BRADENTON, Fla. (Feb. 12, 2014) – The Chicago Fire Soccer Club defeated D.C. United 1-0 Wednesday morning in a preseason friendly at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
In the 75th minute, Victor Pineda found Benji Joya on the left flank. The U.S. Youth International settled the ball and with a curving, right-footed shot, bent the ball just out of Willis’ reach for the only goal of the match.
Using the final game of the Bradenton training camp to further evaluate talent, Fire Head Coach Frank Yallop employed a total of 21 players in the match. The Fire have not conceded a goal in four preseason games.
The Men in Red return to Chicago Wednesday evening to regroup before closing out preseason from Feb. 15 – March 2 in Tucson, Ariz., as part of the Desert Diamond Cup where they will face fellow MLS sides Colorado Rapids and New England Revolution, and USL PDL side FC Tucson.
The Fire will host 2013 MLS Supporters’ Shield winners New York Red Bulls for Opening Day, presented by Giordano’s Chicago Pizza, at Toyota Park on Sunday, March 23 at 2:00 p.m. CT. The Men in Red begin their 17th season two weeks prior on the road when they visit Chivas USA at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., on Sunday, March 9 at 2:00 p.m. CT.
Single game tickets to the Fire’s 17 MLS Regular Season home matches and to the July 26 international friendly against Barclay’s Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur FC are now available via Ticketmaster and www.Chicago-Fire.com.
Chicago Fire 1 – 0 D.C. United
Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Lovel Palmer (Marco Franco* 61’), Bakary Soumare (Patrick Ianni 61’), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Austin Berry 61’), Gonzalo Segares (Parker Walsh^ 61’); Patrick Nyarko (Yazid Atouba 61’), Jeff Larentowicz © (Harry Shipp 61’), Alex (Benji Joya 61’), Dilly Duka (Victor Pineda 61’); Chris Rolfe (Quincy Amarikwa 61’), Juan Luis Anangono (Grant Ward^ 61’)
* - 2014 MLS SuperDraft Pick
^- Guest Player
D.C. United: Bill Hamid (Joe Willis 46’); Sean Franklin (Taylor Kemp 62’), Bobby Boswell (Steve Birnbaum 62’), Jeff Parke (Conor Shanosky 62’), Christian Fernandez (Jalen Robinson 62’); Davy Arnaud (Kyle Porter 56’), Perry Kitchen (Barnes 62’), Jared Jeffrey (Lewis Neal 48’) (Victor Munoz 72’), Nick DeLeon (Christiano Francois 58’); Eddie Johnson (Conor Doyle 62’), Fabian Espindola (Luis Silva 62’)
Scoring Summary
CHI – Benji Joya (Victor Pineda) 75’
Misconduct Summary
DC – Davy Arnaud (caution) 35’
DC – Kyle Porter (caution) 72’
CHI – Grant Ward (caution) 85’
