Chicago Fire 3, U.S. U-17 men's national team 1
The Chicago Fire kicked off their 2008 exhibition slate by rallying for a 3-1 victory against the U.S. U-17 men's national team at the IMG Academies facility in Bradenton, Fla.
The U-17s jumped out to a surprisingly strong start as forward Donovan Henry picked off an errant Wilman Conde pass and slid it past goalkeeper Jon Busch to put the Fire in a 1-0 hole inside the first minute of play. The U-17s maintained their one goal advantage throughout the first two of three 30-minute intervals as Fire forward Floyd Franks was denied on a trio of scoring opportunities.
Franks finally broke through in the 74th minute, tying the game at 1-1 off of a long feed from defender Daniel Woolard. Rookie forward Patrick Nyarko then ensured the Fire the victory with a pair of goals, redirecting a cross from midfielder Brian Plotkin into the net from six yards out in the 79th minute, then one-timing a ball from Zach Pope into the net in the 89th minute to put the U-17s away.
Fire (first 30'): Jon Busch -- Diego Gutierrez, Wilman Conde, Austin Washington, Tim Regan -- Logan Pause, Mike Banner, Stephen King, Cuauhtémoc Blanco -- Chad Barrett, Tomasz Frankowski.
Fire (second 30'): Nick Noble -- Brian Plotkin, Daniel Woolard, Osei Telesford, Bruno Menezes -- Bakary Soumare, Justin Mapp, Chris Rolfe, Peter Lowry -- Calen Carr, Floyd Franks.
Fire (final 30'): Dominic Cervi -- Daniel Woolard, Jeff Curtin, Tim Bode, Iradj Farahmand -- Tim Conway, Adrian Bumbut, Kei Kasiguran, Zach Pope -- Floyd Franks, Patrick Nyarko.
__________________
|
Linear Mode
