laid it all on the line, fully emptied out the gas tank,” Brady said.  “And that’s one for the team, but also makes me look a little better. They really put in just an absolute shift tonight.

“I know the backline is really satisfied with the job they’ve done. But for us we’re just happy that we got it for the team. It makes this entire team look a whole lot better when you get three wins, but also you don’t concede in three games. It feels amazing for us, but I’m really happy that these guys get to enjoy the nine points and the clean sheets.”