A first-half goal by Chris Rolfe and a second-half tally by Tomasz Frankowski lifted the Chicago Fire to a 2-0 win against Everton FC of the English Premier League in a midsummer exhibition match Wednesday at Toyota Park.
Rolfe's goal came in the 42nd minute on a feed from defender Gonzalo Segares, who was making a run on the left side of the field before he crossed it into Rolfe. Rolfe controlled the ball in the center of the box and put his shot into the upper left corner past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, the U.S. national team 'keeper.
Frankowski scored in the 70th minute when forward Andy Herron sent the ball left to right to Peter Lowry inside the box on the far right. Lowry's shot went off Howard's hand and out to the left side of the box, where Frankowski jumped on the rebound.
"It was a pretty exciting game to be a part of," Fire midfielder Logan Pause said. "Any time you get an opponent like that, it's exciting. Obviously they are in the middle of their preseason, so there were two different teams in two different parts of their season. But we came out trying to move things along and I felt we did that tonight."
Fire coach Denis Hamlett played most of his regulars in the first half before using wholesale substitutions for the second half. The only regular that did not play Wednesday was captain Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
The crowd at Toyota Park saw most of the regulars for the Everton team, which is a couple of weeks away from the start of the new English season after finishing fifth in the EPL last year.
Everton had few chances to score. The Toffees were credited with seven shots but only three on goal, all against second-half goalkeeper Nick Noble. The Fire had 17 shots, five on goal.
Hamlett said he played his starters in order to keep them ready for Saturday's MLS match against Chivas USA.
"It's important for our guys to get a good run in in an important exhibition game against a good team," Hamlett said.
In front of goalkeeper Jon Busch, Hamlett played defenders Brandon Prideaux, Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare and Segares; John Thorrington, Logan Pause and Justin Mapp were in the middle with new acquisition Marco Pappa from Guatemala, who played in place of Blanco.
The starting forwards were Rolfe and Patrick Nyarko. Forward Chad Barrett was traded to Toronto FC for Brian McBride, who won't be with the Fire until he completes duty with the U.S. Olympic team in China.
For Everton, manager David Moyes played Howard and Joseph Yakubu, who both recently joined the team after extended leaves. Forward Yakubu and midfielder Steven Pienaar both made their first starts of the exhibition season for the Toffees.
Hamlett used an entirely different lineup in the second half, starting with Noble replacing Busch in goal. The defenders were Diego Gutierrez, C.J. Brown, Lidor Marmol and Daniel Woolard, the midfielders were Austin Washington, Stephen King, Mike Banner and Lowry and the forwards were Herron and Frankowski.
Woolard was injured late in the game on a high tackle by Everton's James Vaughan, who was sent off on the play.
Kent McDill is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
