| Chicago Fire Burned Out, Fall to FC Dallas | ||||
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Bridgeview, IL -On easily the most gorgeous day of 2009, the Chicago Fire played FC Dallas at Toyota Park in Bridgeview in front of a crowd of 13,120. The Fire entered the match undefeated and on top of the Eastern Conference, but FC Dallas, who are second from the bottom in the Western Conference, easily defeated the home team.
At the end of the 15th minute, FC Dallas opened the scoring with a header on a free kick delivered by Dave van den Bergh. The goal was scored by an unmarked Jeff Cunningham. Dallas nearly put a second in the back of the net, again on a free kick, but Jon Busch was in excellent position to make the save look easy. The Fire had the next fantastic opportunity, as Mapp made a fantastic run and found Ward on the back post, but the back post is exactly what Ward hit. In the 29th minute, Chris Rolfe was issued a yellow card. This is indicative of the sloppy defending that that plagued the Fire defense early on. Kenny Cooper, Dallas’ hard working, bulldog of a striker kept the defense on their toes. Early in the 35th minute, poor Fire defending came back to haunt the Fire. After Tim Ward was issued a yellow card for a late tackle, Fire defender CJ Brown put the ball in the back of his own net on the free kick. This is only Brown’s second start of the season, and while he’s a gifted, tough-nosed defender, those own goals are haunting. The second half started with more of the same from the Fire. Dallas was issued two yellow cards, Chicago had three free kicks, and none of this resulted in even an opportunity for the Fire. In the 67th minute came the Fire’s best opportunity. Recent substitute Pappa delivered a corner kick to McBride, who flicked on to the back post, and Patrick Nyarko failed to connect with a diving header. In the 79th minute, a winded Bakary Soumare had to rush to catch recent substitution Brek Shea, who was running free on goal. Soumare was forced into the foul, which was his second yellow card, which forced him to leave the pitch. On the free kick, Kenny Cooper chipped the shot over Busch’s head, hit the bottom of the crossbar, and bounced just over the line for the third Dallas goal of the afternoon. The Fire couldn’t catch a break this afternoon. John Thorrington found himself three yards away from the Dallas keeper and chipped the shot beautifully over Burse. As with Ward’s earlier effort, all Thorrington found was the woodwork. All afternoon, the Fire did little but hoof the ball as far as possible and hope for the best. Dallas, however, did a better job controlling the midfield and made the most of their scoring opportunities. The result was a 3-0 defeat for the Fire. GAME SUMMARY FC Dallas (2-6-3) vs. Chicago Fire (5-1-6) May 31, 2009 -- Toyota Park Chicago Fire Starting 11: Busch, Ward, Soumare, Brown (65, Pappa), Prideaux, Pause, Mapp (74, Husidic), Thorrington, Rolfe (67, Banner), Nyarko, McBride FC Dallas Starting 11: Burse, Torres, Ricchetti, Moor, McCarty, Wallace, van den Bergh (78, Shea), Ferreira, Sanchez, Cooper, Cunningham
FC Dallas -- Ray Burse, Drew Moor, Pablo Ricchetti, Anthony Wallace, Daniel Torres, David Ferreira, Dax McCarty, Alvaro Sanchez, Dave van den Bergh (Brek Shea 79), Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham (Eric Avila 61). Substitutes Not Used: Kyle Davies, Michael Dello-Russo, Josh Lambo, Peri Marosevic, Blake Wagner Chicago Fire -- Jon Busch, Tim Ward, C.J. Brown (Marco Pappa 65), Bakary Soumare, Brian McBride, Brandon Prideaux, John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Chris Rolfe (Mike Banner 67), Justin Mapp (Baggio Husidic 75), Patrick Nyarko, Substitutes Not Used: Stefan Dimitrov, Andrew Dykstra, Dasan Robinson, Gonzalo Segares
Misconduct Summary: referee: Shane Moody
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