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Fire Wed Jul 01 2009
Fire Face a Challenge in Colorado
As four-time Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup winners, the Chicago Fire entered last night's third round game against the Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2) with confidence. The Hammerheads had not played a Major League Soccer (MLS) team since they lost to the New York Red Bulls in 2006. However, that fact did not show at all as the Fire fell to the Hammerheads 1-0. Chicago dominated a majority of the game and was presented with plenty of opportunities to score, but none of their shots were able to get past the Hammerhead's goalie Daryl Sattler. The loss knocked the Fire out of the tournament, and now they must travel to the Mile High city this weekend to face the Colorado Rapids for their first league match in two weeks.
Chicago has done tremendously well on the road this year with 4-1-3 record in 8 games. Colorado, though, has historically been a difficult city for the Fire to dominate. This is the first encounter of these two teams this year, and both share the exact same record and hold the fourth place position in their respective conferences. The Fire hope to pick up three road points this weekend, which is something they have only accomplished twice in 11 years of play, and they have not won a game against the Rapids since 1999. Their record against Colorado is not the only thing the Fire has to worry about. After a long undefeated streak (11 games), the Fire lost three consecutive games in June. The team hopes they will not post a fourth consecutive loss this Saturday.
The 4th of July game will take place at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, and kick-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Pyro / July 1, 2009 4:52 PM
Thanks for covering the FIRE! It is sad that this is the first game I have to read about here. An absolute disgrace the FIRE lose to a team two leagues below them. Hammy and Co got away with the weak team last week vs. Chivas USA, but really blew it last night!