Fire find positives in 1-0 loss to Milan

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Sunday's international friendly between the Chicago Fire and A.C. Milan had a few elements you wouldn't typically see at a Fire match at Toyota Park.

Away from the field of play, you had the crowd, a couple of fans disrupting the action, a flare whizzing by Milan goalkeeper Dida. On the field, with a top-tier opponent such as Milan, the fluidity and trickery with the ball tends to go up a level from both sides.

In the end, Milan pulled off the 1-0 victory over Chicago in front of a sell-out crowd of 20,356. The result was a disappointment from the Fire's perspective, but Chicago took some elements out of this match.

After speaking with Fire midfielder/forward Patrick Nyarko, he took plenty of satisfaction in saying that he schooled Milan's Ronaldinho, a two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, by flicking the ball over Ronaldinho's head and attacking in the other direction in the 16th minute.

"It was great," Nyarko said with a huge grin. "I was laughing it up with my teammates. It's probably the highlight of my career right now. I told him that he's probably going to [beat] me later, but I don't care. It was really fun. I'm glad I pulled it off."

Read the full story at ESPNChicago.com.