6-0 to the Fire after an even first half. Gavin Wilkinson, Brian Winters, Bryn Ritchie, Ben Somoza, Chris Smith, Erik Ozimek, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar from the 2002 Timbers were on the pitch, along with some Timbers tryouts. Seattle Sounders Andrew Gregor and Preston Burpo also took part. http://www.a-league.com/features/2003/fea,2003,0008.shtml
The ball does have an MLS logo on it. As for why only two Sounders were there, I really have no idea. Best guess is they were invited to send down as many players as they liked. They could have used more players there, some of the players were getting very tired in the 2nd half, especially the defenders, while Chicago substituted in nearly an entire squad at halftime.
Yep, that was the new MLS Puma ball. Supposedly it is very offense friendly. The Fire seemed to like it in the second half. Although the goal he let in was soft, Burpo looked pretty good. Gregor was also effective until the second half when Bobby Howe moved him to the outside where he looked out of place.
It was actually close in the first half with the Timbers/Sounders creating some scoring opportunities. The Fire played a fresh 11 in the second half so the fatigue factor set in. I wouldn't read much into it since the Timbers haven't even opened training camp and a number of the players who were out there were simply tryouts. Hard for them to compete with guys like DMB, Chris Armas and Bocanegro.
I don't know about anyone else, but the Fire kit is spectacular. Will they keep the Red top , white bottom / red socks, for the regular season ???
That's a training jersey, and god I hope not. That combination, coupled with the screened-on badge, front sponsor, lack of white chest stripe and goofy collars looks amateurish. Fine, for practice; good, even on it's own if the badge is sewn on; but if they wore that durign the season...blech. It's not our look anyway. Now, our away white with a pair of red shorts...now you're talking.