BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (April 7, 2013) – The Chicago Fire fell 6-1 to the New York Red Bulls in MLS Reserve League action Sunday evening. The Red Bulls were led by an Andre Akpan brace and goals from Marius Obkop, Lloyd Sam, Armando Moreno and Michael Bustamante for the victory in the second match of the doubleheader.
Dealing with a multitude of injuries, Fire Reserve Head Coach Leo Percovich employed the services of Chicago Fire U-18 players Hayden Cochrane, Joel Leon and Grant Lillard, and Fire U-16 players Michael Jiminez and Oscar Gonzales.
The Red Bulls opened scoring with Obekop’s goal in the 15th minute. Newly-acquired forward Akpan scored his first goal of the night in the 22nd minute. The Fire cut the lead in half when 2013 MLS SuperDraft pick Yazid Atouba sent a bending, left-footed blast past Castano to pull the Fire within one goal.
Just moments later, the Red Bulls scored two quick goals from Sam in the 31st minute and Akpan in the 32nd minute.
The Red Bulls scored two more goals in the second half by Moreno and Bustamante in the 73rd and 77th minutes respectively to give the Red Bulls the 6-1 victory.
Chicago Fire 1 - 6 New York Red Bulls
Chicago Fire: Paolo Tornaghi (Alec Kann 46’); Michael Jiminez* (Hayden Cochrane* 46’), Grant Lillard, Joel Leon, Michael Videira; Corben Bone, Victor Pineda, Yazid Atouba, Oscar Gonzales* (Brendan King 46’); Colin Rolfe^, Quincy Amarikwa.
*Chicago Fire Academy Player, ^Guest Player
New York Red Bulls: Santiago Castano (Kevin Hartman 40’); Kosuke Kimura, Digao, Miazga, Roy Miller; Ian Christianson, Lloyd Sam (Rafhinho Dominguez 58’), Armando Moreno (Adam Najem 77’), Ruben Bover (Michael Bustamente 63’); Marius Obekop, Andre Akpan (Alex Muyl 75’)
Scoring Summary
NYRB – Marius Obekop (15’)
NYRB – Andre Akpan (22’)
CHI – Yazid Atouba (30’)
NYRB – Lloyd Sam (31’)
NYRB – Andre Akpan (32’)
NYRB – Armando Moreno (73’)
NYRB – Michael Bustamante (77’)
