BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire Reserves were bolstered a bit Wednesday as captain Logan Pause suited up in the team’s 5-3 win over Columbus on a hot day at the Toyota Park turf field.
“I felt good. Great to be back on the field and playing a game,” he said following the game.
The match was the 11-year Fire veteran’s first action since leaving in the 26th minute of the team’s 2-1 victory over at the Crew back on June 22 with lower back pain. The captain was later diagnosed with SI Dysfunction.
READ: Fire Reserves down Crew 5-3
After returning to training early last week, Pause partnered with Daniel Paladini in the central midfield through the first 58 minutes and made way for Corben Bone as the team led 2-1.
Following Wednesday’s match Pause commented that he felt no pain, saying, “I’m on the other side of it so I just have to make sure I’m doing the right things to stay that way.”
The injury layoff was his second of the 2013 campaign after missing the team’s first four matches of the season with a quadriceps injury that also caused other smaller injuries.
In this current stretch, Pause has missed the side’s last three league games as well as the 5-1 U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal win over Orlando City last month.
READ: Point/Counter-Point to viewing Fire loss at Vancouver
Fire head coach Frank Klopas was encouraged by Pause’s run-out but wouldn’t commit to whether or not the he would be back in the side when the Fire host D.C. United this Saturday.
“We’ll see. It’s good to have him back on the field training and it’s good to see him playing. We’ll have to see how he is the next couple days.”
Pause did come off the Athletico Injury Report on Tuesday and with Paladini serving an additional one-game suspension, it seems likely he’ll at the very least be in the 18 for the match.
