Cervi declines opportunity to join Fire, MLS

Dominic Cervi was expected to compete with Jon Busch and Nick Noble to be the Chicago Fire's starting goalkeeper.

But Cervi won't play for the Fire or any Major League Soccer club after he decided not to sign with the league, the team said Thursday.

"His representative was looking for a change in policy in terms of Major League Soccer," Fire president and general manager John Guppy said. "Several players signed with the league before the draft and received additional benefits. Cervi did not sign, and his representative was requesting the same benefits. At the end of the day, we could not accommodate his wishes."

The Fire selected Cervi with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 18.

He spent four seasons at the University of Tulsa and recently started two games for the Under-23 U.S. Men's National Team in Olympic qualifying. Cervi earned a 1-1 record in two games vs. Honduras, both 1-0 results. In three other games, he served as reserve keeper behind Chris Seitz.

Cervi trained with the Fire in preseason, playing in five games with one start.

"We're very happy with Jon and Nick," Guppy said. "We feel very safe with the two of them in goal. We're looking at various options for our third goalkeeper. We definitely don't feel that we're in a rush. We will figure out what works best for the team."