The Chicago Fire’s journey for their fifth US Open Cup continued on Tuesday night at Toyota Park when they took on USL 2 side Cleveland City Stars. When the final whistle blew, that’s all Cleveland could see, stars. The Fire beat the visitors four to one and could have scored more. The Fire mostly used their reserves in this one, but they all played like they should be starters.

The Fire got the scoring started early, and Mike Banner got it started for the Fire. Banner’s blast came from just inside the top left of the box in the 13th minute. The thrilled Mike Banner didn’t really know what to say after the game but in regards to his goal he said, “I just wound up and hit it”. Ten minutes later the Fire got their second goal from the speedy Calen Carr who had a short run into the box and was able to get his shot past Cleveland goalie Hunter Gilstrap. Three minutes later, Fire Captain Chris Rolfe was brought down in the box and match referee Hidajet Tica awarded the penalty kick for the Fire. Surprisingly, the struggling Chad Barrett took the penalty, and nicely put it in the back of the net. If Chad Barrett would have missed this penalty, there is no telling how furious fans would have been. With all these trade rumors circulating around Brian McBride coming to the Fire, there is no doubt that is has Chad Barrett thinking about his role on this team. His thinking could be affecting his play and bringing his confidence down which results in those easy misses. Hopefully, with this goal tonight Chad Barrett would have regained his confidence and will be able to put a strong performance together on the road this weekend against Columbus.

The Fire was up three to zero at the half and didn’t have to do much in the second half to keep that league. Cleveland got a nice goal from Kiel McClung to bring the score to three to one. The night belonged to Mike Banner however, and in the 73rd minute on as assist from rookie Peter Lowry, Banner scored his second goal of the night to bring the final score to four to one.

Eight other MLS clubs were also playing tonight looking to continue their journeys as well but the most important game Fire fans were paying attention to was the DC United versus Rochester Rhinos game because it would determine who the Fire’s next opponent would be. Sadly, the Rochester Rhinos couldn’t beat DC United and fell two to zero. This sets up a Chicago Fire versus DC United quarterfinals match up, and for the Fire it’s away from Toyota Park .

The ultimate goal is to get a berth in the 2009 Concacaf Champions League, and there’s a few ways to do it. Winning the Supporters Shield in the MLS, winning the US Open Cup, and winning the MLS Cup. Those are three easy ways for the Fire to get a berth with the type of squad that they have. The Fire keep dropping in the standings in the MLS and winning the Supporters Shield is just going to get harder as the season goes on. If the Fire, who have an excellent record winning the US Open Cup can once again be crowned champions then they will get that berth. The Fire is struggling right now and they sure don’t look like a team that can win the MLS Cup. There’s still plenty of soccer left to play though, and if the Fire turns things around in July then they can easily come back and win the Supporters Shield, US Open Cup, and MLS Cup.

 

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed