Adailton scored the only goal
Photo: Don Mac Gregor (Windy City Soccer)
Chicago Fire 1-0 Philadelphia Union
by Dan Gaichas
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–No Shaun Maloney or David Accam for the Chicago Fire, but it mattered little in the end as the Fire notched their first win of the year over the Philadelphia Union, 1-0, on a goal by defender Adailton.
The moment came in the 37th minute as Adailton headed in Harry Shipp’s free kick as Union keeper Rais Mbolhi came off his line. Adailton had brought in his family in town on Friday, so the goal has special meaning to him.
“I’m so excited,” said Adailton. “It’s so funny because my family arrived on Friday, my son, my wife and my mother-in-law, and before the game I said, ‘today I will score for you,’ I said to my baby. And when I scored, it was such a nice moment I will never forget.”
The Fire had chances to double the lead at the start of the second half from Kennedy Igboananike, but he was unable to get a good shot off in the 49th minute after a ball from Michael Stephens and had a shot saved by Mbolhi in the 55th after a thru-bal from Shipp.
The Fire then went up a man after Union substitute Fred was sent off for throwing a punch at Shipp in the 72nd minute. However, it was the visitors who were the more attack-minded team towards the end. Yet, the Union would not get a single shot on goal on Sean Johnson’s net and the Fire are off the foot of the Eastern Conference table.
For Fire Head Coach Frank Yallop, it was a great 55 minutes for the Fire, it’s the remaining 35 that he thought his team were “overprotective” about.
“From a viewpoint of points, fantastic, to win our first game, especially at home,” said Yallop. “I think it’s part of the best we’ve played for 55 minutes. We created chances and dominated most of the play.
“When the red card came, we really sat back and waited to see how the game turned out where we should have been on the front foot and really punishing the team we’re playing against. We should have put the game away before the 55th-60th minute mark. I thought the first half was excellent, but we have to work on things that we didn’t do well in the second half that could have cost us the game.”
With the three points though, there is less pressure on the Fire according to Harry Shipp and now the focus can be on attempting to go on a winning streak.
“The longer you go, the more pressure you feel,” said Shipp. “Now you’re able to calm down and focus on playing. The big thing now is stringing together wins and if we string together a second straight win, we’ll have six points and we’re definitely not in a terrible place if that’s the case.”
That next match is against Toronto FC on Saturday at 2pm on Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in Wisconsin.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Adailton (Shipp) 37’
BOOKING SUMMARY:
PHI-Fred (sent off, violent conduct) 72’
CHI-Sean Johnson (caution, time wasting) 81’
PHI-Maurice Edu (caution, tactical foul) 90’
CHICAGO FIRE (4-4-2): #25-Sean Johnson; #6-Eric Gehrig, #20-Jeff Larentowicz (C), #4-Adailton, #5-Lovel Palmer; #19-Harry Shipp, #2-Matt Polster, #26-Michael Stephens, #3-Joevin Jones (#23-Guly do Prado 84’); #77-Kennedy Igboananike (#8-Matt Watson 66’), #24-Quincy Amarikwa
Subs not used: #18-Jon Busch, #16-Greg Cochrane, #21-Chris Ritter, #17-Colin Fernandez, #27-Kingsley Bryce
PHILADELPHIA UNION (4-2-3-1): #92-Rais Mbolhi; #33-Fabinho, #15-Ethan White (#14-Eric Ayuk Mbu 83’), #23-Steven Vitoria, #28-Raymon Gaddis; #13-Michael Lahoud, #8-Maurice Edu (C); #5-Vincent Nogueira (#77-Fred 67’), #11-Andrew Wenger (#29-Antoine Hoppenot 86’), #9-Sebastien Le Toux; #18-Fernando Aristeguieta
Subs not used: #55-John McCarthy, #3-Raymond Lee, #7-Brian Carroll, #16-Richie Marquez
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 16-7 PHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 3-0 PHI
FOULS: CHI 12-10 PHI
OFFSIDES: CHI 3-5 PHI
CORNER KICKS: CHI 5-4 PHI
SAVES: CHI 0-2 PHI
Referee: David Gantar
Referee’s Assistants: Matthew Nelson, Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
Weather: Cloudy and 39º
Attendance: 12,815
Man of the Match: Adailton (CHI)
