BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Shaun Maloney didn’t exactly get to take advantage of the momentum from his Player of the Week performance in the Chicago Fire’s 3-2 victory over Toronto FC back on April 4, but he said the time off for the team has been a welcomed “second preseason.”
The Fire will not have played in 20 days when they take the field at Toyota Park on Friday for their first-ever clash against New York City FC (8 pm ET; UDN), but Maloney said the extended break has left the team in good shape and added intensity to training.
“We’re working very hard, it’s almost like a second preseason, and maybe for some of us that missed large parts of it, for various reasons, it’s probably the amount of training we needed,” Maloney told MLSsoccer.com. “We’ve worked very hard fitness-wise, and obviously tactically as well, but we’ll try and be as match sharp as we can be going into the New York game, and that’s all we can do.”
Maloney, the English Premier League veteran who signed a Designated Player contract with Chicago in the offseason, earned widespread plaudits for his Man of the Match performance against Toronto FC last time out, registering his first MLS goal and assist in an all-action display.
That came on the back of a two-goal penalty haul in Scotland’s 6-1 European Championship qualifying win over Gibraltar, and the 32-year-old believes the confidence gained from that win contributed to his telling impact against Toronto.
“It was a pretty good couple of weeks, really,” Maloney said. “… It’s just been a slight improvement each game. I think the two goals helped my confidence, anyone would enjoy those things, and thankfully that carried on to Toronto, and we beat a good side.”
Maloney’s combination play with Harry Shipp and fellow DP David Accam was one of the notable features of the Fire’s impressive comeback win over Toronto, which gave the team its first winning streak of the year. And with the added opportunity to work with his new teammates over the past three weeks, Maloney hopes to reap evern more rewards from that practice as the season progresses.
“We’ve been working very hard on the training pitch to become more of a threat going forward and at the same time being organized for the counterattacks,” Maloney said. “David’s a big plus for us, the speed that he brings. And Harry was very good last year, and he’s carried that on this year, and it’s a pleasure playing with him.”
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Maloney’s performance last time out was also a welcome sign after he struggled to make much of an impact in his first couple of games in MLS.
“It’s been exactly as I would have expected,” Maloney said of the quality of MLS. “I’d watched a fair amount of games before I came here. I know it’s a good league. I knew it was physically tough, and it’s a tactically good league, so I knew what I was coming for and nothing has surprised me.”
