BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- It has been a long time since the Chicago Fire have started off as well as they have started the 2008 Major League Soccer season.
One has to go back to the 1999 season, when the Fire went 5-1-0 in their first six games, to top the current 4-1-1 start the Fire are on going into Thursday's game against D.C. United at RFK Stadium.
The Fire extended their current hot streak with a 3-0 win against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. It was their third shutout of the season and their second decisive win against their Eastern Conference rivals in exactly one month's time.
The Fire are still two points behind Columbus (5-1-0, 15 points) in the Eastern Conference standings, but the two teams have not yet met in the 2008 campaign.
With a defense that has given up just three goals in six games (and one of those was an own goal) there is talk that the Fire have gathered the right combination of talent up and down the field to begin thinking they might have a championship-caliber roster.
"Absolutely," Fire defender Diego Gutierrez said. "And I'm not just speaking about the 11 guys on the field. We know we have a good roster up and down the list. We know we are getting good results this early in the season, we are where we want to be, we are adding talent, so hopefully down the stretch we will continue to play the same way."
Fire coach Denis Hamlett has played defenders Gonzalo Segares and Bakary Soumare in all six games, with Gutierrez and Brandon Prideaux getting five starts each. Talented defenders like Dasan Robinson and Wilman Conde cannot break into the group of four that has kept opposing offenses from getting in.
"But defense doesn't just constitute the four guys and the goalkeeper," Gutierrez said. "As a unit we are developing a very good mentality, especially on the road, to remain organized and remain optimistic that the guys up front are going to do their jobs and the guys in back will do their jobs back there. It is not just the guys in the back. It is team defense. It starts with the forward, and you will see guys make good defensive plays all over the field."
It is telling that goalkeeper Jon Busch, who the league best 0.50 goals per game average, still leads the league in shots against at 37, an average of just over six shots per game.
The depth of talent the Fire have accumulated keeps showing itself.
For the second New England game, forward Tomasz Frankowski was not fully healthy, having rolled an ankle in the previous game, but Hamlett had Chris Rolfe dying to play after himself suffering a foot injury that kept him out of action for four weeks.
Having had his position swallowed up by teammate John Thorrington, who had two goals in the previous game against Colorado, Hamlett still put Rolfe into a wide right midfield role and tucked Thorrington in alongside Logan Pause, and Rolfe responded with a goal and an assist.
Thorrington followed with a goal of his own and rookie midfielder Stephen King, subbing for the fourth time in the first six games, got his first goal of the season to close out the scoring.
Frankowski is healthy again, meaning Hamlett once has a tough decision to make, as Chad Barrett has started all six games at forward.
Hamlett also has been lucky to have a nearly healthy roster all season long. Veteran defender C.J. Brown remains out with an adductor muscle pull, and midfielder Brian Plotkin has been hampered by a hip strain. Conde missed two days of practice with a stomach virus but practiced Tuesday.
The Fire would seem to be overwhelming favorites heading into a game against D.C. United, which has struggled to a 2-4-0 record in the early going. But Hamlett warned against any form of relaxing, especially with the game being played on United's home field.
"I know them very well, from their head coach (Tom Soehn) and his days here," Hamlett said, referring to the former Fire assistant who is in his second season with United. "I know the players they have. We know what they are about at their place. They are a hard team to play in their building. Their fans get behind them and they come at you."
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