Three young Chicago Fire players all made moments that will
likely last a lifetime this past weekend, though at least one isn’t what you
think it is.
In Toronto, 19-year-old Orr Barouch substituted into
Saturday’s match in the 59th minute as head coach Carlos de los
Cobos looked for more offensive punch with his side trailing 2-0 at BMO Field.
The Israeli-born attacker delivered almost immediately when he drew a dangerous
free kick at the top of the Toronto penalty area in the 62nd minute.
Marco Pappa converted on the dead ball, putting his left
footed effort off the underside of the cross bar to cut TFC’s lead in half.
Barouch and the Fire weren’t done though as he and another Fire youngster
Corben Bone connected on the equalizing goal in the 75
th
minute.
Cory Gibbs chipped a hopeful ball into the TFC penalty area
which Barouch went up for but saw Toronto defender Adrian Cann head the ball to
Bone’s feet. The Wake Forest product collected himself at the right side of the
box before slotting a threatening ball through the TFC backline, finding a
sliding Barouch for an easy tap-in.
The effort was Barouch’s first goal and Bone’s first assist
in a Fire uniform.
“It’s pretty amazing to get your first goal,” Barouch said
this week. “It’s even better to have it be the equalizer when we were down 2-0.
Corben gave me a great ball and made things easy for me.”
Bone, the club’s 2010 first round SuperDraft selection who
ended up playing sparingly through his rookie season has found a decent run of
form in his sophomore campaign with the Fire, starting the last three matches
in the center of the park. It was the Plano, TX product who kept the team’s
tempo up throughout and intentional or not, rightfully earning his first MLS
assist on Barouch’s finish in the 75th minute.
“I was just trying to put the ball towards the back post,”
Bone said. “I was hoping it would kind of go in on its own. Thankfully it hit
off a defender and Orr was in the right place at the right time. It felt great
to get an assist on the board, hopefully I can keep the rhythm going and
hopefully that’s the first of many.”
Over 4,000 miles southwest of Toronto near San Diego, Davis
Paul, a rookie teammate of Bone and Barouch was about to take a memorable step
in his life as he prepared to take nuptials with long-time girlfriend Somerlyn
on Sunday. As weddings usually go a rehearsal dinner preceded the main event
the night before, making it a bit difficult for Paul to catch the full 90
minutes of the game.
“The rehearsal was Saturday night and I actually went
golfing with my groomsman earlier that day,” he said. “We called this bar and
they threw the game up on a huge projector screen on the wall and I got to
watch the second half. I’m glad I caught that because I was getting Twitter updates
from my friend [Toronto defender] Demitrius Omphroy and it didn’t look good at
first.”
Seeing as both bride and groom showed up, the next day’s
wedding apparently went very well, adding another whirlwind chapter to the book
that’s so far been written about Davis Paul’s rookie year. The Fire midfielder
returned to training happy on Wednesday, with a bit of a California glow about
him.
“It feels great to be married. It’s six years in the making
so it’s crazy that it came together and that its over with now. That’s
something I think we looked forward to since we were young and it went by so
quick. You spend all of this time planning it – the night, the ceremony and
everything ends it a flash.”
As for how his teammates feel about having a newly married man
in the locker room, they certainly gave him razzing before leaving for
California.
“We’re really happy for him,” said Bone. “We definitely
messed around with him a little bit, just doing the usual locker room stuff but
that stays in the locker room.
Asked if Paul seems any different now that he’s back and a
married man, Barouch laughed, “Yeah, he’s a bit more tan and he has a ring on
his finger.”
Jeff Crandall is the
Team Writer for the Chicago Fire. Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall
