In Day 3 of the 2011 Goal of the Year tournament, #2 Sebastian Grazzini’s Capital Comeback equalizer (October 15 at DC) ousted Marco Pappa’s first of three in the 3-0 victory at Real Salt Lake on September 28. With the result, Grazzini’s one-time effort moves to take on the winner of next Tuesday’s encounter between #1 Jalil Anibaba (March 30 vs. Colorado) and #4 Dominic Oduro (9/17 vs. Chivas USA) in the Armas Final to be played Monday, November 14.
2011 FIRE GOTY - Day 4 - Which goal was better?
TODAY’S MATCHUP:
We move back to the Nowak Bracket where #2 Dominic Oduro’s stealthy flick on August 21 vs. Toronto FC goes up against #3 Diego Chaves’ immediate response on April 9 at Seattle. The winner will take on Marco Pappa’s Hat Trick Clincher from September 28 at Real Salt Lake in the Nowak final to be played next Thursday, November 10.
The second of four Oduro entries in the Goal of the Year tournament, the club’s leading scorer in 2011 used national and collegiate connections to score this goal as fellow Ghanaian Patrick Nyarko held up a ball on the left before Oduro’s fellow VCU alum Gonzalo Segares made an overlapping run on to the ball. The Costa Rican international’s first attempt at across was turned away by Reds defender Torsten Frings before a second attempt made its way to Oduro who cheekily flicked his effort past Milos Kocic and inside the far post. The goal stood as the game winner in a 2-0 victory over TFC, the club’s first league win since June 12 and began Oduro’s streak of six goals in eight matches across all competitions through October 1.
Oduro’s effort comes up against Diego Chaves’ underrated strike in a 2-1 loss at Seattle. Having conceded an O’Brian White goal from a set piece in the seventh minute, the Uruguayan would equalize a minute later. Gaston Puerari started the buildup out of midfield, playing a combination with Nyarko to send him past Leo Gonzalez up the right. The Ghanaian sent a quick cross into the box for Chaves who one-timed his effort past Kasey Keller to the back post. The goal made Chaves the first Fire player to score in each of his first three appearances for the club after joining in the offseason from Montevideo Wanderers.
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.
If you are using Internet Explorer and cannot view the video below, click here to watch on YouTube.
