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Frankowski leads four-goal onslaught as Fire rout Revolution

Apr 4, 2008 - 4:46 AM BRIDGEVIEW, Illinois (Ticker) -- The New England Revolution didn't need the contribution of Taylor Twellman in their first game. However, they clearly missed him on Thursday.

Tomasz Frankowski scored two first-half goals to lead the Chicago Fire to a 4-0 rout of the New England Revolution.

Twellman, who finished third in MLS with 16 goals last season, is expected to sidelined at least six weeks after suffering a tear of his medial meniscus. While his absence didn't keep New England from winning its MLS Cup rematch with Houston on Saturday, the Revolution could muster no offense five days later.

After the Fire jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a goal by Chad Barrett in the fourth minute, Frankowski notched his first tally of the season, scoring off a rebound from a shot by Barrett from the front center of the penalty area.

However, the tide of the game turned after Jeff Larentowicz was red-carded on a questionable foul on Chicago defender Brandon Prideaux in the seventh minute, relegating New England to 10 players for the remainder of the game.

Replays of the incident showed that the Prideaux may have actually tripped on the wet and cold field at Toyota Park.

"After two goals, you could say it was a bad start," Revolution coach Steve Nichol said. "(But) if we are going to send people off with calls like that, there will be nobody left at the end of the year. If you are going to ref like that, do it for both sides.

"Ten minutes later, (Chicago midfielder) Justin Mapp does a straight leg tackle and we only get a free kick - that spoils the game."

Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis was equally displeased.

"It's a situation where you adjust being down a man when it happens that early in the game," Reis said. "We did the best we could under the circumstances. You're playing against the elements, the Chicago Fire and the referee."

Cuauhtemoc Blanco continued the scoring onslaught with his second goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 37th minute to increase the lead to 3-0.

His kick, which was set up by a foul to Justin Mapp by the Revolution's Sainey Nyassi, was a right-footed shot high in to the left corner of the net past Reis.

Frankowski capped the four-goal first half with his second tally of the game in the 39th minute. Barrett set up the play with a cross pass to Frankowski, who scored a one-timer into the net past Reis from inside the penalty area.

"My two goals (were) a result of Chad Barrett's hard work and (my) being in the right position," Frankowski said. "I am happy to score and help the team."

The offense was more than enough for Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch, who recorded five saves to post his 27th career shutout for the Fire, who gained a small measure of revenge against a Revolution team that has knocked Chicago out of the playoffs three straight seasons.

"No, but does it sting a little when you think about them ending our season last year - yes," said Fire midfielder Diego Gutierrez when asked if this was a revenge game. "But really, we need to get off to good start this season. I think we are now ready to play any team."

Reis posted four saves for the Revolution.

"Even though we had 10 men on the field, we still thought we had a good team out there," Nichol said. "We should have changed our approach out there earlier; we learned something tonight."