BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Relegated to the consolation match of the inaugural Chicago Sister Cities International Cup, Fire head coach Carlos de los Cobos chose to put the outcome of Saturday night’s tilt against Polish side Legia Warsaw in the hands of his reserves.
And Legia punished the more inexperienced members of the Fire 3-0. Regular second-teamers Corben Bone, Mike Banner, Peter Lowry, Deris Umanzor, Kwame Watson-Siriboe and Stefan Dimitrov all got the start, but none of the host Fire could prevent an embarrassing rout at Toyota Park.
The Fire played decently in the first half. Their play was a bit sloppy in the opening frame, but the mistakes were few and far between. It was after the break that Chicago fell apart. The Fire conceded three times in the second half and did not look good doing it – making amateurish mistakes that allowed Legia to blow them out of the water.
“When you put on this jersey you have to play with responsibility,” said Fire head coach Carlos de los Cobos. “There were some players that did not [do that] in the second half.”
Legia midfielder Maciej Iwanski scored the decisive goal in the 58th minute. Fellow midfielder Maciej Rybus started the play, getting in behind the Fire defense on the left wing before firing a low cross into the middle of the box. Forward Maciej Gorski laid off Rybus’ cross to a waiting Imanski, who drilled a right-footed shot into the lower-right corner of the net with his first touch.
Midfielder Sebastian Szalachowski doubled the Poles’ lead in the 69th minute. Gorski picked the pocket of Fire defender Wilman Conde at midfield and played a through ball to Szalachowski, who ran in behind the Chicago defense for a one-on-one opportunity with keeper Andrew Dykstra. Szalachowski made no mistake with his chance, slotting a low shot past the onrushing Dykstra from 10 yards out.
Szalachowski sealed the win for Legia in the 85th minute with his second goal of the night. After beating Conde on the left side of the box, Szalachowski drew keeper Andrew Dykstra out of net and calmly passed the ball into the right side of the goal, sending the contingent of Legia supporters who ventured out to Toyota Park into song.
The Fire desperately searched for goals after falling behind, but Legia goalkeeper Kostyantyn Makhonovskyi made several big saves to ensure preserve the clean sheet. Makhonovskyi’s biggest stop came in the 68th minute. Fire midfielder Mike Banner got through the Legia back line for a one-on-one opportunity, but Makhonovskyi came up huge, using cat-quick reflexes to stop Banner’s low shot to the near post.
“We had a lot of chances,” said Bone, who played in the first 57 minutes of the match. “I think the shot count was like 23-10 but we didn’t put ours away and they did. I think we kind of let down a bit in the second half. The energy was a bit lower than it was [in the first], but that’s soccer. Sometimes it doesn’t work out the best for you.”
Later in the evening, Red Star Belgrade defeated shorthanded Paris Saint-Germain 7-6 in a penalty-kick shootout in the final, becoming the first champion in the history of the tournament in the process.
Red Star defender Milan Jeremic scored the final PK, beating PSG goalie Apoula Édel to send the thousands of Belgrade fans at Toyota Park into raucous celebrations. But the real hero for the Serbian champions was goalkeeper Sasa Stamenkovic, who effectively won the tournament for his team with his save of PSG forward Jean-Eudes Maurice’s PK only seconds before Jeremic sealed the victory.
Scoring Summary:
LW – Maciej Iwanski (Maciej Gorski) 59’
LW – Sebastian Szalachowski (Maciej Gorski) 63’
LW – Sebastian Szalachowski (Maciej Rybus) 86’
Discipline Summary:
LW – Maciej Iwanski (caution) 75’
Lineups
Chicago Fire: Andrew Dykstra; Logan Pause, CJ Brown (Wilman Conde, 46’), Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Deris Umanzor; Mike Banner, Peter Lowry (Brian McBride, 71’) , Baggio Husidic (Steven Kinney, 85’), Justin Mapp (Julio Martinez, 89’), Corben Bone (Marco Pappa, 57’); Stefan Dimitrov (Collins John, 63’)
Legia Warsaw: Kostyantyn Makhonovskyi (Jackub Szumski, 89’); Jakub Rzezniczak, Wojciech Szala, Jakub Wawrzyniak, Tomasz Kielbowicz; (Adam Banasiak, 86’), Jakub Kosecki (Sebastian Szalachowski, 46’), Piotr Giza (Marcin Komorowski, 76’), Tomasz Jarzebowski, Maciej Iwanski, Maciej Rybus; Dong Fangzhou (Bartlomiej Grzelak, 46’, Maciej Gorski, 55’)
Referee: Chris Penzo
Referee’s Assistants: Dan Cataldi, Doug Ferguso
4th Referee: Ian Gust
Attendance: 12,234
