Chicago Fire goal hero Quincy Amarikwa sent out a warning to rival MLS defenses Saturday by insisting his partnership with Mike Magee is only going to get better.
The Fire striker netted his third goal of the season in a 1-1 result at the Montreal Impact to secure his side’s fifth consecutive draw of a difficult campaign.
Magee set up Amarikwa’s 54th-minute equalizer with a clever cutback for his strike partner to slot home from six yards for a deserved leveler.
“I think it’s developing really well,” Amarikwa said of his partnership with Magee. “In the last few games I’ve assisted with his goal and he has assisted on one of mine, so I think things are looking up in terms of our partnership up top.
“We’re learning each other’s tendencies and I think it’s only going to become more and more difficult for defenders to try to contain us as the year goes on.”
The 26-year-old, who gave the Impact defense a torrid time with his tireless running and physical play, also admitted it was a bonus to score against former Fire coach and current Impact boss Frank Klopas, who restricted Amarikwa to just 299 minutes in 14 appearances last year.
“Obviously it was nice to show him why I should have played more last year,” he said. “But I’m happy with the performance of our team as a whole, how we’re working and I know it’s just a matter of time before we start breaking out and winning games.
“I’m proud of the effort of our team. I think we fought hard, we played real well, we showed real well and we were unlucky to come away with just a point.”
The hosts took the lead against the run of play just before the break when Felipe capitalized on a poor clearance by Jhon Kennedy Hurtado on the halfway line and Marco Di Vaio put debutant Jack McInerney through to beat Sean Johnson.
“The game was in our favor, we had them on the back foot, and they got lucky to break through at the end of the first half,” Amarikwa said. “When we came in at halftime there wasn’t any panic on anyone’s face, we knew we were good for a goal if we continued to do what we had been doing.
“We really showed our dominance the entirety of the second half and we got the goal that we were striving for.”
