There are storylines aplenty in and around the Chicago Fire squad following Saturday’s breakout performance against the New England Revolution, which ended in a 3-0 victory over a Revs side reduced early on to 10 men. Catch up on some of the most noteworthy takeaways from a memorable win:
- The win gave Chicago back-to-back wins for the first time under Veljko Paunovic. Prior to their two most recent outings, the Fire hadn't won in consecutive contests since a three-game winning streak early in the 2015 season (March 29-April 24).
- The Fire also kept a second straight clean sheet, doing so for the first time since last April when the squad notched a club-record shutout streak of 411 minutes.
- Chicago is 3-0-1 at home in 2017 and is unbeaten (4-0-3) in its last seven matches played at Toyota Park dating to last season. The Fire have lost only once in their last 17 MLS home matches.
- With a record of 3-1-2, the Fire now stand third in the Eastern Conference with 11 points. In the last two seasons, the Fire did not reach 11 points until May 28 and May 22, respectively.
- The Fire improved to 24-21-11 all-time in regular season matches versus New England, including a 4-0-2 mark in their last six home games against the Revs. The Fire also regained the upperhand in all-time goals scored in the series, 76-75.
- Striker and Designated Player Nemanja Nikolic scored his third and fourth goals of 2017 on Saturday, making him the first Fire player to record a brace in an MLS regular season match since Gilberto at Toronto FC on September 26, 2015. (David Accam had two goals in the U.S. Open Cup win over Columbus on June 28, 2016.)
- Bastian Schweinsteiger scored for the second time in three matches as a Chicago Fire player, netting the game's first goal in the 45th minute off a pass from Luis Solignac. Schweinsteiger later recorded his first MLS assist, notching the second helper on Nikolic's 73rd-minute goal.
- David Accam's assist on Nikolic's tally -- Accam's ninth career assist in MLS -- came only moments after his introduction to the match as a 72nd-minute substitute. Accam made only three appearances as a reserve in 2016, with the last coming on Sept. 10, 2016.
- Luis Solignac, on the other hand, picked up an assist in his second start of the season and his 14th since joining Chicago in August of last year. The assist was his first of the season and first since May 7 of last year, as a member of the Colorado Rapids.
- Jorge Bava needed to make just one save in net to preserve a clean sheet for the Fire. On the other side, the Revs did not record a save in the match, with the Fire scoring on all three of their shots on goal.
- Brazilian midfielder Juninho returned from his red card suspension a week ago and wore the captain's armband for the Men In Red.
- Matt Polster appeared in the gameday 18 for the first time this season but did not enter the match. The third-year Fire player has been recovering from a knee injury since early in preseason.
- Defender Michael Harrington was subbed off in the 78th minute of Saturday's match, ending his streak of having played every minute thus far in 2017. Dax McCarty, Joao Meira and Brandon Vincent are the three remaining field players to have played all 540 minutes so far this season.
- Second-year Homegrown Drew Conner replaced Harrington at right back, his first minutes at the position after previously appearing in central midfield.
- Next up for the Fire is the first of three consecutive road matches, which sees Chicago travel to Toronto FC on Friday night (April 21). Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at BMO Field.
