After spending 48 hours in Madison, starting a game and taking the lead only to have it abandoned due to lightning Tuesday night and finally playing their second-round US Open Cup match Wednesday, the Chicago Fire PDL team headed back to the Windy City with a sense of satisfaction – and a marquee matchup in the next round.
Creighton’s Andrew Ribeiro, a Wisconsin native, and substitute Thierry Zahui scored in a three-minute span in the second half as the Fire knocked off the Madison 56ers 2-0 at Breese Stevens Field.
The Fire advance to play Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City in a third-round match Tuesday at the new, $200 million Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.
“It’s a great feeling. I honestly couldn’t be more proud of our players right now,” said Fire coach Mark Spooner, whose team was playing its fourth game in eight days – not including the 17-plus minutes Tuesday. “The adversity they’ve come through just so far in this young season is only going to stand them in good stead. They deserve this opportunity.”
Both teams had chances in the opening half, but Fire goalkeeper David Meves and 56ers counterpart Kyle Dillman kept it scoreless, making two saves apiece.
Madison was content to let Chicago control possession and looked to hit the Fire on counters. That led to three quality opportunities in the opening 45 minutes – Meves made a nice stop on Jed Hohlbein’s 15th-minute strike and gathered up a shot by Trevor Banks in the 33rd, and Keenan Newallo flashed a shot wide in the 38th.
“We knew we had to kind of sit back and counter, because if we chased them all day they would break on us,” 56ers midfielder Tenzin Rampa said. “And I thought we did a great job of that in the first half. We hoped to pop one in and kind of defend and let it play out.”
The Fire, who saw Dillman deny center back Johnny Raj with a great save in the sixth minute after a free kick bounced around on the right side of the box, kept their poise.
“There was one moment when we had the ball when we counted on the bench and they had nine guys behind it all around their penalty area,” Spooner said. “It was frustrating for us and it was working for them. We talked about being patient and the ability to draw players out of positions.”
Chicago created chance after chance in the first 10 minutes after halftime, including a shout for a penalty kick in the 56th minute. The Fire wanted a handball called on the 56ers’ Henry Aiyenero after Paulo Vaz headed a corner kick into the 6-yard box, but referee
Margaret Domka didn’t share their opinion of the play.
Ten minutes later, Ribeiro got the breakthrough.
Fire midfielder Harrison Petts laid a pass back to the Green Bay native, who drilled a shot from 20 yards out on the left side. Dillman dove and got a hand to the blast, but the ball spun off the keeper’s hand and into the net at the far post in the 66th minute to open the scoring.
“I’d say a ball like that, one out of 10 will go (in). And this one did,” Ribeiro said of his first goal of the year. “The keeper made a nice save, but it was a little too hard for him. I got a little lucky.”
“He’s been looking forward to this game for a while,” Spooner added. “His performance tonight was well worth it, he was fantastic. I think he covered every blade of grass twice. He was great tonight.”
Two minutes later, Zahui, a 24-year-old from the Ivory Coast, ripped a shot from the right side that deflected off 56ers midfielder Keith Dangarembwa and past Dillman to double the lead.
“I guess I’ve got some travel arrangements to make now,” Spooner said with a smile.
Meanwhile, the home side lamented a number of plays that were close but not close enough, from their chances to grab the opening goal to Dillman just missing keeping out Ribeiro’s shot.
“It’s hard to think about it right now,” Hohlbein said. “To have a chance like that and then miss out on an opportunity (to play an MLS team), it’s pretty tough.
“In higher-level games, you don’t see teams get tons of chances. You get four or five quality chances, and you’ve got to finish one or two of them. … I’ve obviously got that running through my mind right now, I had a few quality chances that I probably should have finished. It’s tough.”