Match Report: Chicago Fire 1, FC Dallas 1
September 22nd, 2007 . 11:43 am . By: Jamie Fougerousse
After a hard-fought first half in which Dallas looked to have corrected some of last game’s team defense problems, Pablo Ricchetti left the game with a hamstring injury. Chicago launched an assault on the Dallas goal as the FCD holding mids again collapsed into the back line. That allowed Chris Rolfe the space to score a pretty goal from distance. The Fire made defensive subs to try to keep the Hoops off the board, but Carlos Ruiz leveled the score in stoppage time to give Dallas the Brimstone Cup and a point. Coming off a 2-2 tie to New York, Chicago made a couple changes to their lineup. The suspension of defender Wilman Conde meant some shuffling in the back, as Gonzalo Segares slid out left, Dasan Robinson moved to the center, and Brazilian midfielder Bruno Menezes slotted in at right back. In midfield, the return of Chris Armas meant Diego Gutierrez was on the bench. Dallas shuffled the back line yet again after their 4-2 drubbing at New England, looking to get back to their first-choice defenders for the stretch run. Chris Gbandi replaced David Wagenfuhr at left back, while Adrian Serioux replaced Aaron Pitchkolan next to Goodson in the center. In the midfield, Anthony Wallace and Dax McCarty made way for Juan Toja and Arturo Alvarez. The Brimstone Cup was on the line, as well as Dallas’ unbeaten streak at home to Chicago that extended back to 2001. Former Chicago Coach Dave Sarachan never won a game in Dallas, and new Head Coach Juan Carlos Osorio, architect of the Fire’s recent positive turnaround, looked to start off on a better foot in Texas. Dallas sought an improvement in team defense and a return to form as the playoffs approach. A muggy night awaited a late but vocal crowd turned out to see Blanco and the ESPN2 broadcast. Dallas came out with good energy, moving off the ball and linking quickly to get forward. For the first few minutes Abe Thompson seemed a little out of sync with the midfielders, and in general the linking to the forwards and finishing in front of the goal were the only things lacking for Dallas in the first half. Chicago looked dangerous through timing long balls behind the defense, but the Hoops back line seemed to have learned a bit from last week. Drew Moor tracked the runner as Chad Barrett broke through in the 7th minute to cut off a slotted pass back to the six-yard box. Goodson recovered well to block Paulo Wanchope’s shot after Wanchope just beat the FCD offsides trap in the 13th minute. Dallas got their first real chance in the 16th minute as Chris Gbandi sent a ball up the left sideline for Abe Thompson. Abe got a low cross in to the near post for a crashing Denilson. Denilson left it for an unmarked Carlos Ruiz at the left corner of the six-yard box, but the ball surprised the FCD Captain and he hit it high and wide. For those of you keeping track of player hairdos, words can’t do Ruiz’s asymmetric bleach-streaking justice. Go watch the video highlights. From that point, Dallas laid siege to the Chicago goal as Ruiz missed just wide in the 18th. Just a minute later, Arturo Alvarez made one of his signature inside cuts on the right side between two defenders and got a good low shot off to the near post. Pickens saved the shot but spilled it, and he just managed to slap it out of bounds as Abe Thompson clattered into him trying to put the loose ball in. There was an energy to the Dallas team that was absent in Foxboro, although Denilson seemed to give the ball away trying to do a little too much at times. Chicago had a good chance on a Chad Barrett breakaway in the 25th minute. He found himself one-v-one with Dario Sala on the right side as Clarence Goodson closed him from behind, but Barrett’s shot was well wide of goal. In the 29th minute, Bruno Menezes sent a long ball from near midfield on the right to Chris Rolfe, who was unmarked just outside the Dallas penalty arc. Rolfe settled, turned, and quickly fired with his left foot high and to the left side of goal. Sala laid out at full stretch and got a fingertip to the ball, pushing just enough to deflect it into the crossbar, saving a certain goal. The game seemed to settle around the 30th minute, becoming more about contested balls in the middle third as Dallas slowed down their play a bit. The game started to get chippy at this time as well. After a couple no-calls on collisions during a sequence at midfield, Juan Toja battled with Chris Armas on Dallas’ right side of midfield. Toja threw off Armas’ challenge, sending the Fire Captain rolling. As Toja recovered his balance, Gonzalo Segares leveled Toja with a studs-up challenge nowhere near the ball. To his credit, referee Jair Marrufo immediately cautioned Segares and the game calmed down again. That yellow card suspends Segares for Chicago’s next match, however. In the 38th minute, Ruiz just missed to the right with a bicycle attempt after a good overlap and cross from Drew Moor on the right. Just after that, Goodson made another good recovering save on a Chris Rolfe breakaway, and going the other way, a deflected