David Accam, Cory Burke give Union wild 4-3 win at Chicago Fire

The Union stole a 4-3 win at the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night, for just their second road win of the year. If that seems unlikely enough, the way they did it was even more unlikely: with two goals from Cory Burke, a 94th-minute Chicago equalizer and a winner just seconds later from David Accam.

Burke finally got a start in place of C.J. Sapong, and made a big statement with his performance. He scored his first goal in first-half stoppage time, and his second in the 73rd minute with an Accam assist.

Bastian Schweinsteiger tied the game at 3-3 with an inexcusably unmarked header off a corner kick deep in second-half stoppage time. But from the ensuing kickoff, the Union raced down the field, and Accam cut through the Fire defense and fired an inch-perfect shot to the far post.

"I'm really proud of the group for the fight that they showed," manager Jim Curtin said. "We could have laid down at 3-3 and tried to get out of here with a point, but credit to David Accam, he stepped up in a big way and got us a huge goal."

It was Accam's first Union goal, at long last, and it came against the team that Philadelphia bought him from in a major deal last winter.

"I've worked really hard, and I think this goal will rank high in my career," Accam said. "I needed this goal to get going. I'm so happy I got this goal … That it came here in Chicago, maybe I'm used to scoring goals here."

Haris Medunjanin opened the night's scoring, giving the Union (7-9-3, 24 points) a deserved lead in the 31st minute. He stole the ball off Chicago's Diego Campos when the Costa Rican lost his footing about 30 yards from midfield, then flicked the ball past Johan Kappelhof and spun it past goalkeeper Richard Sanchez.

Chicago (6-9-5, 23 points) tied the game eight minutes later, after Mark McKenzie slammed into Aleksandar Katai in the Union's 18-yard box and conceded a penalty kick. Nemanja Nikolic stepped up and thundered a shot into the top of Andre Blake's net.

The Union went back in front just seconds before the halftime whistle, as Burke launched himself from just off the goal line to head in a high cross from Fafa Picault.

Both the goal and the leap were sights far too often not seen from Sapong, it must be said. Burke also has a goal in each of his three starts. And after Sapong had zero touches in Atlanta's 18-yard box this past Saturday, Burke had eight in his 78 minutes, including five shots.

"Cory did a good job for us," Curtin said. "We gave C.J. kind of a little bit of a reset at the midway point now, and Cory stepped up in a major way. He has maximized every minute he's been given."

Katai got Chicago's second goal in the 69th minute with a beautiful curling shot from 18 yards. Burke delivered again four minutes later, pouncing on a loose ball after Sanchez misplayed Accam's cross.

Accam has had a disastrous season so far. He had no goals or assists with the Union before Wednesday for his $1.25 million salary and $1.2 million purchase price this past January, and hadn't made more than a cameo appearance since late May.

But if his effort against his old team snaps him out of that funk, those ills will be forgotten. And if Burke keeps playing and scoring, the Union's other ills might be forgotten, too.