BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Frank Yallop praised his side’s fighting instincts and refusal to be bullied as the Chicago Fire earned their fifth win of the season with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders Saturday night at Toyota Park.
Not only was he impressed with his side’s defensive mettle, Yallop also acknowledged his side’s never-say-die attitude and a willingness to push forward until the final whistle, and the Men in Red were duly rewarded with Jason Johnson’s emphatic 92nd-minute winner to give them a vital win that keeps the Fire in the hunt for a playoff place despite sitting at the bottom of the table.
It earned the Fire their first win over the Sounders at the tenth attempt.
“It was good to get through this defensively, it gives you confidence going into the next match,” Yallop said in his postgame press conference. “I thought we put our bodies on the line tonight and I was really proud of the way the guys fought, dug in, got the goal and then didn’t want to let it go.”
The central defensive partnership of Adailton and Eric Gehrig stood up resolutely to everything a physical Seattle attack threw at them, and limited their opponents to a thrifty total of six shots all game, just two of them on target. Contrast that with the home side’s 16 shots (10 on target) and it is clear that this was not a victory earned cheaply.
“I thought Adi and Eric were outstanding again tonight,” Yallop said of the duo, who were ably flanked by Lovel Palmer and Patrick Doody, who turned in a “solid” performance on his MLS debut.
“They fought, they battled and they didn’t want to give anything up,” he added. “I thought tonight we fought them, we didn’t allow them to bully us and that is important in our league and for us moving forward. Forget the players that are playing, if you don’t want to fight and scrap for your teammate and yourself you’re in the wrong sport and you won’t win.”
The game seemed destined to end in a stalemate before Johnson’s dramatic late finish, with fellow substitute Michael Stephens releasing him on the right flank, allowing him to cut inside and finish left-footed past the otherwise impassable Troy Perkins in the Seattle goal.
“It’s important for our subs to come on and make a difference, and I think JJ and Mikey combined great for the goal, terrific finish and obviously won us the game,” Yallop said of the goal, Johnson’s second since his arrival from the Houston Dynamo via trade earlier this season.
“Tonight was a very important three points, we spoke after the game on the field and I said to the guys ‘this is the feeling you want to have. You worked hard to get this and you put your bodies through a lot of turmoil, fight, knocks and bumps and bruises and you’ve come out victorious.’ I thought we deserved to win tonight, we fought hard, we tried to win the match and we weren’t lucky, which is important.”
Patrick Nyarko, who called this a “heart attack win,” thought the game-winning “moment of magic” from Johnson could be a turning point in the Fire’s disappointing season.
“I think this is the most important [win of the season], for sure,” Nyarko said. “We discovered something about ourselves in the second half in Houston [last week, a 1-1 tie] and to come out with a positive win in the very next game is going to catapult us. We’ve got another home game coming up, hopefully we can win that and we’re right back in the mix for a playoff spot.”
Johnson, whose first goal for the Fire earned a point in Columbus on May 22, admitted he only he had one objective in mind when he collected the ball in space deep into injury time.
“It was a great ball from Mikey Stephens on the counterattack and I only had one thing on my mind, to shoot. Even before the ball was played my mind was set to do everything I did. Sometimes they go around on the other side of the post, but I am thankful it went in tonight. It’s great for the team.”
