Chicago Fire winger Justin Mapp wasn't terribly disappointed he didn't make Bruce Arena's cut to dress for the United States in Saturday's World Cup finals-clinching win against Mexico or Wednesday's match against Guatemala.
Fire coach Dave Sarachan wasn't exactly up in arms about Arena's decision either. In fact, Sarachan's friendship with Arena may have strengthened after Sunday.
Mapp started Chicago's first goal in the 11th minute and finished his club's away victory with a moment of individual brilliance in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. It lifted the Fire to a 2-1 triumph before a sold-out Home Depot Center.
Mapp began last week in Columbus training with the national team before he was sent back to Chicago in midweek once Arena had decided on the 18 men he would keep for the titanic weekend clash with rival Mexico.
"I want to thank Bruce Arena for releasing Justin," Sarachan said. "Bruce and I are good friends, and we talk. He said to me that there was a chance (Mapp's releasing from camp) could happen. Justin's on his radar screen, but maybe he's not quite ready for this level of World Cup qualifying."
Mapp started his game-winning run into the left side of the penalty area 35 yards from goal. He weaved through Cobi Jones, Peter Vagenas, Tyrone Marshall and Ugo Ihemelu before cutting back a 18-yard, left-footed shot on Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman that nestled just inside the far, right goalpost for his third goal this season.
"That may be the goal of the year," Sarachan said. "He's a kid that can do that. He's a special player."
Added Mapp: "I just figured, 92nd minute, everybody is pretty tired. I figured I had to dig deep and try to do something. I don't score too much so it's probably one of the bigger ones I've scored.
"It was a good week, with the national team early in the week and I got in some good training. It would have been nice to be on the bench for Mexico but I kind of figured ... It's only my second national team camp, it was a big game and you look at the reality of things."
The Fire, which had only won one of its previous six, played their first league match in 16 days. They were without the services of holding midfielder Chris Armas and striker Lubos Reiter, on international duty with the United States and Slovakia, respectively.
Instead of going into a defensive shell on the road, Chicago played the Galaxy endline to endline most of the match. It looked much more prone to sitting back in the final half and looked more for the counterattack in the last 10 minutes.
"We had a great start and a great finish. A couple dodgy moments in between," Sarachan said. "We had a pretty good week of training and we were well prepared. Our concentration and our awareness was there. A lot of people want to make out that there is this huge disadvantage on the road, but we're used to it. We're (currently) on the road for 56 days."
The victory vaulted the Fire into second place in the Eastern Conference, three points back of New England. Chicago leapfrogged D.C. United and Kansas City and leads both clubs by a point.
"It's huge. I can't really describe how huge that was," said Chris Rolfe, who scored the match opener, his sixth of the season, in the 11th minute. "It's the first of four straight (league) games on the road. I think we proved a lot to ourselves. Everybody was hungry for a game and I think we had that on our side."
Damian Secore is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
