Chicago Fire Lifts 4th U.S. Open Cup
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by user The Manly Ferry
Turns out yesterday's prediction didn't hold: the Chicago Fire beat the Los Angeles Galaxy in last night's U.S. Open Cup final. The 3-1 final score somewhat masks just how close LA came to fighting back from a 2-0 halftime deficit, but, Chicago was certainly good for the win in the end.
In all honesty, I caught only the second half - and, among all the things that were said, Los Angeles coach Frank Yallop's comments best match what I read and saw:
- "Well, I guess overall thoughts are as a final we didn't get a good result in...To be down 2-0 in 20-odd minutes was going to be tough. Very disappointed in our start to the game defensively. You know, halftime I guess we had a good chat with them and they come out and they had a go. Our performance was not consistent for 90 minutes to be able to win a final."
Those curious about how the game unfolded should check out the highlights on Major League Soccer's Sights & Sounds (look directly beneath the big "Quick Kicks" banner). I can only vouch for the third goal, which I caught live. And one note on that goal: it's pretty cool to see a defensive player, in this case Chicago's Tony Sanneh send a ball into as tight a space as he did; as Sanneh suggested in the post-game comments, the quality of the pass left Chicago midfielder Thiago with nothing harder than a two-yard tap in.
As precarious as LA managed to make Chicago's lead in the second half, Chicago should gain some confidence for the post-season on the strength of the precision of their counter-attack. Chicago's forwards stayed alert enough to repeatedly break LA's offside trap and that combined with the quality of balls played from the back to raise the risk of cheating forward for LA's flank defenders. The defensive spazzing should raise an eyebrow or two, though goalkeeper Matt Pickens overall solid play helped paper over the worst of it.
All in all, a good win for Chicago - and on multiple levels. The rest of the East would be well-advised to take notice of how well Chicago performed in a high pressure game.
Date
Thu 09/28/06, 7:59 am EST
