A Fierce Fire Battles Man U in 1-3 Loss
By Kim Bellware in News on Jul 26, 2011 3:00PM
The Chicago Fire made a strong showing against Premiership champions Manchester United in last Saturday’s World Football Challenge but ultimately fell 1-3 in their meeting at Soldier Field.
The Fire surprised Man U by claiming an early lead, scoring off of a kick by Marco Pappa that was flicked in as a header by Cory Gibbs in the 13th minute. The goal came after the Fire regrouped from a close-call attack by the Red Devils who wove through the Fire’s defense to create an opportunity for Man U striker Dimitar Berbetov.
The Fire maintained possession throughout the rest of the half, heavily pressuring the Red Devils who were running mostly substitutes for the first part of the match. Though outmatched by Manchester’s quick play on the field, Chicago managed to neutralize Man U’s attacks by disrupting their passing plays before they developed into full-blown scoring opportunities.
Chicago carried their lead into the second half as both teams replenished the field with substitutes. The Fire had called out its starting lineup at the beginning of the match, with Manchester holding out until halftime to field its first-string talent like superstar forward Wayne Rooney. It was Rooney who, in the 66th minute lobbed a shot on a pass from teammate Rio Ferdinand, arcing the ball right over replacement keeper Jon Conway.
Entering in the 75th minute, Manchester sub Rafael Da Silva took a give-and-go on his first touch, slotting a second goal past Conway to jump ahead 1-2 in the 75th minute. Chicago couldn’t recapture the momentum they had possessed early in the game, Manchester meanwhile finding all the holes in the Fire’s midfield and defense.
Manchester United’s second half surge continued on into the 82nd minute when substitute midfielder Nani collected a pass and seemingly walked right through Fire defenders Gibbs and Josip Mikulic.
During their American leg of the World Football Challenge, Manchester United--generally seen as the most dominant team in the world--had been wiping the floor with MLS squads: the Seattle Sounders FC received a 7-0 drubbing last week, with the New England Revolution faring only slightly better in a 4-1 loss to the Red Devils.
“The Chicago team did well,” said Manchester coach Sir Alex Ferguson in the post-game conference. “They played very good attack, fierce up front. They gave us some problems. They could’ve scored two or three more.”
During several pre-match interviews with Manchester, the players consistently referred to the matches in the tournament of friendlies as “training,” though Ferguson denied that his team wasn’t taking the matches against the American squads seriously.
Post-game Ferguson and players from both teams cited the heat as a difficult factor to contend with during the match. Manchester had polite words for Chicago’s efforts, while several of Fire players, obviously disappointed with the result, were excited to have the chance to play against the best team in the world.
According to the Fire’s website, the game set a Soldier Field attendance record for an international club match at 61,308 and was also the highest attended Fire game of all-time (the highest attendance for a soccer match at the pre-renovation Soldier Field was 65,080 for the USA v Nigeria meeting in the ‘99 Women’s World Cup).
The Fire return to league play against the Philadelphia Union Wednesday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m. at Toyota Park.