Peter Nowak will turn 36 on July 5.
For a midfielder who does the kind of running that Nowak does game in and game out, one would think Nowak’s playing days are numbered. Nowak disagrees.
“Every year you find some challenge,” he said. “My goal is to always be good. I think I could play a few more years.”
Judging by Nowak’s performance in the Fire’s 3-2 victory over D.C. United on Saturdy, who could argue?
Nowak had his best offensive game of the season, scoring the game-winning goal and assisting on the other two.
The offensive surge by Nowak was a bit of a departure in his play this season. With the scoring of Ante Razov, the improvement of Dema Kovalenko and the arrival of Hristo Stoitchkov, Nowak hasn’t had to be as much of an offensive catalyst as he was in the last two seasons.
Though the offense spread is out more, Nowak is tied for second in the league with nine assists and is on pace to score more than the 24 points he had in the 1998 season.
“The first year everyone was looking for offensive play from me,” Nowak said. “Now I want to help more defensively, so the game has changed for me a little bit.”
Nowak’s first year in Chicago was an MVP-caliber season. He was the center of everything the Fire did, collecting the ball from the defense and setting the tone on offense. But that season Nowak and his teammates were an unknown. Now that teams know what he can do, Nowak has earned more respect by attracting closer attention.
“That’s normal,” Nowak said. “That’s the way it was for Roman [Kosecki], Ante and Josh [Wolff]. Now we have a lot of young players, and my role, along with Lubos [Kubik] and Hristo, is to help them out.”
Last season was a struggle for Nowak. He purchased a second-division club in his native Poland and made a couple of trips back to Poland between games to take care of some financial business.
That caused him to miss some training sessions, which in turn hurt his play on the field.
Nowak ended up playing in 28 of the 32 games and had only four fewer points than in his first season but was the first to admit that the missed practice time hurt his game.
This season has been a different story. Nowak has been with the team from the start of preseason training. He even has developed a special training regimen with new fitness coach Frank Klopas to increase his stamina.
“Physically, I feel better than the first season,” Nowak said. “This year, I feel I can make the runs every time [in a game]. That’s good for my mentality.”
Nowak has missed only one of the 17 matches this season, and that was because of a red-card suspension he drew in the season opener.
“I think because people feel that our results have been up and down, they haven’t looked closely at what Peter has done,” Fire coach Bob Bradley said. “His leadership has been very good. His mentality has been very good.
“Entering the second half of the season he feels good about the way the team is playing. And the team feels good about the way he’s playing and the leadership he’s providing.”
Though the Fire would be leading the league if it hadn’t given away a handful of points, it is only five points from the MLS’ top spot after Saturday’s victory. Nowak believes that once Kubik and Stoitchkov return from their injuries, this season could turn out to be as special as 1998.
“This is a very important moment for us,” Nowak said. “We’ve lost stupid points, but we’re still in first place [in the Central Division]. I feel like we have a good future when Lubos and Hristo come back.”
Speculation is that this will be Nowak’s final season as a player before becoming a full-time owner. Polish media has nominated him for various jobs within the Polish Soccer Federation, which has been in turmoil the last couple of years. But if Nowak knows when he will hang up his boots for the final time, he isn’t telling.
“It’s not as if I don’t enjoy the training or the games,” he said. “I never think about how it will be to say, `This is it.’ To say it is easy but if you are healthy, then the question becomes is it to early to say I’m done?”
