The Chicago Fire Academy U-16 side emerged victorious in the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs on Wednesday night, taking down southern Florida's Weston FC by a score of 3-0 after extra time.
The two teams finished level at 0-0 after 80 minutes of regular time, before the Fire floodgates opened in the first 10-minute period of extra time. Goals from Andrew Akindele and Carlos Cepeda gave the Fire a 2-0 lead heading into the final overtime period, before Vitalis Takawira capped a tremendous late effort and put Chicago ahead for good at 3-0.
The Fire U-16s were the first of the eight remaining teams to clinch a spot in the national semifinals. As the fourth seed, the Fire will take on FC Dallas - the top overall seed - on Thursday, July 14th in Carson, Calif. Dallas advanced to the semifinals on the strength of a 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake's Academy.
The U-16 coaching staff caught up with the team's goal-scorers after the match and captured their reactions on Twitter:
To stay up-to-date on the Fire U-16 USSDA Playoff run, follow @ChiFireAcademy and @ussoccer_acad on Twitter.
