The Chicago Fire fell, 2-0, to Costa Rican club Saprissa Wednesday in the first-leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal series.
Both goals came in the second half with each team playing a man down. Saprissa's Victor Cordero was ejected in the 29th minute on a straight red following his foul on C.J. Brown. Two minutes later, the Fire's Chris Armas was ejected on a second yellow, for a foul. He was followed into the locker room by Chicago coach Dave Sarachan, whom Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres ejected for dissent.
Chicago will attempt to overcome the two-goal deficit when it hosts the second leg April 21 at Soldier Field. In the quarterfinals, Chicago fell to Trinidad's San Juan Jabloteh, 5-2, in Trinidad before winning, 4-0, at home and to earn a semifinal passage.
''Well, we've been through this before, where we were at a deficit playing on the road in this tournament,'' said Sarachan. ''We have to believe that when Saprissa comes to Chicago next week we can get the job done. They're a good team. Today was a very hard fought, competitive match and unfortunately the referee didn't allow the game to flow the way we all had hoped.ö
In the other semifinal, Costa RicaÆs Alajuela, which had ousted San Jose in the quarterfinals, beat MexicoÆs Monterrey, 1-0, in Alajuela.
Semifinal summaries
April 14 in San Jose, Calif.
Saprissa (Costa Rica) 2 Chicago (MLS) 0. Goals: Nunez 50, Solis 71.
Saprissa — Porras, Torres, Cordero, Perez, Badilla (Benneth, 71), Nunez, Phillip, Alfaro (Centeno, 57), Solis, Drummond, Rodriguez (Saborio, 67).
Chicago — Ring, Brown, Curtin, Whitfield (Gray, 74), Jaqua, Pause, Armas, Williams (Capano, 77), Beasley, Selolwane (Mapp, 78), Ralph.
Red cards û Saprissa û Flores 31; Chicago û Armas 32, Sarachan (coach) 33.
Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)
Att.: 4,126.
April 14 in Alajuela, Costa Rica
Alajuela (Costa Rica) 1 Monterrey (Mexico) 0. Goal: Ruiz 3.
Alajuela û Gonzalez, Wallace, Marin, Chinchilla, Antonio, Siras (Izaquirre, 60), Lopez (Alpizar, 69), Montero (Hernandez, 53), Bryce, Ledesma, Ruiz.
Monterrey — Ibarra , Rotchen, Rogerio, Perez, Castro, Franco, Chavez, Erviti (Suarez, 75), Huitron, Ordaz, Arellano (Osorno, 84).
Red card: Monterry û Franco 30.