Neither would have confessed to being at their apex Saturday night, but both Khaly Thiam and David Accam took positive steps toward providing the Chicago Fire the types of performances each are capable of.
Thiam, the 22-year-old Senegalese midfielder acquired on loan on May 4, made his Fire debut in Saturday’s 2-0 road loss to the New England Revolution, playing 64 minutes paired in central midfield with Matt Polster. Thiam completed 17 of his 22 pass attempts and helped the Fire to a near-50/50 split of possession in the match.
"It was my first game and it felt very good to play with the team,” Thiam said after the match. “I'm sorry that we didn't win today, but the guys fought and we gave everything we could. Now, we need to look forward to the next game."
Whereas Thiam is just two weeks removed from his most recent competitive match in the Hungarian first division, Accam on Saturday saw his first minutes in more than two months. Although Veljko Paunovic’s initial game plan called for Accam to see 25-30 minutes against the Revs, Chicago’s 1-0 halftime deficit precipitated an entrance at the start of the second half.
"David recovered well,” Paunovic said. “Our plan today was to play some minutes, [not 45], but in the end we had to make decisions. He was very aware of his abilities and what he needed to bring to the game. He is important for us, but we need to keep working on him and be careful; after being out for two months, you need to be careful, but we expect David to be fine for the next game."
Accam steadily gained involvement in the match, recording two successful dribbles, including one on the left touchline in which he very nearly drew a second yellow card on Revs midfielder Gershon Koffie. With his first shift back from injury behind him, Accam can look ahead to even greater contributions when the Fire look to close their challenging road trip with three points at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. CT, CSN Chicago Plus).
"I felt good (tonight), it showed that I haven't played in two months,” he said. “I felt a little bit rusty, but I'm so happy to be on the pitch again playing. For us, we need to keep doing what we're doing and keep our belief. We continue to make little mistakes each game and that's what's costing us wins."
