With his appearance in the middle
of the park for the Chicago Fire in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Red Bull New York,
captain Logan Pause moved into second all-time in regular season games played
for the Fire at 216 games played.
It’s a milestone Pause has been chasing since the start of
the season, passing Jesse Marsch at 200 early on before moving past Chris Armas
(214) on August 7 at Vancouver and finally Zach Thornton (215) on Saturday.
Now in his ninth season with the
Fire, Pause became the first player to break the 200 appearance threshold
before his 30th birthday with his appearance at Seattle on April 9.
Pause will turn 30 next Monday, August 22.
Long a mentor for the current Fire
captain, Chris Armas was proud to see Pause pass him up recently and move into
second all-time behind only C.J. Brown (296 regular season appearances).
“I’m not surprised that he’s
accomplished that mark,” said the former Fire midfielder. “It’s impressive
because he’s done it all at one club, I think it may end up being that he
shatters the mark because he came in very young and he’s stayed healthy. No
matter what he finds himself in the starting lineup now, he’s a seasoned
veteran on a young team. He should play many more games going forward.”
Pause’s health speaks for itself.
The Fire midfielder has appeared in a minimum of 21 regular season matches over
his first eight years in Major League Soccer and is just three games shy of
extending the mark to nine straight seasons.
Pause
isn’t enamored with numbers and though he’s now passed up one of the club’s
Ring of Fire members he still speaks respectfully of a club legend in Armas
saying recently, “What
Chris Armas did while he was here goes well beyond the number of games he
played. I guess it’s up there for me, I’ve been around a while, but I don’t
like, nor deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as that guy.”
As for how the former captain thinks the
new one is doing playing wise and in the leadership role, “He just keeps
getting better,” said Armas. “As a
professional that’s the goal. Last year wasn’t the best year for the Fire but
for him he was named team MVP and earned an appearance with the U.S. Men’s
National Team, he performed very well. He’s always been a good professional, he
came in that way. He’s never been such a talker, he leads by example and I
think he followed some of the guys in the past that were doing the right thing
on and off the field and that’s how he leads now.”
Back in New York readying for his
first season as the head coach of the women’s team at his alma mater, Adelphi
University, Armas has stayed connected to the league and the Fire, having
visited with the side during their weekend trip to play Red Bull.
“I’m excited to be back home in
New York. I’m helping out with MLS where I can at the league office and at now
coaching at Adelphi. Things are going well, there’s been a lot to do in a short
time, preseason’s starting so I’m just trying to get everyone on board and
organized. I’m looking forward to this job and seeing what we can do with this
program.”
Jeff Crandall is the Team Writer for the Chicago Fire.
Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall.
