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Ariel attack Graziani, Burn top Fire 4-2, spoil Stoichkov debut
Posted: Saturday March 18, 2000 11:54 PM
DALLAS (CNNSI.com) -- Hristo Stoichkov quickly erased any concerns that his brief retirement would hurt his productivity in Major League Soccer. The Bulgarian World Cup veteran turned in an impressive MLS debut in defeat Saturday as he scored two goals for the Chicago Fire in a 4-2 loss to the Dallas Burn. Stoichkov, who became the latest international standout to test MLS life when he signed with the league and was allocated to Chicago on Wednesday, twice gave the Fire the lead in the first half at the Cotton Bowl, but his new teammates were unable to hold the advantage. The 34-year-old Bulgarian World Cup veteran lifted the Fire to a 1-0 lead, heading in a right-wing cross by U.S. international midfielder Chris Armas in the 14th minute. After his goal, Stoichkov ran to the sideline and shook the hand of Fire coach Bob Bradley. With two minutes left in the half, Stoichkov ran onto a long ball from Diego Gutierrez, headed it down and beat Dallas goalkeeper Matt Jordan with a left-footed shot from 12 yards for a 2-1 lead. Ecuadorian forward Ariel Graziani scored twice for the Burn -- the equalizer in the 54th minute after Fire goalkeeper Greg Sutton bobbled a Chad Deering shot, and again for an insurance tally in the 85th. Defender Eric Dade, who had never scored a goal in three MLS seasons, put home the game winner for Dallas in the 79th minute. Dade timed a run down the right side, barely beating the offside trap. The defender beat Sutton to his left with a low shot just inside the near post. "I thought I'd save them for this year," Dade told the Dallas Morning News. "[Dallas coach Dave Dir] has been emphasizing me getting forward. I got a good ball from Oscar [Pareja], who had a good pass from Jason [Kreis], and it worked out." Jason Kreis, last year's MLS scoring leader, came through with Dallas' first goal of the season in the 27th minute, falling away from the goal and looping a header over Sutton. He celebrated by performing a back flip. Bradley wasn't content with his team's play. "We had a lead twice and we didn't do a good job of dealing with it," Bradley told the Chicago Tribune. "The second half was poor. I didn't think we moved well today. [Dallas] got to more plays." The game was a rematch of last year's spirited Western Conference Semifinals playoff series, where the Burn eliminated the then-defending champs in three games. Saturday's contest saw two red cards, as Fire playmaker Peter Nowak and Burn midfielder Sergi Daniv were both ejected after a scuffle. Fire coach Dave Dir said the game turned after he inserted Colombian playmaker Oscar Pareja for Kirk Wilson in the second half. "We got back to concentrating and doing things better discipline-wise," Dir told the Morning News. "Once Pareja got in, we were a different team." Old and young debutStoichkov on Friday received his international clearance from his former Japanese club, Kashiwa Reysol, to play in Chicago's MLS season-opener. "I'm not surprised by the way I played, but we lost so that was bad," Stoichkov. "My team is disappointed, and I am disappointed but the first game is very tough. "For me everything in life is new right now -- new league, new country, everything," Stoichkov told The Associated Press. "This seems like a good league and lots of players here have good experience. The U.S. had a good World Cup in 1994 and now has an improving league." The game also marked the debut of the Fire's DaMarcus Beasley, the second-youngest player in MLS at 17, who started and played 52 minutes. Beasley won the silver ball as the second-best player at last year's Under-17 World Cup. "It was tough; I didn't know what to expect," Beasley told the Tribune. "I wasn't nervous, I was pretty relaxed and just wanted to get a few touches on the ball. I felt ready." Beasley won't return to Chicago with the team; he'll be in Bradenton, Fla. attending high school classes. After joining the Fire in Kansas City next week for a game against the Wizards, he could be unavailable through May due to Olympic-qualifying commitments. Scoring Summary:
Chicago Fire -Greg Sutton, Lubos Kubik, C.J. Brown, Andrew Lewis, Chris Armas, Jesse Marsch, Diego Gutierrez, Peter Nowak, Hristo Stoitchkov (Dema Kovalenko), Ante Razov, DaMarcus Beasley (Josh Wolff)
Dallas Burn --Matt Jordan, Eric Dade, Ricardo Iribarren, Richard Farrer, Mark Santel, Segi Daniv, Ted Eck, Chad Deering, Kirk Wilson (Oscar Pareja), Jason Kreis (Jorge Rodriguez), Ariel Graziani (Aleksey Korol)
Referee: Brian Hall; Referee's Assistants: Greg Barkey, Roger Sill
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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