Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Losing Amobi Okugo in the first minute did not bode well in such an important match. But when Peter Nowak says his team has a fluid system, he means it.

Michael Farfan had never played in a holding role before and there he was dictating play in the center. Kyle Nakazawa arrived as an offensive midfielder and he entered the match to play shutdown defender. Carlos Ruiz entered the match as a goat, and scored a goal that will be remembered as a G.O.A.T. That means Greatest Of All Time. If you’ve seen the shot, you surely agree. But this win was not about individual performances.

This was about a team that saw their very identity threatened at Dallas. In that match, the Union pushed offensively and got burned against the run of play. The strange, disorganized final hour raised questions as to whether the Union would be willing to commit forward against Chicago.

The Fire made those questions moot, coming out with such a tight defensive formation that the Union were almost in the Chicago half before they faced pressure. Given time to walk the ball forward, Danny Califf played distributor to an active Le Toux and a somewhat energized Carlos Ruiz. And when the Union counterattacked they did so with purpose and structure. Justin Mapp played an improved outlet role, but the brains behind the operation was rookie Michael Farfan.

Marfan the man

Playing in an unfamiliar role, Marfan was tasked with moving the team from defense to offense. As simple as this sounds, an effective transition game has been absent from the Union’s arsenal all year. Winning tackles and pushing the ball forward with speed is normally Amobi Okugo territory. Marfan did this and more, executing drags, step-overs and quick cuts with a confidence that spread to his teammates.

Philly has had trouble putting shots on net, so it was already impressive that Marfan put his 64th minute first-timer on frame. A slight deflection off Cory Gibbs fooled Jon Conway and gave the man of the match a tangible return for his good play.

Mondragon mistake

Promptly punished with a move to left back, Marfan met his match in Dominic Oduro. A true one-trick pony, Oduro is incredibly dangerous when his touch is on. It rarely is, but Saturday was that rare exception. The striker relished being on an island with Farfan and ran at him relentlessly, scoring one and having a second wrestled from his grasp by a diving Sheanon Williams.

Oduro’s goal will fall on Marfan’s shoulders, but there is no doubt Faryd Mondragon quietly points the finger at himself after the match. Nobody expects the 40-year old goalie to make spectacular saves, but leaning off the near post is a simple mental error that the veteran won’t enjoy seeing on replay.

The odd couple

Peter Nowak believes that Carlos Ruiz and Seba Le Toux looked for each other almost too much during the Fire match. That’s an odd way of saying that the strike duo remains critically out of sync. Ruiz’s workrate was a bit higher than normal, and it helped that Chicago’s defense was a four-man version of the Le Toux-Ruiz relationship.

And the strikers were made to look better by a much improved midfield display. Thus far, we have neglected to shine a light on Brian Carroll. The deep-lying middie was largely absent from the offensive side of things and could easily be forgotten. Let this not be the case.

BC breaks it up

Carroll swept the midfield in a professional, no-nonsense manner throughout. With the center backs playing tight on the strikers, Carroll hustled back to dispossess anyone who took a poor touch or tried to play a drop to a second wave. If the Fire’s offense looked like it lacked flow, mark it up to a BC in their pipes. This freed up Farfan and Mapp to edge forward and act as clear outlets for the transition game.

Back on top

So first place again. And it is hard not to be excited about this team now. So many players have shown sparks of greatness that the offense almost has to catch fire soon. Keon Daniel, Danny Mwanga, Justin Mapp, Roger Torres, Amobi Okugo and now Michael Farfan. Each has had at least one game where they have been far and away the best player on the pitch.

Notably absent from that list is Sebastien Le Toux. This may seem like a glaring negative, but in big-picture terms the Union are on top of the standings despite their MVP-caliber striker failing to score in open play all year. Surely that won’t remain the case for long.

Looking at the stats, you would hardly imagine that the Union dominated play. The teams were almost even on possession, corners, passing percentage, and almost every other category. But wait, that means the Union were even in the offensive categories! With a defense this good, that should be all the team needs to earn a good seed in the playoffs. Then it’s all about rounding into form at the right time.

Player ratings

Faryd Mondragon – 4

Not much to deal with. The toughest save Mondragon made was on a blocked Carroll clearance. Suffice to say that Mondragon won’t be caught off his post again in the near future.

Sheanon Williams – 9

He’s so good. He’s so, so good. Peter Nowak spoke ruefully about Williams’ runs up the wing that were missed. That’s right: the player tasked with shutting down Chicago’s most dangerous weapon, the guy who made a goal line save and later threw himself in front of a shot from the top of the box, that fella was the one busting hump to get in behind the Chicago D. It’s safe to say that Williams and Valdes make coming up the Union’s right side a mission even Tom Cruise would call impossible.

Carlos Valdes – 8

Remember when Valdes made that mistake? Me either. Quite simply, he should be the guy marking Chicharito out of the game when Man United crosses the ocean to get whomped by the MLS All-Stars.

Danny Califf – 8

Asked to distribute by Chicago’s defensive set up, Califf was accurate and efficient. He used Harvey and Valdes as outlets and linked up with Le Toux over the top with regularity. Califf’s positioning has to be pitch perfect for him to be effective against players like Chaves and Oduro. It was.

Jordan Harvey – 7

Harvey’s performance is notable for what happened once he left the game. Chicago immediately put their focus on Michael Farfan and Oduro came to life. We had not heard much from the speedster before Harvey left, so clearly he was somewhere in Jordan’s back pocket.

