Photo by USA Today Sports Images
By DAN KARELL
The longest-tenured player in Chicago Fire history is ending his career with the only club he’s known.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Logan Pause announced that he will retire at the end of the 2014 MLS season. The Fire midfielder is currently in his 12th year with the club, having joined the team after being selected in the first round of the 2003 MLS Draft.
Known for his strength in the tackle and willingness to do the dirty work, Pause ammassed more than 280 regular season appearances for the Fire, including nearly 250 starts, scoring three goals and adding 11 assists. Pause helped lead the Fire to two U.S. Open Cup titles, in 2003 and 2006, and won the MLS Supporters Shield as well in 2003.
Although never a regular with the U.S. Men’s National Team, Pause did make six appearances in his career, with five coming in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup and his final cap coming in a start in the Nelson Mandela Cup at South Africa in November, 2010.
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What do you think of this news? Surprised to see him call it quits? What do you remember the most about Pause’s career with the Fire?
Share your thoughts below.
who is pause?
I was there for one of his goals!
Heck of a good guy, hard worker, and a TAR HEEL! Sorry to see him go.
Shoulda retired three years ago. Hasn’t made a forward pass in about 10 years.might have been a high charachter guy but so is my 80 year old neighbor. Kinda of player with little technical skill
That the league needs to get away from
shocking that the guy had started in the center of the pitch for a handful of coaches. He’s played with the Fire during the good years as well as the bad. And he may not have been flashy, but you’d be foolish to claim he had little technical ability.
To say “that the league needs to get away from” is also silly. I hope over the next decade that the player quality improves regardless of the player in discussion.
An admirable player almost every time he stepped on the field. I remember the excellent assist he had against…… Okay it was Grenada in the Gold Cup off year but he showed a lot of people his quality in that tournament. He always does, really.
Pause was a class act, and was the club captain after Armas left. Only Segares remains as a link to the glory days…
This guy made roughly $1,187,703 in eleven seasons. True pioneer!
He’ll always have the Diskerud to Agudelo game.
Start the countdown to the Fire signing a 6th division Bulgarian or 9th division Uruguayan as a Designated Player as a replacement. Chhaaaaaaaaaampionshiiiiiiip.
funny but so true
His replacements are already on the roster and playing…he hasn’t seen much PT this season. I didn’t used to like him but he has earned the respect of numerous teammates and coaches who know a lot more about soccer than I do.The fact that he was named captain in spite of not being an offensive threat says a lot about his contributions. The respect of his teammates means more to me than the comments of some “fans” who think they know more than those on the team. My thanks go out to Logan for his dedicated and loyal service to the team. I have a feeling he will soon be coaching somewhere.
Three Goals? Thats it?
One “goal” was a free kick that deflected off of his back, I believe.
Thanks for the service, Captain Backpass.
Nice. Real class, tp.
I’ll never forgive the coach for letting him take a PK in the playoffs against RSL. Everyone in the stadium new he was going to miss. He should have turned around and pretended to back pass the ball into the net.
did everyone know you can’t spell?
Another goal was an absolute rip from about 35-40 yards out (with the wind) against TFC. Pause has been absolutely serviceable for chicago. He may not have been flashy, but he was quite effective and started consistently for a handful of coaches. Show some respect, even if you aren’t a fan of his
Yeah but 2 USOC and a Supporters Shield is nothing to sneeze at. There are many more stats and traits that are as important as goals.
Let’s all pause for a second and reflect on his career.
A round of aPAUSE for that one.
That would be PAUSEitively imPAUSEable.
I would like to Pause-it that this thread has one too many puns. We should all just stop or maybe just … Nope that one was too easy.
The puns are not necessary.
The end of Logan’s Run needed no help.