Fire defeat Sockers FC in first match at Finals

Chicago gains early advantage in Group 1 play

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By Curt Herron

The Chicago Fire Academy U-16 team has answered the bell on a pretty regular basis during their late-season run of success.

That trend continued Saturday when the Fire met local rivals Sockers FC in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Finals in Carson, California.

About two minutes after seeing the Sockers score to even things at 1-1 late in the second half, the Fire responded with a goal of their own.

Keaton Albert connected on an attempt that found the opposite side of the net in the 71st minute to help the Fire claim a 2-1 win at the Home Depot Center.

Manny Rios started things on that score by passing to Elliot Borge before he found an open Albert, who fired a liner past keeper Jeff Gal.

Click to hear Keaton Albert interview

The Fire (15-5-10) improved to 8-0-5 since their last defeat while the Sockers (15-3-1) saw a 7-0-3 unbeaten streak halted.

It was an unusual pool match for the finals, considering that the Fire and Sockers FC are members of the Frontier Division.

Due to a scheduling issue, the Fire and Sockers met only once in the regular season, which ended in a 0-0 draw on June 5.

The Fire meets D.C. United on Monday and take on De Anza Force two days later in their next two matches in Group 1 action.

De Anza Force and D.C. United played to a 0-0 draw in Saturday's other match in the pool involving the Fire and Sockers FC.

Click to hear Peter Beasley interview

The pace of the match definitely picked up during the second half as the Fire began to apply more pressure to the Sockers' net.

Rios had a liner deflected away by the keeper and Pineda saw a free kick suffer the same fate from a defender shortly after the break.

The Fire grabbed the initial lead during the 55th minute following a controversial call which resulted in a successful penalty kick.

After the referee ruled that Rios was tackled in the box, Victor Pineda converted the penalty kick to give his team a 1-0 lead.

About four minutes later, Luis Barajas looked like he scored off a pass from Rios, but it was disallowed by an offsides call.

Shortly after that, David Selvaggi had a corner kick deflected away by keeper Sam Euler, who then stopped a liner from Selvaggi.

The Sockers tied things up in the 69th minute when Andrew Chang sent a pass to Damien Sampson, who lined a shot that eluded Euler.

But while the Sockers were just beginning to gain momentum from tying the match up, the Fire were able to regain the advantage.

Click to hear Elliot Borge interview

After that, Selvaggi sent a pair of long free kicks to Euler and a header by Drew Conner off a Pineda free kick was also halted.

The Fire defense of David Caban, Anthony Torres, Albert and Beasley kept the Sockers at bay the rest of the way to seal the win.

Neither squad had many chances during the first half of the match, which was played on a cool evening in suburban Los Angeles.

Pineda had a liner stopped by Gal about 10 minutes in but the Sockers enjoyed the better of the play for much of the half.

Their best chance came about 27 minutes in when Selvaggi sent a corner kick to Taylor Cole, who headed it off the crossbar.

The Fire had another good opportunity just before the halftime break when Pineda fired a line drive that went right to Gal.

As a result of their victory and a draw in the other match, the Fire enjoy the early advantage in Group 1 play in the event.

Click to hear Luis Medina interview