Fatigued Fire beaten by Battery on penalty kicks
The last thing Kryzysztof Krol and Marco Pappa wanted to do Tuesday night was play 120 minutes on 48 hours rest.
Well, maybe playing 120 minutes and losing in penalty kicks is worse.
That's just what the two Fire players endured in a 3-0 shootout defeat against the Charleston Battery in a U.S. Open Cup third-round match. The game ended 0-0 after 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime.
Krol and Pappa played the whole way, with fellow regulars Patrick Nyarko, Wilman Conde, Logan Pause and Brian McBride also seeing significant action two days after a 1-0 Major League Soccer win at New England.
A league match at Columbus looms Saturday, giving the Fire - which is 0-4 in non-MLS games this season - just a few days to rest and lick its wounds. Those wounds are many. John Thorrington and Tim Ward remain out with injuries, Baggio Husidic and Justin Mapp were hurt Sunday and Collins John is battling an illness.
"There are two games, one that went to overtime, which didn't allow us to recover from the game at New England," Pappa said. "But now we have time to rest, not only for myself but the whole team to regenerate for our game on Saturday against Columbus."
And coach Carlos de los Cobos made clear that the MLS schedule and next month's SuperLiga tournament are the focus for the Fire. A win would have been preferred, but "Things like tonight happen," the coach said.
The Fire handled the shootout even more poorly than it played in regulation. McBride's shot sailed over the bar, Charleston goalkeeper Tim Melia saved Krol's shot, and Conde hit the crossbar.
"It was really frustrating because you put yourself up for 120 minutes, giving the best out of you and putting in the effort," forward Stefan Dimitrov said, "and losing in penalties is unfortunate."
The Fire outshot Charleston 18-10 for the game but struggled to test Melia. The best chance came in the 69th minute when Dimitrov tried a bicycle kick off a Corben Bone cross. The shot went straight to Melia.
"I saw Corben cutting back and chipping the ball and I saw the ball flying, and I said, I'm going to bike it," Dimitrov said. "I thought that would be my moment, but the goalie was very close to the goal, so he made the save."