The Chicago Fire’s three years have brought three trophies, success surpassed among MLS clubs only by D.C. United, which has been at it longer. Here are the highs and lows in Fire lore.

GO EAST. Fire coach Bob Bradley pursued German-based midfielder Peter Nowak from the start, and fellow Poles Roman Kosecki and Jerzy Podbrozny and Czech Lubos Kubik soon joined up, too. This was the foundation of Chicago’s first championship team.

“We felt it was important to have someone in back with experience, who was good on the ball, who could help us in building out of the back,” Bradley said about Kubik. “Lubos came to Orlando [on trial] for 10 days, which was a unbelievable thing for a player of his stature.”

Nowak knew Kosecki, a “different kind of attacking player,” and Podbrozny had a reputation as a goalscorer but brought other gifts.

ARMING FOR BATTLE. Skinning Los Angeles of defensive midfielder Chris Armas was a masterstroke. Bradley, after selecting L.A.’s Kevin Hartman and Danny Pena in the expansion draft, maneuvered the Galaxy into surrendering Armas – emerging as American soccer’s finest defensive midfielder – in the deal to retrieve Pena and Hartman.

Armas has since redefined the DMF role in this country, becoming a pivotal figure for the U.S. national team. He deserves much credit for the Fire’s MLS Cup ’98 title win, in which he smothered D.C. United playmaker Marco Etcheverry.

THREE TROPHIES. The Fire’s first trophy run started in earnest with an 11-game win streak – fueled by five or more goals by Nowak, Podbrozny, Kosecki and Ante Razov – and concluded with 12 victories in the final 14 games, including a perfect postseason.

Playoff success wasn’t simple. Two 1-0 and two 2-1 shootout victories finished off Colorado and L.A. The final was far more comfortable: a 2-0 win, on tallies by Podbrozny and Diego Gutierrez.

Chicago’s other triumphs, for winning the 1998 and 2000 U.S. Open Cups, were nearly as difficult. The Fire needed a golden goal to top Columbus in the ’98 final and another to get into the 2000 final, where Hristo Stoitchkov delivered victory over Miami.

There might have been four titles if not for Tony Meola’s heroics for Kansas City at MLS Cup 2000.

THE GREATEST SERIES. Two stand out. First that tense ’98 Western Conference final against Los Angeles, captured on Jesse Marsch’s 86th-minute rebound in Pasadena and a superior shootout in Chicago.

Even better was the first-round encounter with Dallas in ’99. The Fire romped to a 4-0 triumph – marred when Dema Kovalenko broke Burn defender Brandon Pollard’s leg – to even the series at a game apiece, then jumped to a 2-0 lead after five minutes of the decisive clash. The second half was all Burn, with goals in the 84th (Jorge Rodriguez PK) and 86th (Ariel Graziani from a scramble) minutes delivering a 3-2 victory.

HOMETOWN BOY. Frank Klopas, Greek-born but Chicago-raised, scored two goals twice in the Fire’s first six games. His greatest contribution: the 99th-minute strike that gave the Fire the ’98 U.S. Open Cup title. He’s now the team’s strength and conditioning coach.

ANTE UP. Razov, a Galaxy castoff who had been searching Europe for a job, provided the final piece of Bradley’s attacking puzzle. He teamed well with Kosecki up front, with Podbrozny making runs from midfield and Nowak running the show.

“What we ended up with,” Bradley said, “was a situation in which Ante and Roman settled in as forwards, where Roman had the freedom to go from side to side. The combination of Chris, Jerry and Peter [in central midfield] worked out very well. Teams tried to concentrate on Peter, so Peter would [shift to] the left side and Jerry would playmake. They all worked hard for each other. When Peter had the ball, Jerry was very good at – as Ante moved wide – running out of midfield and into attack.”

Razov led the Fire in scoring all three seasons but departed last fall, joining Spain’s Racing Ferrol.

YOUNG GUNS. Injuries to Stoitchkov, Kubik and Armas, World Cup qualifying and the Sydney Olympics tested Fire depth in 2000. Chicago emerged nearly unscathed because of its youngsters.

When Kubik got hurt, Andrew Lewis stepped in; when Lewis went down, A-League call-up Tenwya Bonseu took over. Evan Whitfield pitched in with seven assists in 25 appearances. DaMarcus Beasley made an impact on the wing. Dema Kovalenko was part of 20 goals. Carlos Bocanegra was MLS’s rookie of the year.

And Josh Wolff, the best of the Americans in Australia, overcame injury to score seven MLS goals and six more in the Open Cup, including four in a 5-1 rout of Dallas and the 112th-minute semifinal winner against L.A.

1-0. It was telling that three of the Fire’s first five MLS games finished 1-0 (all losses, all in succession). It’s occurred 17 times since, and that’s not counting a 1-0 shootout loss to Dallas in ’99.

No surprise, surely, to Fire critics, who in ’98 accused Bradley of utilizing heavily defensive tactics and relying on players lacking flair. Bradley saw little substance to the argument.

“I think we were a good all-around team, good with the ball, a good passing team … a good defensive team,” he said. “Around the league we were known as a good team.”

The Fire is 10-10 in 1-0 games, with Kubik scoring the lone goal five times.

RAD BULGARIAN. Stoitchkov arrived in Chicago last year with far less fanfare than did Lothar Matthaeus in New York, but his was a vastly better fit. Even before he found his footing at the end of the season, Stoitchkov made his capabilities obvious.

“We’d done a lot of homework and realized he was a real strong personality – in a positive way – but he hadn’t played in a year,” Bradley said. “He came in so motivated, but it was too much too soon and he ran into [groin] injury problems. It took all season for him to get healthy and fit to play his best, but everybody saw his best efforts at the end. … He hit stride in September and October – to see him at the end of the year, he felt he was back at Barcelona. He felt that good physically.”

by Soccer America senior editor Scott French

All Time FIRE XI

GOALKEEPER

Zach Thornton. 1998’s top keeper has 20 shutouts in 80 games, MLS’s third-best GAA.

DEFENDERS

C.J. Brown. Right back stepped from D3 to national team with Fire display.

Lubos Kubik. Czech sweeper strong on attack (15, 22 in 71 games).

Francis Okaroh. Nigerian vet strong on the left first two seasons.

MIDFIELDERS

Jesse Marsch. Most Fire MLS games (88); critical to ’98 playoff success.

Chris Armas. MLS’s best DMF a staple on Best 11.

Jerzy Podbrozny. Pole was key linkman in 1998-99 (10, 22 in 55 games); scored in MLS, U.S. Open Cup finals.

Peter Nowak. Polish playmaker (17, 34 in 80 games) runs the show for Chicago.

Diego Gutierrez. Left-sider started 48 games, dished 18 assists last two seasons.

FORWARDS

Ante Razov. Fire’s top scorer (42, 22, 106 in 84 games) netted 15 gamewinners, reached national team.

Hristo Stoitchkov. Bulgarian star key in 2000 despite fitness problems.

For an extended version of this Fire article, check out Soccer America Xtra at socceramerica.com.