Hugo Cuypers is not only the Chicago Fire’s leading scorer, his work rate with and without the ball has helped the team develop its identity.
Without having to verbalize it, Cuypers’ work ethic filters down to the rest of the roster.
“It’s belief and it trickles down — you see one guy doing it, especially someone like Hugo,” defender Jonathan Dean said. “If he’s doing it, that’s the bare minimum. For us that’s where we set that bar.”
Cuypers, a forward, is in constant motion, which has helped lead to his team-best 19 goals heading into the Fire’s win-or-go-home first-round MLS Cup playoff game against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview (4:30 p.m., Apple TV). The Fire need a win to force a decisive game in the best-of-three series Nov. 8 in Philadelphia.
It didn’t take first-year coach Gregg Berhalter long to figure out that Cuypers was his kind of player.
“When you look at Hugo, you don’t necessarily see this outwardly pushing the team,” Berhalter said. “But what I do know about him after working with him for these 10 months is that he desperately wants to win, so he’s super competitive. He wants to come here to be successful. And the second thing is that he works. And when you add those two things, it’s just such a good example for the rest of the team.”
The Belgium native arrived in Chicago two years ago and has led the Fire in goals in both seasons. He acknowledged the challenges that come with the move after having spent his entire career in Europe.
“I think the move to MLS from overseas is maybe a little bit underestimated, with everything that comes with it, family-wise as well,” Cuypers, 28, said.
When Berhalter had his initial meeting with Cuypers after taking over the program, he had an immediate sense of the type of player he was inheriting.
“What I heard was a player that wants to win,” Berhalter said. “He really wants higher standards and wants to be pushed, and that was great. He’s always looking to get better. I love players like that. I knew we would have a great relationship.”
That relationship strengthens every time the Fire take the field thanks to Cuypers’ constant motion.
“That’s why our relationship is so strong because I can count on that every single game,” Berhalter said. “That’s what he brings. It’s really helpful when you have a guy like that doing that type of work.”
That effort certainly makes Dean and the rest of the defenders want to lay it on the line as well.
“What happens throughout the game, mistakes and certain things, are uncontrollable,” Dean said. “But your striker is doing that work for us, especially as a defensive line, it really motivates us to do even more.”
Cuypers becomes even more important if forward Philip Zinckernagel can’t play Saturday. He was a late scratch for the series opener because of a lower-body injury and was limited in practice Thursday, putting his availability for Game 2 in doubt.
“It’s hard to tell right now,” Berhalter said. “He did warm up with the group today and wasn’t able to continue. But we’ll see as the game goes. We still have 48 hours to game time, so we’ll go down to the wire.”
Cuypers’ hard work didn’t lead to a goal in Sunday’s Game 1 loss in penalty kicks in Philadelphia. Berhalter was encouraged by his team’s performance overall, however, especially in the second half.
The last time the Fire played in Philadelphia, a 2-0 deficit turned into a 4-0 loss. On Sunday, they trailed 2-0 but rallied to tie game thanks to goals from Jonathan Bamba and Jack Elliott in the final six minutes and stoppage time. The Fire went on to lose in PKs, but Berhalter choose to be optimistic.
“The first half went exactly to the game plan,” Berhalter said. “We wanted to take the crowd out of the game. We wanted to put the game on our terms. We never let them get momentum. That will give us a ton of confidence going into the next game.
“The way we got back into the game showed our potential and also our character and the mental side of it. The guys didn’t get frustrated.”
As for facing elimination, Berhalter pointed out the Fire already played one of those games this postseason — the wild-card win over Orlando City two weeks ago. Add in the home crowd and he’s optimistic for a return to Philadelphia next week.
“We’ve done this before,” Berhalter said. “It’s a different type of opponent, but we also know what we’re capable of. If anything, the last game gave us confidence.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
