The Chicago Fire have defeated the Cal Odyssey in the U-15/16 National Championship. The match was fast paced, with both teams getting plenty of chances of offense. The Fire were first to capitalize with a goal in the twentieth minute off of a corner kick. The Odyssey’s never-say-die attitude led to an equalizer in the fifty-sixth minute. The match could not be settled during regulation, and remained tied throughout overtime. Eventually, Chicago was able to seal the deal, and took the game with a score of 5-3 in penalties.
The Fire upgraded to a FieldTurf Duraspine Pro field earlier this year in order to prepare for this tournament, being held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The field was installed in an impressive twelve days to meet the tight schedule of the competitive development academy. Having a synthetic system at their home field allowed them to prepare at a championship level without worries of a field that cannot withstand heavy usage.
“The field is awesome. Without it we certainly would not have been able to prepare the way we did. It has really brought the vision of our Fire Player Development program to life...” says Larry Sunderland, coach of the Chicago Fire, when asked about the field. He also added, “…for our young players to train on a field like that, in the shadow of the stadium provides more motivation than any pre-game speech I can come up with!”
