BRADENTON, FL - Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-18 Residency suffered a 4-1 defeat to Chicago Fire's U-18 Academy side in their opening match of the 2013 United States Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) Winter Showcase Wednesday in Bradenton, Florida.
Things did not get off to a desired start for the ‘Caps, as they fell a goal down midway through the first half after Brad Dunwell opened the scoring for the Fire.
The Central Conference, Mid-America Division outfit entered the second half with the 1-0 lead, but Whitecaps FC leveled things up in the 54th minute. In the build-up, the ball was cycled back into the box off a corner kick and centre back Jackson Farmer calmly potted it home from the top of the 18-yard-box to tie the game at 1-1.
Just two minutes later, a defensive breakdown allowed Chicago to take the lead when Collin Fernandez fiinshed from inside six yards to make it 2-1 Fire. The insurance then came when Chicago’s Jeff Farina took a James Myall pass and blasted it home to extend the Fire’s lead to 3-1 in the 62nd minute.
The ‘Caps kept battling on and were nearly rewarded for their efforts in the 71st minute, but a penalty kick attempt was turned away by the Fire goalkeeper and just a minute later Farnia scored his second goal of the match to secure the 4-1 victory.
“The boys are frustrated with their performance, but we will all take the time to recover," assistant coach Steve Meadley told whitecapsfc.com. "We will definitely react in a positive way for tomorrow’s match.”
The U-18s are right back at it Thursday morning, as they meet East Conference, Southeast Division side IMG Academy at 8:15 a.m. PT.
Scoring Summary
24' – CHI – Dunwell (Underwood)
54' – VAN – Farmer
56' – CHI – Fernandez
62' – CHI – Farina (Myall)
72’ – CHI – Farina
Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-18
Marco Carducci; Titouan Chopin (Vaggeli Boucas 73’), Jackson Farmer, Nicholas Prasad (Nike Azuma 25’), Sam Adekugbe; Mitch Piraux, Mark Baldisimo (Ali Musse 45’), Marco Bustos (Mason James 73’); Matthew Chow (Kyle Jones 75’), Kianz Froese, Jordan Haynes
