A double move and a roofed finish in Vancouver; a close-range side-footer that found the corner in New York; a marvelous flick inside the far post against Toronto; a blazing burst of speed and a cool slotted finish against Colorado; and, best of all, a curling 20-yarder that found the upper 90 in the US Open Cup semifinals against Richmond.
That’s five great goals in six games across all competitions for Fire forward Dominic Oduro, who’s on-form and feeling like he’s on top of the world.
“It feels amazing,” Oduro told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday. “It’s been an amazing stretch of goals, especially that one in the Open Cup; that was unbelievable. It shows you how hard work leads to improvement.”
Oduro has certainly been working hard. The Ghanaian forward, who leads the Fire with nine league goals, has been putting in extra time in front of net with interim head coach Frank Klopas and assistant Larry Sunderland, and is seeing the payoff with his recent hot stretch.
“I’m working with Frank and Larry in terms of getting in front of goal and making sure I’m doing a good job,” Oduro said. “We’re just working out how to just eliminate all errors when I get in front of goal. It’s just basic stuff, get your head up and try to place it instead of just killing it, and that’s what I’m trying to do this whole time. It’s been a couple of great goals, it’s working for me and if it works why stop it?”
The Ghanaian forward credits new signing Pável Pardo for a lot of his recent success, saying that he and the Mexican holding midfielder have had instant chemistry on the field.
“Pável especially will talk to me, work with me, try to create spaces for me and also try to put balls in front of me,” Oduro said. “He’ll take me aside and talk to me about the game plan and everything and there have been a couple of times where he’s been effective in terms of playing balls behind. I’m just glad I have guys here who keep me going when the chips are down.”
Now Oduro is hoping that he’ll stay on-form and keep Chicago surging up the table.
“I’ve just got to stay focused,” he said. “I know there’re going to be times when maybe I’ll miss the goal or won’t score in a game. It’s just a matter of keeping myself going to the next game or the next game and when I have it get it right. That’s what keeps me going forward.”
