CONCACAF

Fire rallies to win game, but Saprissa takes Champions Cup semifinal series.

CHICAGO (Wednesday, April 21, 2004) -- Second-half goals from midfielder Andy Williams and defender Jim Curtin were enough to carry the Chicago Fire to a 2-1 victory over Deportivo Saprissa before 7,126 at Soldier Field tonight, but not enough to carry the Fire to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final.

Saprissa of Costa Rica won the semifinal series 3-2 on aggregate after winning the opening leg 2-0 at home last Wednesday. Saprissa will play the winner of the other semifinal sinner, LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica. Alajuelense drew host CF Monterrey of Mexico 1-1 to win the series 2-1.

"We came up one goal short tonight. We took the game to them and had plenty of chances, but we just couldn't get that goal to push it to even up the series," said assistant coach Denis Hamlett, who ran the Fire from the sidelines for Dave Sarachan, suspended after being issued a red card in the first leg. "We'd be a little bit worried if we weren't getting chances. When you have as many chances as we had today, sooner or later they're going to start going in. Tonight was in some ways a good night because we finally scored some goals. Now, we've just got to build on that."

Needing to overcome two-goal deficit in the series, Chicago looked to press the action from the opening whistle. In the fifth minute, Fire forward Damani Ralph carried along the left end line and crossed to fellow striker Dipsy Selolwane, whose touch from in front of the goal sent the ball just outside the near post.

Six minutes later, Saprissa took a 1-0 lead by burying its only quality chance of the game after striker Alonso Solis took advantage of a defensive miscue. Fire defender Kelly Gray failed on his attempt to cut off a diagonal pass 35 yards from goal and the ball went to Solis' feet. In his debut with the Fire, goalkeeper D.J. Countess was left one-on-one with the Solis, who netted his second goal of the series on a low, angled shot to the left post.

The Fire continued to create dangerous chances without scoring throughout the first half. Williams forced Saprissa goalkeeper Francisco Porras into a stellar diving save to his left in the 28th minute on a 25-yard shot.

Porras came up big on two occasions just one minute later, first stopping midfielder DaMarcus Beasley's low shot from the top left corner of the penalty area and then snagging midfielder Justin Mapp's cross which a defender knocked up in the air.

In first-half injury time, Selolwane's shot from near the penalty spot was batted down by Porras. Beasley drove the rebound into the roof of the net, but was ruled offside, disallowing the apparent goal.

In the 55th minute, Beasley collected a pass near the midfield stripe and raced the ball up the middle of the field, only to be stripped 25 yards from goal. Selolwane snared the loose ball and took it to the top of the box before slotting a pass to Williams on the right. Williams tied the game at 1-1 with a shot into the top left corner, ending the Fire's streak of 415 minutes of scoreless soccer and dating back to March 24, including the Champions Cup and geing blanked in its first three Major League soccer games this season.

A Fire opportunity by Mapp in the 59th minute, and back-to-back chances by Selolwane and Ralph in the 65th minute were for naught. Selolwane just missed in the 75th minute after his spinning attempt from 10 yards trickled wide left of the net. Ralph and Beasley teamed up for a give-and-go, but Beasley's shot hit the left outside of the net.

Chicago took a 2-1 lead -- trailing 3-2 in the series -- when striker Nate Jaqua got his head on a Williams' free kick. With Porras off his line, Curtin re-directed the ball into the net.

Williams had the best opportunity to draw the Fire even in the series, but his shot in the 89th minute sailed high.

At the Estadio Tecnologico, Monterrey forced a series tie-breaking overtime when Sergio Pérez won the game over Alajuelense 1-0 and tied the series 1-1 with a goal in the 90th minute.

Michael Rodríguez scored with nine minutes remaining in the second 15-minute overtime period to give Alajuelense the series victory.