Coach Dave Sarachan's Chicago Fire currently leads the league in wins and points, and has beaten each MLS team at least once, besides Kansas City, which it tied, and Los Angeles, which it has yet to play.

SOCCER AMERICA: Chicago missed the playoffs last season, but now you're on a roll — first in the East and on a six-game unbeaten streak. What's the key to the turnaround?

DAVE SARACHAN: We've made good additions, we're deeper, we've established how we want to play and everyone is familiar with the system. Last season we tinkered with a 3-4-3 and a 3-5-2. Now we're settled on a back four, and that's allowed our flank guys to get more involved.

The fact that we're deeper makes training more competitive, which is always important, and the reserve games have helped. Guys like Gonzalo Segares, Chris Rolfe and Logan Pause have worked their way up the ladder.

SA: What's your reaction to no Chicago players making the MLS All-Star team and which Fire players would you have picked?

DS: I was a little surprised and a little disappointed, but as a team we
haven't gotten caught up in that. And in some ways it's nice to be under the radar. … Nate Jaqua [7 goals, 2 assists] deserved consideration, although I understand there's a strong striker group. [Outside back] Ivan Guerrero has been great. Justin Mapp and Chris Armas should be in that conversation …

SA: Any teams doing better or worse than expected?

DS: At this moment, New England is consistently as good as anyone, but I expected that because it was a team that stayed intact. Dallas may be doing a little better than expected, but one could see that on paper they had potential. L.A. is a mystery. They're pretty good at home but not so good on the road. Maybe Columbus is farther down that expected. What we see is how strong a conference the East is.

Chicago Fire goalscoring leaders
Nate Jaqua 7
Thiago* 4
Chris Rolfe* 4
Jesse Marsch 3
Gonzalo Segares* 3
Ivan Guerrero* 2
Andy Herron 2
Justin Mapp 2

Chicago Fire assist leaders
Thiago* 6
Justin Mapp 5
Ivan Guerrero* 4
Jim Curtin 3
* 2005 newcomers

— Interview by Mike Woitalla, executive editor, Soccer America Magazine