Justin Mapp – 7

Mapp has had a consistently inconsistent season. Sometimes he is right where he needs to be and other times he disguises himself as Mustin Japp, a bumbling superhero capable only of running into trouble for whom defense is kryptonite. On Saturday, Mapp was a strong contributor. He held the ball well and used his teammates instead of looking for trouble. If he can add a few dangerous crosses or creative through balls to his game, he will look like the starter we expected to arrive last year.

Amobi Okugo – n/a

I asked Amobi what he did when Ruiz scored. He said, “I was here in the locker room and I just started screaming.” Awesome.

Brian Carroll – 7

Playing his simple game, Carroll frustrates offenses and ensures that Califf and Valdes are never asked to deal with more than they should. In the second half Chicago switched out both of their center midfielders. Clearly, Carlos de los Cobos felt his starters were unable to find a way through Carroll’s relentless pressure.

Michael Farfan – 8/4

Marfan was the best player on the field until he was moved to defense. Whereas most of the Union’s confidence shows up through strong, simple defense, Michael Farfan adds offensive flair that forces opponents to think twice before diving in on a challenge. On the wing and in the middle, Marfan got stuck in and showed off his copious offensive instincts. The goal was a deserved reward. He said he had no planned celebration. That should probably change since it looks like the kid who fell into the team’s lap in the draft will be on the scoresheet again soon.

Sebastien Le Toux – 5

Seba is not going to rise above a 6 until he puts one in. The chances are there but the touch is not. What Carroll did in the midfield, Le Toux did up front. Constantly pressuring and forcing Chicago to play faster than they wanted.

Carlos Ruiz – 8

Yeah, this rating is for one spectacular moment. If that shot hadn’t gone in, he could get a 3 for the preceding free kick alone. Instead, Ruiz won the match and scored the goal of the year. He wasted two chances in the first half but that will all be forgotten. Enjoy it, Carlos. Hell of a strike.

Kyle Nakazawa – 7

Nowak said he chose Nakazawa over Daniel as a sub because of Naka’s defensive presence. Naka ended up with an assist and Marco Pappa was anonymous. Enough said.

Roger Torres – 6

Earned the free kick that set up the Ruiz goal. Torres was on odd sub since he was brought on to do what Marfan was already doing, namely distributing with range.

Gabriel Farfan – 6

Brought on to help with Oduro. Helped with Oduro.

Gaston Puerari – 0

DIIIIIIIVER!!! DIIIIIIIVER!!!

Jon Conway – yikes

I met a few guys from River End after the game who told me that Conway was inching out of his goal all game due to the relentless chanting behind him. Guess the fans get some credit for that Ruiz goal too.

Post-game quotes

Carlos de los Cobos

“I need to analyze what happened [on the goals] and if it’s something I need to tell to Jon [Conway] it’s something I will tell him in the locker room.”

“Marco [Pappa] is a very good player but sometimes he is distracted in the game and not focused 100%. This is a situation where I am trying to work with him because Pappa is a good player but sometimes he is not involved in the moments of the game. This is an important question because I think the most important thing for the players is to stay focused 100% on the game.”

Peter Nowak

“They’re all feeling the pressure. It’s good, Seba and Carlos look for each other, maybe too much even. There were a couple of chances they could have taken themselves but we try doing our best to accommodate both those strengths and make sure they understand each other. The combination attracts attention from defenders and we can use our wings as well.”

“It was a good step forward, especially when you score two goals for the first time. We find a way to win and that is more important than anything.”

“It didn’t look good after 1-1. We found it difficult to adjust to that and Sheanon made a great save and I think that was the save of the day.”

“We compete. It was different than Dallas, it was different than Portland. My hats off to the team. They had a tough week after Dallas. Today we should score more goals but a win is a win.”

“For the first time we score two goals so it’s a good thing.”

“With Danny’s situation we’ve been considering all the pluses and minuses. He had a really tight hammy and there was little we can do in a short time. He said, ‘I don’t believe necessarily, coach, I can give you 20 minutes because after first half PPL Park will be chanting his name to come in and that is not gonna be good for anybody.'”

Carlos Ruiz

“I never check on website of MLS or Union. If people are talking, well, I have a different point of view. My job is to be good in practice and to win a game. This result is for everybody. What people say outside of the team doesn’t matter.”

“It was a very bad free kick from me. It was the only play I had. If I stop the ball or I think twice, I can lose the ball and everybody from Chicago Fire is stepping out. So I shoot on goal and those are the goals you never think. You just shoot on goal and see what happens.”

“We have more crosses and that’s good. We have a great practice this week. We have a couple meetings between players and we talk about how we have to be on the field. But to be honest we have to fix a couple things but to be honest it’s good for us and we are in first place again and that is motivation for everybody.”

Sheanon Williams

“Just whenever situations like that happen I try to back up our goalie, He made a good shot and put it in a good corner where Mondy couldn’t get it and it just kinda clipped off my foot and curled around the post. I didn’t see much of it but I guess I got enough of it to get it going in the wrong direction.”

On when he stayed down injured: “I blocked it, someone kicked my kneecap. I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. We got a good block and another way to keep goals from scoring on us.”

Michael Farfan

“When you start a game you want to start off simple and get a feel for the game.” PSP: Didn’t you pull a drag move right at the beginning of the game? Is that simple? “Haha, yeah…”

On his goal: “I actually didn’t even mention anything to Kyle. He just put it on top of the box for me and I was at the top of the box and I just tried to put it on frame.”