Oduro bounces back

The Chicago Fire’s 1-1 draw with DC United last Thursday was disappointing for a lot of reasons. The Fire dominated play throughout the match, outdoing United 6-1 in shots on goal. Of course the one was all the visitors needed to take a point back to the nation’s capital, though replays showed Josh Wolff to be in an offside position before receiving the pass for his 73^rd minute equalizer.
Perhaps most disappointed though was striker Dominic Oduro who saw three quality first half chances go begging, first saved by Bill Hamid, then rattling the post before putting a close range effort over the bar.
The Ghanaian striker bounced back on Sunday though, scoring the first goal in the team’s 2-0 victory over Toronto FC and garnering an MLS Goal of the Week nomination for the third consecutive time. Eager to make up for the misses at midweek, Oduro expected to score in Sunday’s game according to Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas.
"He told me he was going to score three -- he only scored one, but that's OK," Klopas said, in Sunday’s post-game press conference. "The thing with forwards, you've got to have that mentality. It's so much of a confidence thing." 
Oduro has shown the striker’s mentality since joining the side via trade from Houston in March. Before this season, the Ghanaian attacker had only scored five goals in an MLS campaign but with nine matches remaining in 2011, the team’s leading scorer has already hit for eight.
Not one focused on numbers, Oduro’s glad his strike helped the team get its first league victory since June 12 at Columbus
“At the end of the day I was able to help my team out putting in a goal and helping to create some chances,” Oduro said Tuesday. “Getting a win was something that was close for us for a long time, something we needed. Hopefully it gets us going against Colorado on Saturday. They’re a strong team, but it doesn’t matter, we can compete with any team in this league. Right now we’re fighting for points and just need the aggression we had on Sunday going into the Colorado game.”
[inline_node:15687]Shifting Positions
Having played mostly on the wing through the first four months of the season, Oduro began August as the lone forward in a 4-5-1 formation vs. Philadelphia and Vancouver (a game in which he scored a 23^rd minute equalizer). With not quite enough in the attack through those two matches, Klopas moved fellow countryman Patrick Nyarko vs. New York on August 13. The Ghanaian tandem has started together up top in the side’s last three matches and wielded a lot of the team’s offensive production since the shift.
“We have great chemistry and great communication,” said Oduro. “We understand each other really well, we talk on and off the field (speaking both in English and the Ghanaian Twi dialect), we carpool here every day. He has the speed that I have so we’re able to meet each other halfway. We have a great chemistry and it works for us on the field.”
Speed is almost always the adjective you hear when talking about Oduro or Nyarko. While the latter is fleet, Oduro is one of the fastest players in the league and has shown the best possible visual of the common coach speak “Get on your horse” with his galloping spurts to chase down a ball. In those instances, the fifth year MLS veteran looks more like he’s running an Olympic 100 meter race then playing a soccer game, though its effective all the same.
“It’s just me changing the gear. It works for me, any time I do that it’s me getting more speed into my run. It works, it might not look perfect but it works. I’m not going to change it. I still need to get my form right when I’m running, it’s something I’ve been working on. Its little things, if I fix that I’ll be even more effective.”
Goals of the team and personal variety
With Oduro already besting his career high for goals in a season at eight, he also sits very close to breaking the club’s drought without a double-digit goal scorer, Damani Ralph’s 11 goals in 2004 was the last instance. According to Oduro, the team’s success is more important that personal milestones.
“My personal goal is for the team to win every game from here on out. If I’m at the end of a goal, that’s a blessing, if not whatever I can do to help the team out is enough. That being said, if I could get to 10, I’d be happy. It’s been a long time since someone here scored that many. If I’m the one that does it, I’m ready. I’ll do whatever I can to score goals -- that’s my job as a forward. If I’m able to hit that record it would be a blessing and I would gladly take it.”
Jeff Crandall is the Team Writer for the Chicago Fire. Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall.