Open Cup: Chicago Fire 3, Western Mass. Pioneers 1 (July 13)


The Fire snuffed out the Pioneers U.S. Open Cup hopes in the first half of a heated game last night at a packed Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow, Mass.

(FUTBLOG) - The Division Two USL Pioneers made it to the third round of the U.S. Open Cup, a competition open to 42 teams from throughout the nation's professional leagues. The match against the Major League Soccer-leading Chicago Fire was achance for the Pioneers to test themselves against a much stronger opponent.
The stadium was filled. I estimated about 1,800, but the reported attendance was more than 3,000. There were even a few Chicago Fire fans standing at the fence, not sure if they made the trip or are displaced Chicagoans in the region.
The Pioneers got off to a dream start, with a goal in the 5th minute by Neil Krause off a pass by Omar McFarlane. The home team came under a pretty solid attack following the tally, but the Pioneers made chances of their own as well.
In the 16th minute, Chicago came up with the equalizer, as Justin Mapp crossed through the small box and Will John shot it in for the first of his two goals. Just 8 minutes later, Chcago scored again, and the Pioneers defense lost its organization. John passed to Lubos Reiter, who rifled home for 2-1.
In the 32nd minute, play was disrupted for several minutes when a fracass broke out between the two teams following a foul on Chicago. There was a little shoving and tempers flared, but surprisingly no red or even yellow cards.
The real kicker was in fist half injury time however, when a long pass cought a Fire player obviously offsides. As that player turned to trot back, defender Kyle Fletcher eased up and stopped playing, but Justin Mapp and John, behind Fletcher and out of sight, charged to the ball, and there was no call of offsides. With only the goalie to beat, Mapp passed to John for the third goal.
This goal is a great example of two things: one, defenders can't stop playing when they think there's an offsides call and two, the passive offsides rule is a distaster and should be eliminated. One offsides player can distract the defence from other threats that would normally be dealt with.
The game was effectively over at that point, although the Pioneers tried their best and forced some good saves from Fire keeper Zach Thornton.
The game received scant coverage, with the Chicago Tribune devoting only a paragraph. The Sun-Times had not come out yet this morning, they might have something. There is a full match report and an interesting story about the Pioneers' future plans in The Republican.
The game drew well, which bodes well for the Pioneers and the Lusitano Club that runs it. In two weeks, the Fire return to face the New England Revolution in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, a game that will also be played in Ludlow. Expect a good crowd there, as well.
It seems to me the Pioneers franchise is doing well, they sold a lot of bifana pork sandwiches and Budweiser last night. There is talk about them moving up to the USL First Division, which makes sense to me. Even though they lost last night, it was a win for soccer in Ludlow and Western Massachusetts.


Posted: Thu - July 14, 2005 at 09:54 AM          

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