PHOENIX, Arizona – We’ll call it the ‘hump’ day. Day three at the Development Academy Showcase lacked the sizzle of previous action.

It was a Sunday that featured some sluggish play, and many teams fell victim.

Count the U16 New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire among them.

The two clubs played to a 1-1 tie in a match that was characterized by Jekyll and Hyde performances.

For one half of soccer, the Red Bulls looked like the team to beat. They took an early 1-0 advantage and appeared as though they might walk away with an easy victory.

“After halftime we realized we really needed to pick it up,” said defender Charlie Oliver.

Slowly but surely, they did.

Players like Bay Kurtz and Craig Scott helped to turn the momentum with their aggressiveness as Chicago started to control the game through the air.

The Fire earned their equalizing goal on a great sequence in the box. The Red Bulls attempted to clear the ball away but Scott headed it back toward the goal, Elliot Borge back-tapped it and Francisco Sajuan was there to clean it up for the score.

“It was a good combination. It was definitely a relief,” Oliver said. “We should have come out way stronger than we did. We finished it off better but still not to the level we (would have liked).”

The Fire was playing without midfielder Anthony Jeffries who sat out after playing in the Academy Select game a day earlier.

Chicago had a couple of late chances to notch the go-ahead goal but couldn’t come up with it.

The Red Bulls received notable performances from Bolu Akinyode, a strong and physical presence, along with midfielder Diego Ceron, who played some nice crosses. Ross Tetro got his head on a few of those Ceron passes, but could not convert any.   

Notes

Bryan de la Fuente scored a penalty kick to give U18 Chivas USA a 1-0 lead and spark them to an eventual 3-1 victory over Texas Rush AJ Auxerre.

U18 Pateadores destroyed Atlanta Fire United 7-1. The match was highlighted by a pretty goal from Irvin Parra-Anaya who put a jumping flick over the head of the keeper. He punctuated the goal with a back flip celebration.

U18 CASL battled the Baltimore Bays in a match that was as competitive and physical (in a clean) way as you’ll see. It was nice to see CASL get some competition after they blasted Met Oval 9-1 on Friday.