cross hit a surprised Denilson in the foot and rolled out in front of an open goal. In the 41st minute, Pablo Ricchetti started holding his hamstring and very quickly motioned to the sideline that he needed a sub. No one seemed to notice on the Dallas bench for a good minute as Ricchetti hobbled around in the center circle. The coaching staff finally got some subs warming up, but Morrow motioned for Ricchetti to stay on the field. Hoops fans held their breath until halftime hoping Ricchetti would not make the injury worse and that the hole in defensive midfield would not get exposed. Dallas subbed Ricchetti out at halftime, pushing Serioux up into his spot and bringing Aaron Pitchkolan into the defense. From the start of the second half, Ricchetti’s absence was obvious. Ricchetti had done well to stay ahead of the back four, breaking up passes and providing pressure in the midfeld. Serioux seemed to collapse into the back line quickly when under attack, and the Fire had free reign over the area about ten yards out from the Dallas penalty area. Goodson and Wanchope mixed it up a little as Goodson caught an elbow in the jaw from Wanchope in the 46th minute. Minutes later, Blanco put a free kick over the top. Goodson was shielding Wanchope off the ball as Sala scooped it up, and Wanchope chucked Goodson in the back of the head. Goodson, coming off a concussion a few weeks ago, turned and shoved Wanchope to the ground, leaning over him screaming as Drew Moor pulled him away. Goodson earned a yellow for that one. At that point, Chicago began capitalizing on their free space. In the 55th minute, Menezes got a shot off from outside, low and to the right side of goal, that Sala parried out for a corner. The corner deflected around in the box a bit, and Sala eventually punched it out. Moor beat Segares to the ball and managed to poke it upfield, but it fell to an unmarked Chris Rolfe on the left side, just inside of midfield. Rolfe, unchallenged, pushed the ball toward the goal, then wound up and ripped a right-footer that curled high and out, away from a sprawling Sala and into the Dallas goal. Chicago led 1-0. The goal seemed to wake Dallas up, as they got the ball forward in attack more and Chicago returned to the counter. Chad Barrett had another breakaway in the 60th minute. He managed to pull Sala way out to the side of the penalty box, beat him, and give the ball away with a bad pass. Chicago then replaced Barrett with Diego Gutierrez in an effort to shut down the central midfield. Dallas brought on Ricardinho for Abe Thompson and proceeded to try and break down the Fire’s defense. Chris Rolfe had another chance at goal from the outside after a corner kick in the 68th minute, but Sala again kept the ball out. Dallas had success getting forward, but their final passes and finishing continued to be a problem. Their best chance up to that point came in the 78th minute as some good combination play on the left got the ball to Arturo Alvarez about 35 yards out from goal. Alvarez sent an outward-bending ball with his left foot over the Chicago center backs as Clarence Goodson laid out, got his head to the ball, and snapped it on goal. Pickens made a great reaction save to push it over the bar. Some good work by Ricardinho got a ball to substitute Dominic Oduro just inside the penalty area in the 81st minute. Oduro’s touch bounced to Alvarez on the left in front of the open goal. Alvarez needed to hit it first time and instead took a touch that allowed CJ Brown to block his shot. Ricardinho then forced a good save out of Pickens with a deflected shot from distance in the 87th minute. Just a minute later, as Dallas pushed for an equalizer, Ruiz shot off a quick turn at the top of the box. Pickens spilled the shot, and CJ Brown just managed to block Clarence Goodson’s follow up shot. The tall Hoops center back supplied much of the attack in the late part of the game. Chicago sub Calen Carr and Wanchope wasted a good counter attack in the 92nd minute by waiting too long with their passes. As Dallas brought the ball back upfield after this, they sent a long ball out of the back around midfield. Goodson headed it forward at the top of the penalty arc, and Ruiz timed his run perfectly. He beat Pickens to the bouncing ball with a touch to the left, then finished low to the left side of the goal past CJ Brown and substitute Bakary Soumare to snatch the point for the home side. The result keeps Chicago in the last playoff spot, two points ahead of Columbus and 5th in the Eastern Conference. Dallas hits the 40-point mark and is 3rd in the West, 4 points behind Chivas USA. Chicago hosts DC Sunday on Telefutura, while Dallas travels to LA Sunday night.
Chicago Fire (8-10-7) vs. FC Dallas (12-9-4) Scoring Summary: Chicago Fire Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Jon Busch, Floyd Franks, John Thorrington, Daniel Woolard FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Dax McCarty, Bobby Rhine, David Wagenfuhr
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Jair Marrufo No Comments No comments yet. Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
