Fire Hold Steady in 1-0 Win Over Cracovia

Interim Head Coach Denis Hamlett leads the “Men in Red” to victory

Busch gets first career start and shutout with Fire

BRIDGEVIEW, IL (June 22, 2007) – The Chicago Fire, led for the first time by interim head coach Denis Hamlett, earned a 1-0 win over MKS Cracovia in front of 15,817 fans in an international friendly at TOYOTA PARK. The game-winning goal came courtesy of Willian Oliveira in the 36th minute of play off a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch recorded the shutout in his first-ever first team appearance for the Fire.

Chicago went ahead late in the first half as Oliveira buried a Fire free kick. Cracovia defender Thomasz Wacek was called for a deliberate handball in the 35th minute, resulting in a yellow card for Wacek and a free kick for the Fire just outside the 18-yard box. Captain Diego Gutierrez took the kick, deftly touching the ball to his left for Oliveira. Oliveira’s ensuing shot sailed around the left side of the wall and into the back of the net past Cracovia keeper Marcin Cabaj. Oliveira nearly doubled his pleasure in the 41^st minute with strike from eight yards out, but Cabaj easily smothered the attempt.

The Fire came out of halftime attacking and almost tallied their second goal in the 51^st minute, as forward Jerson Monteiro and Oliveira found themselves in a one-on-one situation with Cabaj. Monteiro slipped the ball to Oliveira, who opted to pass the ball back to Monteiro instead of taking the shot. Cabaj came out to interrupt the pass, and Oliveira looked to make him pay by stepping to the ball and trying to chip the ball over the goalkeeper's head, but the shot went high over the crossbar.

Cracovia countered throughout the second half, including a near-miss for Piotr Bania in the 68^th minute. Bania collected the ball off a block from the Chicago defense, took a touch to his left and ripped a shot from 15 yards out, but Busch reacted in time to tip the ball over the frame and maintain the clean sheet.

“Well I think the guys went out and showed what the fire is all about,” said Fire interim head coach Denis Hamlett. “They competed from the get-go. They showed some urgency. And I was happy with that. I think Cracovia is a good team, they call this a friendly, but both teams went out there to win the game. I thought sitting back and watching it - it was a good entertaining game. A lot of chances for both teams, the goalkeepers made some good saves. All-in-all it was a good show for our guys tonight.”

The win tonight brings the Fire to 11-6-2 all-time in international competition and 5-3-1 in friendlies contested at home. The Fire return to action on Saturday, July 1, as the “Men in Red” take on the Colorado Rapids (6:00 p.m. CT, Comcast SportsNet) at TOYOTA PARK.

Fire Lineup: GK-Jon Busch, D-C.J. Brown, D-Diego Gutierrez (Captain), D-Dasan Robinson (Jeff Curtin 64), M-Calen Carr, M-Brian Plotkin, M-Bakary Soumare, M-Willian Oliveira (Mike Banner 73), M-Gonzalo Segares, F-Chad Barrett, F-Jerson Monteiro (Floyd Franks 86).

Cracovia Lineup: GK-Slawomir Olszewski, D-Thomasz Wacek (Pawel Wojchiechowski 88), D-Lukasz Skryzynski, D-Krysztof Radwanski, D-Dariusz Pawlusinksi (Pawel Szwajdych 56), M-Jacek Wisniewski (Piotr Giza 46), M-Dariusz Klus, M-Pawel Nowak, M-Arkadiusz Baran (Mateusz Jelen 79), F-Piotr Bania (Captain) (Karol Kostrubala 71), F-Marcin Bojarski (Bartlomiej Dudzic 65).

Scoring Summary

CHI – Willian Oliveira (Diego Gutierrez) 36

Misconduct Summary

CHI – Calen Carr (Caution, Reckless Foul) 17

CHI – Dasan Robinson (Caution, Tackle from Behind) 28

CRA – Thomasz Wacek (Caution, Deliberate Handball) 35

CRA – Lukasz Skrzynski (Caution, Dissent) 63

CHI – Brian Plotkin (Caution, Delaying a Restart) 80

Referee: Ricardo Salazar

Referee's Assistants: Peter Balciuna, Peter Manikowski

4th Official: Hidajet Tica

Attendance: 15,817

Time of Game: 1:53

Weather: Cloudy, 72 degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.