FIRE 1, REAL SALT LAKE 0

Nyarko’s 2nd-half goal lifts Chicago for another home win

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - For a second straight home game, Chicago Fire forward Patrick Nyarko was looked upon to muster some offense, and he eventually cashed in.

His goal in the 76th minute gave the Fire a lead, which held up the rest of the way for a 1-0 victory against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at Toyota Park. The Columbus Crew won their match over the Colorado Rapids, so Columbus maintains its one-point lead over Chicago in the Eastern Conference standings.

Tim Ward, playing as a midfielder instead of his customary right defensive back role, had the ball toward the left wing and provided the cross to Nyarko, who headed it past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando for the one-goal lead.

“It was a good move, huh?” Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said with a smile on his decision to move Ward up to the midfield.

“I kept looking for those balls and was wide open,” Nyarko said. “And (Ward) made eye contact with me and served a great ball.”

Nyarko has picked up the scoring situation, an important contribution with the absence of veteran target forward Brian McBride. So far, so good, as Chicago (8-3-8) improved to 2-0-1 since McBride went down with a shoulder injury.

“When we lost Brian, we knew we would have to be different,” Hamlett said. “We can use more of our speed and stretch the other team. With Patrick, he’s fast, but sometimes people don’t realize how fast he is. He’s got a way of using his body against his defender and keeping them off-balance.”

Up till the point of the Nyarko goal, the Fire offense dominated in possession against Real (6-8-5), but the continual lingering in the offensive third was not rewarded. It was an eerily similar feeling during the previous 2-0 home victory against the San Jose Earthquakes, and probably several other Fire home games for that matter.

The Fire went into the match surprisingly shorthanded. Midfielder John Thorrington was expected, serving his one-game suspension. But as a precautionary move, defender Wilman Conde (hamstring) and midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco (ankle) were not even available off of the bench. The Fire do not suspect that either case is injury is serious, but Hamlett decided to be cautious.

Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch made five saves for the shutout, while Real’s Rimando made four.

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Next up: The Fire host Tigres UANL for the 2009 SuperLiga championship at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Toyota Park. The game is televised on TeleFutura. Chicago’s next MLS match is at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Houston Dynamo.

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SlideTackles.net thoughts: Once again, it was not the prettiest of games, but Nyarko came to the rescue. Ward provided a perfect ball and all the wishful glamour of how the team earned the victory went out the window. That is a good sign, especially when you have hot-and-cold individual efforts and once again some shorthanded situations.

Chicago is winning as the team continues to cope with the long-term absence of McBride. Saturday night was clearly a struggle for forward Chris Rolfe, who had several poor touches. But Hamlett still strongly feels that the Nyarko-Rolfe combination can cause some fits with their combination of speed and footwork.

Time will tell when that completely gels. But Nyarko is doing his part at the moment.