The Chicago Fire made the game's lone goal stand up, beginning their SuperLiga campaign with a 1-0 victory against Mexican side Real San Luis on Saturday night at Toyota Park.
The teams combined for 28 shots, including 16 on goal. But it was the defenses who stood out on the night.
"We didn't concede a goal tonight," Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said. "Our team stepped up and defended. We made the hard runs. Defensively we were sound. When we do that our chances are going to be good that we'll get a win."
While the statistics look like there was little defending, both teams had moments of greatness and an uncanny ability to stop the mistakes from turning into goals. Chicago Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch finished the match with eight saves. San Luis goalkeeper Adrian Martinez made six saves.
"We're still doing the same things we've been trying to do," Fire defender C.J. Brown said. "Today we were backing ourselves up on our mistakes. Everybody got behind the ball. We defended as a group."
Brown was all over the field for Chicago, including registering a shot and slowing down the Gladiadores offense. Brown even threw himself in harm's way to start the first half, shutting down a San Luis attempt by blocking the ball with his body.
The Fire's flawless record was almost scarred in the 54th minute when Fire defender Wilman Conde lost his player. Victor Lojeno beat Conde in the box, sending a shot toward goal. But Busch came through, saving the attempt.
"It was a well-disputed match for us. It took a little bit for us to get started," San Luis technical director Juan Antonio Luna said. "One personal mistake cost us the goal. Games are won by scoring goals, and we didn't score tonight."
Chicago was also on the receiving end of bad defensive plays courtesy of San Luis. In the 47th minute a missed clearance left Cuauhtemoc Blanco alone with the ball in front of the goal. Blanco shot the ball in the direction of the top right corner, but sent the ball soaring into the stands.
"We are happy we won but we are still lacking in the final third," Blanco said. "This win gives us some confidence going into the second match but we must be a bit more patient when taking that last shot."
San Luis got off to a bit of a slow start, although they took the first shot of the match. They had three shots in the first half, two of which required Busch to make saves. In the second half they turned up the pressure, rifling eight shots.
"It was a good game for us. We are coming right off preseason but tonight I think we played a good game as we were able to connect some good passes and created chances to score," defender Michael Orozco said. "It's the last tough that is lacking something."
Orozco had his hands full as a defender. Blanco challenged him in the 69th minute, chasing down the ball in the left corner. While Orozco shut down Blanco's run, he wasn't able to stop the pass back to Brian McBride, and he rifled home a shot from the edge of the area for the game's lone goal.
But five minutes later, Orozco made up for it. Fire midfielder Marco Pappa sent a shot toward an open net. Orozco beat the ball and blocked the attempt, holding the Fire to the single goal.
For the Gladiadores, it's back to the drawing board to prepare for Tuesday's match against Tigres UANL.
"It's a short tournament so we will work on the different areas where we could've done better tonight and hope to earn the three points on Tuesday against Tigres," Orozco said. "We are in this tournament to win."
With the win, the Fire are tied Group A of SuperLiga with three points along with Tigres UANL, 2-1 winners against Chivas USA. The second game of group play takes place Tuesday, with the Fire playing Chivas USA at 7 p.m. CT and the San Luis-Tigres match following at 9 p.m., both games to be played at Toyota Park.
Kathryn L. Knapp is a contributor to MLSnet.com
