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SLAM! Sports 2000 in Review A LOOK BACK INTERACTIVE CONTESTS ALSO ON SLAM! 
| Sunday, October 22, 2000 Fire win U.S. Open Cup titleCHICAGO (AP) -- The crystal trophy sat in the corner of the locker room, filled with champagne, as Chicago Fire players ran around rubbing cake in each other's hair.They may not have gotten the two titles they wanted, but one championship is sure better than none. "There's no better way to end the season than the way we did tonight," Chris Armas said Saturday night after the Fire beat the Miami Fusion 2-1 to win the U.S. Open Cup title. "We salvaged one cup." Six days after they lost the MLS Cup -- the national soccer title most Americans know about, if they know about one at all -- the Fire rebounded to win their second Open Cup title in three years. Chicago won both the MLS and Open Cup titles in 1998, its first year of play. Hristo Stoitchkov, a Bulgarian who's played in plenty of championships in his illustrious international career, shot a pass from Ante Razov into the goal in the 44th minute. The Fire made it 2-0 in the 88th minute on Miami defender Tyrone Marshall's own-goal. Welton scored the Fusion's only goal in the sixth minute of injury time at the end of the game. As time expired, the Fire players celebrated on the field, saluting the 19,146 spectators at Soldier Field. After the awards ceremony, midfielder Jesse Marsch carried the cup over to the stands so fans could touch it. "It obviously helps a little bit -- not all the way -- in taking some of the sting out of last week," Fire coach Bob Bradley said. "For a club that's in our third year to win our third championship, it's very special." Miami hadn't played since Sept. 12, and coach Ray Hudson said this week his team might be too rusty to give Chicago a game. But that wasn't the case. The Fusion came after the Fire all night in a game where nine yellow cards were issued, five to Miami. "We stuffed it down their throats (in the first half) and we deserved to be ahead," Hudson said. "I'm not taking anything away from them, but I thought we deserved something, too." Now Hudson knows how the Fire felt last week. Chicago outshot the Kansas City Wizards 22-6 in last Sunday's MLS Cup, but still lost as MVP Tony Meola made 10 saves. Chicago was on the attack again early Saturday. Stoitchkov and DaMarcus Beasley both had shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, but Fusion goalie Nick Rimando punched them out of harm's way. The Fire got the ball by him at the end of the half, though. Chicago captain Peter Nowak passed the ball to Razov about 20 yards past midfield, and Razov took it up the right flank. Rimando came out to the edge of the 18-yard box, but Razov dribbled right past him and then fed Stoitchkov with a perfect cross. Standing directly in front of the goal, Stoitchkov softly tapped the ball, sending it past Fusion midfielder Brian Kamler and into the back corner of the net. As the ball settled into the net, Stoitchkov pumped his arms in triumph. "You always want to (score)," said Razov, who was playing his last game with the Fire after signing a contract to move to the Spanish League. "But the most important thing is we've got that trophy over there filled with champagne." The Fire kept up the attack in the second half, narrowly missing the goal twice in one minute. In the 61st minute, Nowak's blast went just past the right post. In the 62nd, Stoitchkov's effort from about 15 yards got by a diving Rimando, but rolled past the far post. Marshall's own-goal came as he tried to clear a Beasley shot out from in front of the goal. The ball caromed off his left foot and into the right side of the net. "The poor kid was so concussed, it was like HE fought Mike Tyson last night. He was hearing bells all the way through the second half," Hudson said of Marshall. "It was terrible, but there are 11 broken hearts in that locker room. Twelve, including mine." |