Fire ices Joe Public; Alajuela stuns Toluca

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 9:45 a.m.

Tournament schedule

All games at Sam Boyd Stadium

Tuesday

Chicago Fire 2, Joe Public 0

Alajuela 1, Toluca 0

Today

D.C. United vs. Olimpia, 6 p.m.

Necaxa vs. Saprissa, 8 p.m.

Friday

Semifinals

Chicago Fire vs. Alajuela, 6 p.m.

D.C. United-Olimpia winner vs. Necaxa-Saprissa winner, 8 p.m.

Sunday

Consolation final

Semifinal losers, 2 p.m.

Championship

Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

TICKETS

Range in price from $10-$90

With a name like Joe Public, it'd be hard to forget what happened to the soccer team from Trinidad and Tobago at last year's CONCACAF Champions Cup, though the team hoped the opposite was true.

A year ago, Joe Public was thumped 8-0 by Major League Soccer's D.C. United, the eventual champions of the tournament.

So on Tuesday night at Sam Boyd Stadium in the opening game of the Football Confederation's Champions Cup (CONCACAF's new name since Monday), when Joe Public played against the Chicago Fire of the MLS, it wasn't just playing to win.

It was playing for pride, redemption and the respect that vaporized after its demoralizing loss to D.C. United.

But despite 11 acrobatic saves by Joe Public goalkeeper Donavon Thomas, Joe Public was ousted, 2-0, by the Chicago Fire in front of an announced crowd of 6,521.

"I think we needed to score early or we would've never scored and just tried to defend and pull away," Joe Public coach Jamaal Shabazz said. "Not only was it important to score to win this game, it was important to erase what happened last year.

"It was always a game for us that we were always going to keep going for."

The Fire will play Alajuela of Costa Rica, a 1-0 winner over Toluca of Mexico, in Friday's semifinal at 6 p.m. Tonight at 6, D.C. United will play Olimpia of Honduras followed by a match between Necaxa of Mexico and Saprissa of Costa Rica at 8 p.m.

Josef Miso scored off an assist by Wilmer Lopez to lead Alajuela to an upset over Toluca.

For the Chicago Fire, composure was a key to beating Joe Public.

The ball stayed on the side of Joe Public's goal so many times that it looked like the two teams were playing a half-court basketball game instead of a soccer game except it wasn't reflected in the score.

The Fire took 22 shots to Joe Public's two, but converted on only two of its chances.

In the first half, the team scored their first goal of the game in the 19th minute when Ante Razov headed in Peter Nowak's shot about five yards out of the corner.

Chicago Fire had seven more chances in the second, but it wasn't until Fire coach Bob Bradley made two key substitutions that the team would score again.

In the 76th minute, Bradley sent in forward Dema Kovalenko followed by defender Paul Dougherty in the 80th minute.

Two minutes after Dougherty entered the game, he assisted Kovalenko for the team's final goal after he rebounded a shot by the Fire's Jerzy Podbronzy.

"Roman (Kosecki) and Ante (Razov) had worked hard tonight," Bradley said of the substitution. "They had chased a lot of balls and put a lot of pressure on Joe Public throughout the night.

"I just felt at that point that Dema could come in and maybe fresh legs, take advantage of some of that and we felt that bringing in Paul would allow Jerzy to move up a little bit more."

If it weren't for Donovan, Joe Public might have incurred another humbling loss.

"He was flamboyant and probably provided a lot of excitement for everybody tonight," Chicago Fire coach Bob Bradley said. "He made some good saves and kept the game close."

Closer than the players would've liked.

"It was a very difficult game for us," Nowak said. "Everyone of us was excited before the game and maybe just we play for the first minutes a little bit nervous.

"Chances we didn't convert then we scored the first goal. I think everyone is waiting for Friday's game."

That left Joe Public waiting for a flight home, and a shot at next year's championship.