Special friendly for Fire, though AC Milan comes out on top
Dasan Robinson walked off the Toyota Park turf at halftime Sunday night shoulder to shoulder with Ronaldinho, deep in conversation with his opponent.
"I was just mentioning to him that I went to Brazil this past off-season, to his hometown, Porto Alegre," said the Fire right back. "So I just tried to speak a little Portuguese with him a little bit and a little Spanish, and he recognized it.
"It was a good moment, just to talk to him about his hometown a little bit and that I went to visit, met his brother down there a little bit."
Robinson and his Fire teammates spent 90 minutes rubbing shoulders with some of the legends of the sport, and as expected AC Milan came out on top.
The famed Italian club - on a postseason tour of the United States missing only its players headed to next month's World Cup - defeated the Fire 1-0 in front of 20,356.
Robinson often found himself matched up against Ronaldinho, and he and the Brazilian superstar weren't just talking about the weather on the hot, steamy night.
"It was a well-played game, very exciting. It was good to be out there with the best caliber of players," Robinson said. "That's a legendary team, so to be able to play against those guys, things like that. You couldn't ask for much more."
Robinson did his part, keeping Ronaldinho in check through the 75 minutes Ronaldinho played before exiting to an ovation.
The friendly was tied at halftime, but AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf seemed determined to change that immediately after the second half started.
Receiving a long pass into the Fire penalty area, the former Netherlands international deftly avoided two Fire defenders, deked goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra and from a tough angle slid the ball into the open net.
The Fire had a number of good scoring chances, forcing AC Milan goalkeeper Dida to make 5 saves, but it never could connect. The best might have been a Julio Martinez shot off a Mike Banner corner kick in second-half extra time that Dida just tipped over the crossbar. The Fire outshot Milan 14-12.
The match was interrupted three times: in the 32nd minute when a fan ran onto the field to kiss Ronaldinho's boots; in the 71st when a flare was thrown on the field from behind the north goal; and in the 83rd, when a fan ran onto the field and tried to shake Seedorf's hand. Both fans were quickly tackled by security and taken into custody.