Chicago Fire 3 - Real Espana 1; video highlights, preseason notes, and more

In case you missed it, the Chicago Fire defeated Real Espana 3-1 in Saturday night's international exhibition. Video highlights, goal scorers, and Fire starters are after the break. The team has a recap with some quotes from Klopas up on the website. The local paper, The Times-Picayune, had a good recap too.

Players are back in Chicago for a day or two before flying off to Ventura, CA. The next preseason game is on Saturday, February 11 vs. Chivas USA. Fire also play Portland Timbers on Wednesday, February 15 and the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, February 18.

Don't be surprised if one player that joins the squad for the next phase of preseason is 23 year-old Panamanian center back Eduardo Dassent. Diario Pro is in on the reporting. Greek center back Stavros Stathakis left the team after his trial last week. Dassent might play a similar role in California. Klopas has said new trialists will be joining the team.

2012 Chicago Fire single game tickets are now on sale. More information can be found at the link or by calling 1-888-MLS-FIRE. The 2012 Chicago Fire home schedule can be downloaded here.

Chicago Fire 3 - Real Espana 1

Dominic Oduro continues to score goals. Fortunately for the Fire, it looks like Oduro's breakout 2011 season was indeed a breakout and not a fluke. Cory Gibbs and Gonzalo Segares were held out of the game as injury precautions. Sebastian Grazzini had to be removed from the game due to an injury. There's no need to be concerned for either player at the moment. All three have been putting in minutes and there's no reason to risk any kind of injury for these games.

The trialist Alex got some more time as Grazzini's backup. When Videira subbed in for Alex, Corben Bone went into the creative midfield spot like he had been playing in Florida. Victor Pineda continues to impress. He assisted Orr Barouch in the 88th minute. Great to see the 18 year-old connecting with the 20 year-old striker while clearly not packing it in at the end of the game.

Chicago Fire:

First Half: Jay Nolly; Dan Gargan, Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry, Ivan Guerrero*; Patrick Nyarko, Pavel Pardo, Marco Pappa; Sebastian Grazzini (Alex*, 41'); Dominic Oduro, Federico Puppo

Second Half: Jay Nolly; Tony Walls**, Pari Pantazopoulos, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Hunter Jumper**; Victor Pineda, Daniel Paladini, Corben Bone; Alex* (Michael Videira, 76'); Kheli Dube (Kellen Gulley 82'), Orr Barouch

Substitutes not used: Alec Kann*, Paulo Tornaghi*, Cory Gibbs

* - Trialist

** - MLS SuperDraft/Supplemental Draft selection

Real C.D. España:

Kevin Hernandez (Marcelo Macias, 46'); Maynor Martinez, Sergio Boca, Daniel Tejeda, David Roura; Juan Acevedo, Edder Delgado (Henry Acosta, 57'), Julio Rodriguez, Jairo Puerto (Gerson Rodas, 46'); Luis Lobo, Jonatan Hansen

Substitutes not used: Hilder Colon, Christian Martinez, Carlos Pavon, Johnny Calderon

Scoring Summary

CHI - Dominic Oduro (Sebastian Grazzini) 26'

RCDE - Edder Delgado (Jairo Puerto) 38'

CHI - Dominic Oduro (Patrick Nyarko) 44'

CHI - Orr Barouch (Victor Pineda) 88'

Misconduct Summary

CHI - Patrick Nyarko (caution) 21'

CHI - Pari Pantazopoulos (caution) 80'

Referee: Jasen Anno

Referee's Assistants: Greg Boles, Jeff Greason

Attendance: 6,234