Chicago Fire forward Luis Solignac had an active 79 minutes in Saturday night's 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes, providing a memorable assist on Alan Gordon's opening goal in his first start since returning from an injury.
Following the club's March 17 match against Minnesota United, Solignac suffered a left quad injury that would keep him sidelined for more than two months of the Fire's 2018 campaign. Having fully rehabbed, the 27-year-old made a 26-minute cameo as a second half substitution last Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Union, before returning to head coach Veljko Paunović's starting XI in this past weekend's victory.
Having returned to health, Chicago-Fire.com caught up with Solignac to discuss his fitness, his assist on Saturday, and his outlook moving forward:
C-F.com: You got the start against San Jose. How did it feel being back out there as part of the XI?
LS: “Amazing. Amazing feelings. I’m glad that we did it with a win -- a tough win. We sacrificed a lot. Overall, I’m very happy that I’m back and getting fitter and fitter game by game.”
C-F.com: How are you feeling fitness-wise?
LS: “Good, good. Fitness is not really a concern to me, but of course it’s not the same to be running outside on the training field and actually playing and getting in game rhythm. I think I still need a little bit more, but it’s going to come very quick.”
C-F.com: You were often rehabbing with Djordje Mihailovic and Michael de Leeuw. How do you guys keep yourselves motivated?
LS: “They could explain it more than me. For me, it was a long time, my longest I think. Two months is a long time. It’s tough. It’s hard, but it’s part of the game, part of the business. The first day I was injured, I realized that maybe it happened for a reason. Maybe my strength wasn’t built enough. So I took these two months to strengthen all of my body, not just the injured parts, so it won’t happen again.”
C-F.com: You got the assist on Alan Gordon’s goal. When that ball was coming off of your foot, did you know it was going in?
LS: “It was, to be honest, pretty weird. It looked like it deflected on someone, but it didn’t. It went really high, and then went down. It was beautiful to see, to be honest. I was really happy and Gordo just did what he does. It gave me a lot of confidence for myself during the game.”
C-F.com: There were great photos of that celebration following the goal. What was going through your head at that moment?
LS: “What I was thinking was to come back and try to make an impact right away -- either goals, assists or be participating in situations. When I crossed the ball and Gordo headed it, I felt, 'OK, now this is the moment I was looking for,' so I was happy. It gave me a lot of confidence during the game. When I got those pictures, it reminded me of one goal I think I scored against Seattle and it’s one of the pictures that we have now hanging up (inside the stadium). All the energy of the team, everybody hugging, and happy faces -- and anger and everything -- all released in one action and in one picture. It was really emotional.”
C-F.com: What goals do you have then now that you’re back?
LS: “My personal first goal is to get a bit fitter, to be able to do more runs and help more on defense and of course scoring goals and giving assists is my main game.”
Solignac and the Fire are back in action this Wednesday, June 6, when they enter 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play on the road against Columbus Crew SC (6 p.m. CT).
