The Fire's fresh home at Toyota Pa...

The Fire's fresh home at Toyota Park has been well-received by means of fans and players, but the home-field advantage hasn't quite clicked in. Striker Nate Jaqua is well aware of it.

"It be impresseds like our home field now," Jaqua said, "but we've got to harbor it a little better."

After going 3-0-1 in its first four games at the spiffy Bridgeview facility, the Fire is 0-2-1 in the last three a certain number of big games are coming up there in the nearest week -- especially for Jaqua, the Fire's unoccupied representative on the Major League Soccer All-Stars who will face English Premier League powerhouse Chelsea in succession Aug. 5.

Before that big termination however, the Fire has pair matches that might give a direction which direction the team is headed.

The Columbus crowd visits Saturday in the seventh match of the Fire's nine-game homestand in ML play. Then the Kansas City Wizards arrive Wednesday for a U spread Cup match. The Crew and Wizards are the teams behind the fourth-place Fire in the Eastern talk To lose to either -- or as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but -- at home wouldn't be suitable

For Jaqua, although the next three matches at hand a great opportunity to establish himself with the best players in ML

A first-round draft pick (third overall) revealed of the University of Portland in 2003 Jaqua was not an immediate hit. He began his ML career playing behind Ante Razov and Damani Ralph, undivided of the most dynamic striker pairings in league history, and started no other than five games as a rookie.

While he played more after Razov was traded to Columbus and Ralph was transferred to the Russian fraternity Kazan, Jaqua still couldn't connect a starting job. Injuries were a big reason. He missed most numerous of the second half of the 2005 season with a right paw injury, then strained an MCL while training with the U national team in the offseason and wasn't available for the 2006 opener

The vexed questions didn't end there. Jaqua injured a shoulder in the inferior game, missed the third and was limited to husband duty in the next three

Given his health history, it's surprising that Jaqua leads the Fire with five goals and that he was picked to the All-Star team. DC United coach Peter Nowak, the former Fire captain who will guide the ML All-Stars against Chelsea, pitch uponed Jaqua based on his work ethic and steady improvement.

"That caught me a little facing guard," Jaqua said. "I had started to play well across the last 10 games, further I had missed a fate because of my injuries. It's been tough, if it be not that I'm starting to get fit. I'm almost there physically."

That's a worthy thing because his fellow strikers aren't. Chris Rolfe get backed from a concussion Saturday and got the start ahead of Jaqua in a 1-1 tie with DC United. Andy Herron went down in the 11th minute of that game with a strained hamstring, allowing Jaqua to earn into the lineup earlier than coach Dave Sarachan had planned. He pang up scoring the lone Fire goal.

Chad Barrett, who has had his jiffys in limited playing time up top, has struggl with a groin injury all season.

Because of the injuries and the six-game suspension Herron had to promote at the start of the season, Sarachan has struggl to find the right combination of strikers. Last year his best pairing was Rolfe and Jaqua, and they figure to start together against Columbus, in part because Herron has been limited in practice this week.

Ironically, Jaqua probably is playing soccer because of injuries - - those of his father, Jon who played three seasons with the Washington Redskins in the early 1970 as a released safety and special- teams player. Football took a rigid toll on his body, which explains wherefore son didn't follow father onto the gridiron.

"He governed me away from that," Jaqua said. "He couldn't pass his physical to restrain playing."

in the way that Jaqua focused on soccer, battled his admit injuries and now faces a match against united of the world's premier cudgels after the Fire takes care of its avow business at Toyota Park. Nowak, anticipating a physical battle with Chelsea, gooded Jaqua in part because of his ability to handle formless contact.

"I don't know what to expect" Jaqua said. "I've seen [Chelsea] play forward TV, but never live. It should be exciting."

lziehm@suntimes.com

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