In what was a closer vote than the seeds would have you believe. The opening day of the 2011 Fire Goal of the Year tournament saw top seeded Dominic Oduro’s game winner vs. Richmond (August 30) survive a scare, moving past Marco Pappa’s chip at Portland (April 9) and into the Klopas Bracket Finals. The Ghanaian’s looping effort to put the Fire into the 2011 Open Cup final will take on the winner of next Monday’s clash between #2 Jalil Anibaba #2 (October 22 vs. CLB) and #3 Cory Gibbs (May 28 vs. SJ) in the Klopas regional final set for November 11.
2011 FIRE GOTY - Day 2 - Which goal was better?
TODAY’S MATCHUP:
We move to the Nowak Bracket as #1 Marco Pappa’s hat trick clincher at Real Salt Lake (September 28) takes on #4 Orr Barouch’s late marker of respectability at Vancouver (August 7)
Having seen his entries in the tournament fall to three after the first day, Marco Pappa will hope to rebound on day two as the goal that clinched likely the best game of his career to date enters the competition. Take yourself back to September 28 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
It was a match few thought the Fire could win but an early red card to Kyle Beckerman just after Pappa’s first goal in the ninth minute set the course for a dominant Fire (and Pappa) performance. The Guatemalan international would bag his second of the match off a beautiful feed from Pavel Pardo in the 36th minute before completing the hat trick with a moment of brilliance. Picking up a loose ball at midfield, the veteran midfielder beat two RSL defenders on the sideline (leaving Chris Schuler in the dust) before cutting into the box down the right. Pappa had Dominic Oduro with some space in the box, but sitting on two goals you knew there was little chance of seeing him square a ball…instead Pappa measured a curling effort around Rimando and to the back post to complete his first career MLS hat trick.
That whole description in itself may be an insurmountable amount for Orr Barouch’s underrated effort on the road at Vancouver. Because of the “throwaway, I’d like to forget it ever happened” nature of the match (remember, 4-2 loss), it stands to reason some might forget Orr’s beautiful piece of skill in this match.
Like most games this season, the Israeli youth international entered the match as a substitute in the 56th minute with his side down 3-1, with the deficit increasing by a goal in the 72nd minute. Though unlikely for the Fire to get anything from the outing, Barouch still managed to make things interesting. Clearing out of the back, Patrick Nyarko sent a hopeful 40-yard ball over the top where Barouch drove past Whitecaps defender Jordan Harvey. Fighting off pressure from he and Russell Teibert, Barouch fired a low blast past Jay Nolly and inside the back post in the 80th minute.
The effort took the game to 4-2, where it would also end. You might call it a “stat-padder” for both Barouch and Nyarko but the goal certainly had an admirable quality to it.
Vote for your favorite goal by 11:59pm CT tonight at the poll to the right.
Click here to view the updated 2011 Chicago Fire Goal of the Year bracket or download as a PDF. Visit our 2011 Goal of the Year page here.
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