With few days left in the year, we here at Chicago-Fire.com thought it appropriate to take a look back on 10 of the Most Memorable of what turned out to be a very successful year.
As it would be difficult to rank all the instances that pulled together a fantastic 15th year, we'll be listing them chronologically over the next two weeks. Some are club-wide and as the Team Writer, others are of a more personal nature but rest assured that all were special.
On Monday, I reflected on the successes and progress the club’s Player Development setup made this year, today I look back on Logan Pause’s return to the field after suffering broken ribs.
The Fire visited the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park in Chester, Penn. on Sunday, August 12 this year. In the 25th minute of that game, Logan Pause took the worst part of a collision with former teammate Bakary Soumare and very quickly, you could tell things weren’t right with the Fire captain.
Following the clash, the 10-year Fire veteran came off for treatment but returned to the match minutes later, soldiering on until the 44th minute when it became obvious he could go on no longer.
Though the team took a dominating 3-1 victory from Philadelphia that night, Pause was left in very obvious pain with a diagnosis of two broken ribs and pneumothorax.
After the match, the Fire captain was deemed medically unable to fly home with the team which prompted the likes of teammate Chris Rolfe, head coach Frank Klopas and assistant Mike Matkovich to accompany Pause and Fire Head Athletic Trainer Bo Leonard in the 11-hour overnight drive back to Chicago.
The club announced two days later that Pause would be out of action for four-to-six weeks, leaving his ability to achieve 300 competitive matches for the Fire in 2012 in doubt.
Flash forward 10 days and Pause had already begun training on his own.
Flash forward another 10 from that and Pause was stepping onto the field as an 85th minute substitute, helping the Fire close out a 3-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo on September 2 at Toyota Park.
His quick re-emergence to the Fire lineup left Klopas to remark after the game, ““He really wanted to start this game, which was a remarkable comeback. You have a guy like that, he’s the captain for a reason. From a health standpoint he was ready to go.”
