Game On
Without a match to prepare for on the weekend, Veljko Paunovic spoke on Monday of his desire to still place his team in full-field situations in order to maintain fitness, sharpness and decision-making.
On Friday, that desire manifested itself in an intrasquad scrimmage at UIC Flames Field in Chicago, which ran about 80 minutes and resulted in three goals as well as a chance for Paunovic’s side to foster a competitive training atmosphere.
WATCH: Pauno Mic'd Up at Fire Training
“In the game, the team that did better with their personal, individual assignments that we gave them for this game, they performed better, which is important to understand how that can translate every game in the future,” Paunovic said. “It’s important for us to have games like this. It’s important that playing against each other, the players understand that they have to compete, compete for their spot and work hard.”
Here’s a rundown of lineups, notes and highlights from the scrimmage, which ended in a 2-1 win for Team Red over Team White:
- Team Red: Sean Johnson; Rodrigo Ramos, Johan Kappelhof, Jonathan Campbell, Brandon Vincent; Matt Polster, Michael Stephens; Alex Morrell, John Goossens, Joey Calistri; Gilberto
- Team White: Matt Lampson; Eric Gehrig, Mauricio Pineda (Acad.), Joao Meira, Michael Harrington; Razvan Cocis, Nick LaBrocca; Arturo Alvarez, Jesus Perez (Acad.), Collin Fernandez; Kennedy Igboananike
- Sean Johnson was back between the pipes at one end for the Chicago Fire after returning to full training earlier this week. Johnson had been confined largely to field player duties in recent weeks after sustaining an injury to his right wrist.
- Despite facing a substantial headwind on a blustery Chicago day, Team Red opened the scoring in the 18th minute on a sequence that began on a stellar service from the right flank by Rodrigo Ramos. Brandon Vincent kept the ball alive at the far side of the penalty area, ultimately creating a loose ball that John Goossens passed into an open net for a 1-0 lead.
Photo Gallery: Intrasquad Scrimmage
- There were close calls at both ends in the minutes following the goal, first when Razvan Cocis attempted to use the wind to his advantage to curl a shot from distance into Sean Johnson's goal, but the attempt was just over the bar and landed on the goal's top netting. On the next play, rookie Joey Calistri flashed his speed on the right flank, running at his defender and cutting inside to his left foot to strike a line-drive shot that forced a save by Matt Lampson.
- Still trailing 1-0 after halftime, Team White nearly equalized through a sequence driven by young in-house talent. Academy product Mauricio Pineda carried forward from his centerback position and slid the ball in transition to Academy U-18 midfielder Jesus Perez, who sprayed it wide to another Academy product in Collin Fernandez. Two passes later, Perez nearly finished the play when his header off a Michael Harrington service went just wide of the bar.
- Team Red doubled its lead in the 54th minute following a handball in the penalty area, which resulted in Gilberto powering a spot kick past Matt Lampson.
- It only took three minutes after that for Team White to pull one back, when Arturo Alvarez swung in a perfect left-footed free kick from 35 yards that Cocis rose to meet, colliding with Sean Johnson but still depositing his attempt in the back of the net.
- Team White's best chance to equalize came in the 65th minute, when Eric Gehrig joined in the attack and slid a smart ball across the face of goal. Opposing defender Rodrigo Ramos put a foot to it and watched it glance off the outside of the post to avoid a potential own goal.
More of Morrell?
Rookie winger Alex Morrell, who came close to delivering a go-ahead goal vs. Montreal last weekend, also stood out in Friday's scrimmage with his ability to carry the ball with pace into dangerous areas within the attacking third.
"Today was really good, we all came together and pushed each other with our play," Morrell said after the scrimmage. "It was important for some of the guys because you need to get minutes and stay fit. Everything we're doing has been focused on keeping the possession and progressing from there, that's what we've been working on this week and I thought it showed today."
Despite the outcome of Saturday's match and being robbed of his first professional goal by Montreal's Evan Bush, Morrell was pleased with his 32-minute relief appearance against the Impact.
"As soon as I hit (that shot), I did think it was in and I was really excited," he said, "but that's going to keep happening, my teammates will continue to set me up as much as possible and it'll come. To get out there for 30 minutes or so, I wanted to show everyone what I could do and help the team out as much as I could."
Accam Continues Rehab
Absent from Friday's scrimmage was Designated Player David Accam, who Paunovic said earlier in the week was "still in the same stage of recovery" from a knee sprain that has sidelined him for Chicago's last four matches.
"We are sad about it because the team needs David and we expect that as soon as he recovers, from the point of view of our style, and how we want to play, there’s going to be improvement," Paunovic told reporters. "But David is still going through that process of recovery and we have to wait."
Your Soccer Weekend
As one of two MLS teams without a match to play this weekend, the Fire will be off from training Saturday and Sunday and return Monday to begin focusing in on a key clash with D.C. United (April 30, 4 p.m. CT, CSN Chicago).
"We are very happy with this week and after two days off (coming up), we want to start preparing for the next game," Paunovic said. "All those pieces that we are talking about, we have to put them together and work on the field on details and how we want to play and manage the next game."
