With retirement on horizon, Fire's Nyarko wants a championship

Chicago Fire veteran Patrick Nyarko, right, has 2 goals and an assist in just 371 minutes since returning from a serious knee injury. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

In many ways Patrick Nyarko is the Chicago Fire's last man standing.

By far the longest-serving active Fire player, Nyarko and backup goalkeeper Jon Busch are the only players on the current Fire roster to have played in a playoff victory for the Fire.

Busch just returned to Chicago after five seasons in San Jose. Nyarko, despite seemingly constant roster changes and several coaching changes, hasn't gone anywhere.

And now, just working his way back from a torn ACL suffered at the end of last season, Nyarko is playing as well as ever.

"He's a very good player. And you don't realize as a coach, and even the fans, how good Patrick is until he starts playing again," said Fire coach and director of soccer Frank Yallop, emphasizing he will continue to be cautious with how much he plays Nyarko in order to keep him healthy. "We can get by without him, which we tried to do. But once he starts playing, you're like, Wow, he's pretty good. He's very good. He scored 2 goals, created another one.

"Yeah, I think he's been very good. And he's a lovely guy, which I always think is a bonus. I couldn't be happier for him."

Because of his injury, Nyarko has played just eight games this season, totaling 371 minutes. In that limited time he's already contributed 2 goals and an assist. Known throughout his career more for his assists (and for being fouled) than for scoring, his career high for goals in a season is 4.

Nyarko attributes the mini-surge in goals to changing his focus from setting up others to getting in position to finish when other guys create. It was part of a process of re-evaluating his game after his injury, and it's paid off.

He hopes he can be part of the process of rebuilding the Fire into a perennial league power again.

"When I came in the Fire was one of the best teams, one of the most adored teams in the league," said Nyarko, a Fire first-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech in 2008. "I'm not sure when exactly it started, but when that generation kind of ended, the rebuilding process didn't go as planned and it started spiraling and it became a one-year process.

"It's been real difficult. It's been real difficult. I love my teammates that come and go, but it's always hard to see them go and new ones come in. You form bonds with the guys and then they go and you do it all over again. It's been really tough."

The Fire last won a playoff game in 2009. It was eliminated from the playoffs that year by Real Salt Lake in penalty kicks at a sold-out Toyota Park. The future looked bright for the Fire then.

"You look at the atmosphere, the support of the team and it gives me chills," he said. "I still remember it to this day. When we beat New England here, when we lost to Salt Lake in the semifinal here on PKs, the atmosphere was brilliant. This city deserves it, the fans deserve it, this organization needs it.

"I'm a firm believer it's going to get back to it. I get it's a process, but I'm sure with all these years past that the organization learns something it might have done wrong, how to get them right and every year hopefully they keep improving and hopefully they build a solid team that can compete and make it into the playoffs every year because it's a great atmosphere here. The fans have been with us for all these lean years here. They deserve us to be in the playoffs every year."

Now at age 29 and coming off a serious injury, Nyarko sees the end of his career nearing. He wants to make the most of the time he has left as a professional athlete, and he makes it clear he wants a championship.

"I feel like a kid in a candy store again," he said. "I'm falling in love with the game again. I cannot wait to get to training for all the time lost."

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