BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The Chicago Fire got back in the win column and saw their captain return on Sunday night, getting a brave performance from Jeff Larentowicz after a five-week injury layoff and goals from a pair of Designated Players to top FC Dallas 2-0 at Toyota Park.
The Fire, who entered the match dead last in the league, produced a strong performance on Sunday, looking far more dangerous than FC Dallas, who came into the match looking to extend their win streak to six and move atop the Supporters’ Shield standings.
While David Accam and Shaun Maloney scored the goals that moved the Fire out of last place, it was captain Larentowicz – whose season was feared over when he suffered a herniated disc early last month – that drew the postgame praise from head coach Frank Yallop.
WATCH: Larentowicz Postmatch | Match Highlights
“Jeff’s trained probably three days full in four or five weeks and it was fantastic, a captain’s performance,” Yallop said in his postgame press conference. “Looks like he hasn’t lost a second, he just steps straight in and plays the game. Good players can do that and Jeff’s a fit kid that works hard. He’s worked very hard with our fitness coach to get him to this level to go against a team that’s pretty good, and he did very well tonight.”
Larentowicz took his place at center back alongside Eric Gehrig for the third time this season, with the duo having paired up in the opening day defeat at the LA Galaxy and the loss at D.C. United on June 3. They looked impressive on Sunday, limiting Fabian Castillo, Mauro Diaz, Tesho Akindele and the rest of the high-flying Dallas attack to just three shots on goal.
“I thought Eric Gehrig was really good next to him as well, [those] two really stood their ground, didn’t want to get beat and they did a great job tonight,” Yallop said. “I thought the back four and the four midfielders in front of them were excellent. We worked a lot on shape, and worked a lot on getting in the right spots and staying with runners, especially against a team like Dallas, who’ve got tons of pace, tons of ability and are very inventive around the goal. I thought we did a fantastic job and as a group I thought we defended very well.”
Larentowicz spoke highly of his Gehrig, who was given the nod at center back in place of Adailton after the Brazilian struggled in last week’s 2-2 draw against the New England Revolution.
“We’re buddies, we’re buddies off the field, we’ve got a good relationship,” Larentowicz said when asked about Gehrig. “We can say anything to each other, we work well with each other and I thought today was really good.”
Larentowicz missed the entire month of July while dealing with his neck injury, giving the 31-year-old veteran plenty of time to observe his team from the stands. What he saw over those five regular season games, coupled with Sunday’s victory, gives him hope that Chicago can continue to climb the East standings in their remaining 13 league games.
“From sitting out and watching games I’ve seen a lot of good stuff from our guys, and I think when you don’t get the results you feel like you’re not playing well,” he admitted. “But over the course of the game we do a lot of good things so I think we can build on it, for sure.”
Shane Murray covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com.
