CHICAGO (Feb. 18, 2020) – The Chicago Fire FC Academy U-15 and U-17 teams went undefeated this weekend in Carson, Calif., clinching a place at the Generation adidas Cup Finals at the Toyota Soccer Center in Frisco, Texas on April 4-11.
The Chicago Fire Academy is one of only three Academy programs that have both their U-15 and U-17 teams participating at the GA Cup Finals. The other two teams with both squads representing their respective teams are New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls.
The action began on Valentine’s Day, with the Fire Academy U-17’s winning their first match 1-0 over the San Jose Earthquakes Academy. Joshua Torres scored the game’s only goal. With the win over the Quakes, the U-17’s were able to qualify for the GA Cup Finals.
Later that night, the U-15’s had a match of their own against the U-15 Earthquakes Academy, where the U-15’s won with a final score of 2-1. Benjamin Chavarria and Cristian Torres-Gale scored the two goals for the Fire Academy as they climbed to the No. 1 seed in Group B with the win.
The following day, both the U-15’s and U-17’s faced off against Sporting Kansas City’s Academy teams. The U-17’s defeated Sporting Kansas City 5-0. Leading the way for the U-17’s was Missael Rodriguez with two goals, and two assists in the match. Wyatt Borso, Josh Torres, and Luka Bezerra also contributed with goals of their own to complete the rout.
With the shutout over Sporting Kansas City, the U-17’s had scored 12 goals and conceded none in the past five GA Cup matches.
The U-15’s found success later in the afternoon with a 3-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City. Opening the scoring for the U-15’s was Michael Nesci, with Cristian Torres-Gale later adding two in the match to complete a successful second day for the Fire Academy.
After a day of rest for both teams, the U-17’s ended the weekend with 2-1 victory over the Minnesota United FC Academy squad. Missael Rodriguez and Luka Bezerra scored in the match for the Fire Academy to finish the weekend in Carson undefeated.
In the final match of the weekend, the U-15’s also defeated Minnesota United FC with a final score of 2-0 thanks to goals from Marlon Amaya and Mike Nesci. With the win over MNUFC, the U-15’s also qualified for the GA Cup Finals this April.
