Chicago Fire 4-1 Cleveland City Stars

by Dan Gaichas

BRIDGEVIEW, IL--It was a “Banner Night” of sorts for the Fire as Mike Banner scored two goals in the Fire’s 4-1 victory over the Cleveland City Stars of the United Soccer Leagues’ Second Division.  The Fire will now take on DC United in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. 

Banner got the first of his two goals in the 13th minute as he took on two defenders and shot from inside the area past Stars keeper Hunter Gilstrap.  Ten minutes later, Calen Carr made it 2-0 also shooting from just inside the box. 

It got worse for Cleveland four minutes later as Chris Rolfe was taken down in the box and a penalty was awarded.  Chad Barrett stepped up to take the kick and made it 3-0. 

In the second half, Cleveland showed some offensive prowess and were rewarded in the 61st minute on a sensational strike from outside the penalty area by defender Kiel McClung.  However, normal service would resume twelve minutes later as Banner got his second of the night after picking up a cross from Peter Lowry. 

Fire head coach Denis Hamlett was pleased with the team’s play and mentality in this match--especially Banner. 

“From the get-go, [Banner] had the mindset that he wanted to go at guys,” said Hamlett.  “He’s very gifted in situations where he can run at guys.  He’s very quick and tonight he was able to show that.  He got himself in two good spots to finish.”

Tuesday night was also the Fire debut for Lider Marmol seeing his first playing time in over a year.

“[Marmol]’s a guy that’s been hungry since the day he’s gotten here to play a game,” said Hamlett.  “More importantly, you saw a guy that can read situations and step into plays and break them up.  Myself and our whole coaching staff are excited to finally see him play in a real game.”

For his part, Banner knew how big the match was just to get back on the winning side of things. 

“We knew it was a big game,” said Banner.  “I just came in focused ready to play.

“We knew coming into the second half, we had to score (to put the game away).  Once we scored that fourth goal, that pretty much ended the game.”

The Fire will take on DC United (2-0 winners over Rochester on Tuesday night) in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in Tuesday, July 8 at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, MD.  Kickoff will be at 6:30pm.  A full list of scores can be seen on the front page of the website.

Before that, the Fire will look to resume winning ways in the league in Columbus as they take on the Crew on Saturday.  Kickoff is at 7pm with the match on Fox Soccer Channel.

SCORING SUMMARY:

CHI-Mike Banner (unassisted) 13

CHI-Calen Carr (King) 23

CHI-Chad Barrett (penalty kick) 27

CLE-Kiel McClung (Ruud) 61

CHI-Mike Banner (Lowry) 73

BOOKING SUMMARY:

CHI-Lider Marmol (caution, professional foul) 56

CLE-Ryan Stewart (caution, reckless foul) 78

CHI-Peter Lowry (caution, reckless foul) 90

CHICAGO FIRE (4-5-1):  #28-Nick Noble, #34-Austin Washington, #5-Brian Plotkin, #24-Daniel Woolard, #23-Lider Marmol, #20-Mike Banner, #33-Stephen King, #29-Peter Lowry, #17-Chris Rolfe (C) (#9-Tomasz Frankowski 45), #3-Calen Carr (#10-Cuauhtémoc Blanco 85), #19-Chad Barrett (#12-Patrcik Nyarko 45)

Subs not used:  #1-Jon Busch, #8-Diego Gutierrez, #4-Bakary Soumare, #21-Justin Mapp

CLEVELAND CITY STARS (3-4-3):  #1-Hunter Gilstrap, #13-Mark Schulte (C), #4-Jeremy Tolleson, #6-Kiel McClung, #5-Neil Hlavaty (#17-Ryan Stewart 54), #23-Floyd Franks, #8-Godfrey Tenoff, #10-Dere Potteiger, #11-Salieu Bundu (#7-Ian Leibbrandt 75), #18-Luke Williams (#9-Adriano Sela 69), #21-Adam Ruud (#16-Dana McGregor 83)

Subs not used:  #0-Eric Reed, #28-Ryan Miller, #24-Randolph Jerome

TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 12-11 CLE

SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 7-8 CLE

FOULS:  CHI 8-9 CLE

OFFSIDES:  CHI 0-3 CLE

CORNER KICKS:  CHI 6-1 CLE

SAVES:  CHI 7-3 CLE

Referee:  Hidajet Tica

Referee’s Assistants:  Anthony Vasoli, Victor Herrera

Fourth Official: Ricardo Salazar

Weather:  Clear and 75º

Attendance:   6,678

Man of the Match:  Mike Banner (CHI) with two goals.

Second Star:  Lider Marmol (CHI) who made his debut with the Fire.

Third Star:  Nick Noble (CHI) with seven saves.