The Chicago Fire, for all their recent woes in MLS play, effectively took it to Manchester United this afternoon, leading the game for 53 minutes, and nearly becoming the talk of the World Football Challenge, before ultimately falling 3-1 to the Red Devils. Don’t let anyone fool you, though, the Fire is proud of their outing against one of the best teams in the world, and they should be.
Chicago came out strong with their normal starting XI, trading chances with Manchester early on. In the fifth minute, Man United got an excellent chance, as Danny Welbeck delivered a perfect feed to Dimitar Berbatov, who collected the ball and blasted a shot on goal, handled by second year GK Sean Johnson. Johnson had a stellar half in goal, making stops when necessary and looking confident between the pipes. It’s apparent that his early season shakiness has been replaced by the same maturity he showed through much of 2010.
Minutes later, after a foul 45 yards out, Chicago would take control as a Marco Pappa free kick would connect in the box with veteran defender Cory Gibbs, who blasted a header past rookie GK David De Gea for the early lead. In fairness to De Gea, Gibbs goal had less to do with goaltending, and more to do with poor marking by Manchester’s central defense. Nonetheless Chicago went up 1-0, a lead they would carry into halftime.
The second half brought with it numerous substitutions by Sir Alex Ferguson, as well as Frank Klopas. Manchester fielded some first half players, in addition to Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Ji-Sung Park, as well as Nani, Nemanja Vidic, and Rio Ferdinand later in the half. Probably the biggest difference maker in the beginning of the half for Chicago was Jon Conway. Conway, who’s main competition as of late has been MLS reserve teams, found some solace in the Fire defense early in the half, but couldn’t withstand the pressure once most of the Man United starters found their way to the pitch, as he gave up three goals in the half, two of which came on floaters lobbed over his head. The eventual game-winning goal, one that likely could have been saved, was a shot from Rafael at an impossible angle to the left of goal that went five-hole on Conway, and found netting to give Manchester the 2-1 lead in the 75th minute, ultimately sealing the victory for the 19-time English Premier League champs.
Indeed, although Chicago ultimately went down to Manchester in the 2nd half, any Fire fan has to be happy with what they saw from the Men in Red today. Said Fire interim coach Frank Klopas after the game, “You have to understand who we’re playing against. We put a very good challenge.”
Sir Alex Ferguson agreed about the quality of the game against the Fire. “We had to work hard for the victory, then once we equalized we were able to do anything……The Chicago Fire played well. Very good in the counter-attack. They gave us some problems. They could have scored 2 or 3 more. So it was a good workout for us. We’re pleased with that.”
Chicago’s strong showing put an inexperienced keeper to the test for Manchester. De Gea faced 10 shots from the Fire in the first half alone, 5 of which were on goal, as opposed to 5 total shots from Manchester United in the opening 45 minutes. Said Ryan Giggs of De Gea’s performance, “He (De Gea) did well, his distribution is good, he’s confident, and I don’t think he had any chance with the goal. Obviously we would’ve liked to have kept a clean sheet, but it wasn’t to be.” He also took nothing away from Chicago or its fanbase. “We’ve enjoyed Chicago; I just wish we were here longer. This is our second time here in two years, and as always we’ve enjoyed it. Listening to the crowd, the enthusiasm is getting bigger and bigger each year.”
Chicago also took away obvious positives from the match, in spite of the loss. Midfielder Daniel Paladini said of the match against the Red Devils, “I think we took advantage of the fact that it was extremely hot. They weren’t used to that. I think the field being slow helped us. You could see the quality of players….even in the first half their movement coming off the ball and coming forward, their forwards were creating problems for us from all sorts of angles, from the right, from the left, whether it be Welback or Berbatov coming in deep. I thought that was a big difference.”
Paladini added, “We go on the field and expect to win. To be honest we (starters) didn’t expect to play as much as we did. We thought maybe 15 minutes in the second half then most of us would get taken off, but Frank was really pushing for the game, which was cool to see. We gave them a good fight, and we’ll definitely look forward to our next game (in MLS play) against Philadelphia. We’ll take this confidence, because I thought we played well today. Like I said, when Rooney and Nani come in, they make a big difference.”
It’s clear that Chicago’s performance against Manchester United on a national stage could yield benefits for the Men in Red. Chicago played well, held their heads high, and even stood up to the likes of Nani, Rooney, Berbatov, and the rest of Manchester United’s star lineup. With the addition of Sebastian Grazzini, who showed some good footwork and movement during his first appearance in a Fire uniform, Chicago is poised to come out of the All-Star break and hopefully turn the tide of momentum that has kept them from being a viable Eastern Conference threat. A positive showing against a top EPL team could be exactly what they’ve needed to shift that momentum and make a run at the 2011 MLS playoffs.
It’s safe to say that today, even in a loss, the Chicago Fire won.
See the game highlights here: http://chitv.neulion.com/mlsvp/console.jsp?catid=1869&id=17346
Image courtesy of EPA
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