Striker Robert Beric was the first designated player signed by the new Fire regime of Georg Heitz and Raphael Wicky. Upon his arrival, marked by a slick viral video of him taking a shot of Malort, Beric was expected to replace the scoring production of former Fire forward Nemanja Nikolic.
Attacker Fabian Herbers, meanwhile, was brought in by Nelson Rodriguez and Veljko Paunovic in a December 2018 trade with Philadelphia for a 2019 second-round draft pick. His arrival was not quite as hyped, and in 2019 Herbers played in 17 games and scored three times.
But putting the circumstances of how they were acquired aside, it has been those two who have helped spark the team to its pair of recent wins entering Saturday’s game against the Montreal Impact (5-8-1, 16 points) in Harrison, New Jersey.
Beric, who went through a seven-game dry spell, has connected in four straight. His emergence is welcome for the Fire (4-7-3, 15 points) and has helped quiet some of the concerns about the team’s lack of finishing. It also has shown why Heitz and Wicky targeted Beric when he was playing for Saint-Etienne in France.
“Robert is doing what we all knew or what I knew he can do,” Wicky said. “He’s scoring, he creates opportunities. I think that is very important, obviously, always for a [striker]. He had a little period where he didn’t score. I think it’s important when, as a striker, you don’t score for a while, you just keep working hard and believing [in]you.
“He has proven everywhere that he can score so he also knew he’d be able to score here. So it’s just a matter of time and keep working hard and believing.”
Entering the season, the expectations for Herbers weren’t quite as big.
Before 2020, Herbers’ place in Fire history was scoring the team’s last goal at SeatGeek Stadium. This year, he was expected to be just one of a handful of attacking options for Wicky after an offseason that overhauled much of what Rodriguez and Paunovic constructed.
Now Herbers is an automatic part of Wicky’s starting lineup, having scored four times in five games at Soldier Field. He also has shown himself to be a versatile player, doing well in numerous spots near the top of the Fire attack and finding open pockets between opposing defenders.
“I don’t have a favorite position,” Herbers said. “I think every position has its ups and downs kind of.”
Right now, Herbers is producing regardless of where he is in the formation.
“Fabi . . . this is something we spoke with him in the beginning of the season, that if he can add, if he can convert some of his chances into scoring [goals], then he can make the next step, and I think he’son the way to doing that,” Wicky said. “I’m very pleased with what he adds to the team. But again, he has to keep working hard, keep getting better and then he can keep doing what he does.”
NOTE: The Fire announced it has exercised the 2021 club option on captain Francisco Calvo. Calvo, 28, leads the Fire with 1,245 minutes played and has the most interceptions (39) in MLS.
