Red Bulls Reserves Fall to Chicago Fire, 2-1, in 2014 Opener

032414AkpanReserves

CHICAGO (March 24, 2014) - The Chicago Fire Soccer Club defeated the New York Red Bulls 2-1 in MLS Reserve League action Monday morning on the Toyota Park Turf Field. Andre Akpan got on the board first for the Red Bulls but a Giuseppe Gentile brace led the Fire to their first Reserve League victory of the season.

The Red Bulls opened scoring in the 21st minute when Marius Obekop whipped in a cross from the top of the 18 and found Andre Akpan on the edge of the six-yard box. With his back towards goal, Akpan took a touch to settle, turned and rifled his right-footed shot into the goal.

Three minutes later Marco Franco played the ball forward for Victor Pineda, who raced towards goal and found Gentile on the back post. On his first touch, Gentile sent this right-footed shot just out of goalkeeper Ryan Meara's reach for the equalizer.

Gentile would again find the game-winning goal in 61st minute. Logan Pause received the ball and played a perfectly-weighted ball to Juan Luis Anangono. The Ecuadorian striker dribbled towards the end line, found Gentile unmarked on the back post and the rookie forward's shot gave the Fire the 2-1 victory.

The Red Bulls’ next reserve match is on Sunday, March 30 when they take on the Dayton Dutch Lions at 6:00 PM at Red Bull Arena. The match will be streamed live on www.newyorkredbulls.com.


Chicago Fire 2, New York Red Bulls 1
MLS Reserve League
March 24, 2013
Scoring Summary:

NY - Andre Akpan (Marius Obekop) 21'
CHI - Giuseppe Gentile (Victor Pineda) 24'
CHI - Giuseppe Gentile (Juan Luis Anangono, Logan Pause) 61'

Misconduct Summary:
CHI - Logan Pause (caution) 39'
NY - Ruben Bover (caution) 70'

Chicago Fire (1-0-0): Kyle Reynish; Marco Franco, Patrick Ianni, Grant Lillard, Jacob Bushue^ (Mauricio Pineda 68'); Logan Pause (c), Chris Ritter, Victor Pineda, Giuseppe Gentile, Collin Fernandez; Juan Luis Anangono (Qudus Lawal 64')


Subs not used: Patrick Nyarko, Alec Kann


New York Red Bulls (0-1-0): Ryan Meara (Santiago Castano 61'); Chris Duvall, Matt Miazga, Armando Lozano, Ambroise Oyongo; Connor Lade, Michael Bustamante (Chris Lema* 77'), Ruben Bover; Marius Obekop (Arun Basuljevic* 72'), Eric Stevenson (Sam Adjei^ 86'), Andre Akpan


Subs not used: None

*Academy Player
^Guest Player


Referee: Dimitar Chavdarov
Assistant Referees: Khalaf Al-Latayfeh, Cesar Ibarra
Fourth Official: Nikola Aleksic