BRIDGEVIEW, IL (July 12, 2007) – The Chicago Fire suffered a 4-0 defeat to the Houston Dynamo in front of a capacity crowd of 20,034 tonight at TOYOTA PARK.  The game-winning goal for the Dynamo came from midfielder Stuart Holden, with insurance goals from forwards Nate Jaqua, Joseph Ngwenya, and Chris Wondolowski. Tonight’s game marked the first match with head coach Juan Carlos Osorio at the helm for the “Men in Red” and the first-ever start for newly-signed midfielder Bruno Menezes. 

The Fire looked to score early as defender Jim Curtin had two near misses off headers in the 15th and 16th minutes.  Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad reacted in time to tip both of Curtin’s headers just over the crossbar and out of play for a corner kick. 

The Dynamo opened scoring with a goal from Holden in the 31st minute of play. Houston defender Wade Barrett ran on to a lofting ball sent toward the box by midfielder Ricardo Clark, took a touch toward the lower left corner, and sent a hard cross onto the foot of Holden, who was waiting inside the box.  Holden sent a shot that sailed past Pickens’ right side to give the Dynamo a one-goal-advantage going into halftime.

Former Fire forward Nate Jaqua doubled the Dynamo’s lead during the second half in the 58th minute of play.  Dynamo midfielder Joseph Ngwenya received a ball inside the right side of the 18-yard box and attempted a shot that was stifled by defender Diego Gutierrez.  Jaqua collected the loose ball inside the middle of the box and placed a strike into the upper right corner of the goal past a reaching Pickens.

In the 62^nd minute Jaqua slipped the ball to Joseph Ngwenya streaking into the right side of the box.  Ngwenya touched the ball around Curtin and with one more touch evaded Pickens aggressively coming off his line in an attempt to smother the play. Ngwenya slotted the ball across the goal into the lower left corner to give the Dynamo a three goal advantage.

The Fire nearly answered in the 67th minute as midfielder Justin Mapp carried the ball deep into the right corner and sent a cross in front of the goal for forward Chad Barrett, but the Dynamo defense knocked the ball over the end line before Barrett could finish.

The Dynamo’s fourth tally came as forward Dwayne De Rosario carried the ball from the middle of the field into the right side of the 18-yard box and took a hard shot towards the opposite post.  Pickens dove to his right to cut off the shot and deflected the ball to the outside of the left post, but Dynamo forward Chris Wondolowski made a weak side run and tipped the ball into the net for the fourth and final goal of the game.

“I can’t deny the fact that I think we didn’t defend the goals very well.  There is a lot of work to do,” said Osorio. “This is a game that I have learned a lot from and hopefully we can start putting things in place.  At the end, we cannot just get into the attacking third and not even have a shot on goal.”

The loss tonight brings the Fire to 4-8-4 and with 16 points, and the “Men in Red” remain at the bottom of the Eastern Conference Standings in seventh place.  The Fire return to action this Sunday, July 15, when the “Men in Red” take on the Carolina RailHawks at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina for their first Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup game of 2007.  The Fire are looking to defend their title as reigning U.S. Open Cup Champions.