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For the first time in his seven-year MLS career, Tom Barlow is the league's Player of the Matchday. The Chicago Fire's backup center forward netted three times in a shock 7-1 win over D.C. United.
In addition to being Barlow's career-first weekly honors, it's the Fire's first of the season and first since Matchday 24 last season when Hugo Cuypers was voted Player of the Matchday for his brace against the Philadelphia Union.
https://twitter.com/SoccerReporters/status/1932196451292963291
Breaking down the vote, Barlow got 66.33% of the vote for members of the North American Soccer Reporters, whose vote counts for 75% of the tally. He earned 31.71% of the fan vote, finishing in a narrow second place behind LAFC's Dénis Bouanga in that category.
The Fire's Philip Zinckernagel, who scored in his fifth straight game in all competitions, also made the top four in voting for the second consecutive week. This is made even more impressive by the fact that he wasn't nominated by the league in either of those two weeks, meaning that the media vote alone carried him to fourth place twice despite not being eligible for the fan vote.
Barlow's hat trick was a historic one. Not only was it the first of his MLS career, but it was also the Fire's first since October 2017 when Nemanja Nikolić stuck three past the Philadelphia Union to wrap up the Golden Boot race that season. Now-retired left back Brandon Vincent had a pair of assists that day, similar to how Andrew Gutman notched two contributions this Saturday.
While Barlow probably isn't in the race to make the MLS All-Star team, Gutman and Zinckernagel surely are, with voting still open until Wednesday. Center forward Hugo Cuypers is also likely in the race despite a crowded center forward field. Fans can vote for the All-Star team on MLS' website before the deadline.
Read more:
http://meninred97.com/tom-barlow-ends-fires-8-year-hat-trick-drought/
