No surprise here. After a dominant showing against Toronto FC on Wednesday night, Fire forward Jhon Durán has been named MLS Player of the Week for Week 20. He is the youngest player in Club history to win the honor.
The 18-year-old ran rampant in a 68 minute performance that saw him score a pair of remarkable goals within the game's first 16 minutes.
Durán needed only four minutes to get the scoring started on Wednesday, first disrupting a spell of Toronto possession near the center circle and then springing onto a through pass from Chris Mueller to find himself all alone running toward the 18-yard-box. He then expertly placed a left-footed finish past goalkeeper Quentin Westberg with three defenders in tow to make it 1-0.
Then, 12 minutes later, Durán found himself the recipient of an audacious backheel flick from midfielder Brian Gutiérrez, again with room to turn and run. After muscling his way past defender Chris Mavinga, Durán again beat Westberg with a left-footed finish to double the Fire lead.
Beyond the opening 16 minutes, the constant threat that Durán posed to the Toronto back line ostensibly led to both an early substitution for Mavinga (replaced by Lukas MacNaughton in the 32nd minute) as well as a pair of first half yellow cards shown to MacNaughton and fellow defender Shane O'Neill in their attempts to contain the Fire attack.
In addition, according to MLS Communications, Durán's pair of goals scored made him the second-youngest Fire player ever (18 years, 212 days) to score a brace for the Club, trailing only DaMarcus Beasley (18 years, 98 days). The young Colombian received both a standing ovation upon exiting midway through the second half, as well as the night's Man of the Match award.
Durán and the Fire will next wrap up this week's three-match homestand when they host the Concacaf champion Seattle Sounders for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff at Soldier Field field on Saturday. Tickets are available here.
Check out the rest of the Week 20 MLS Team of the Week below:
