The Chicago Fire brought in Nemanja Nikolic in the the offseason for one big reason: to score goals.
Not only has he done just that to start his MLS career, he's now being recognized for his hot start to 2017 after being voted the Alcatel MLS Player of the Week for Week 7 by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR).
The Hungarian international earned the weekly honors by netting a pair of goals in the Fire's comprehensive 3-0 win over the New England Revolution, taking his total to four through the first six games of the season. Nikolic's award is the first Player of the Week honor for a Fire player in just over two years, the last being Shaun Maloney in Week 5 of the 2015 season.
With the Fire leading 1-0 thanks to Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nikolic ensured there was no way back for the 10-man Revs. He bagged his first just after halftime when he poked home a loose ball at the near post, then iced the win with a 73rd-minute finish off an inch-perfect pass from David Accam.
Nikolic and Chicago, who are flying high in the Eastern Conference after finishing the last two seasons dead last, will now look to continue their hot start to the season when they visit reigning East champs Toronto FC on Friday evening (7:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE in the US, TSN in Canada).
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
