| | DALLAS (AP) -- Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoichkov scored twice
for the Chicago Fire in his Major League Soccer debut Saturday, but Ariel Graziani's two second-half goals lifted the Dallas Burn to a 4-2 victory in the season opener for both teams.
Stoichkov, joint-leading scorer at the 1994 World Cup, put
Chicago up in the 14th minute on a header inside the near post off
a cross from Chris Armas.
After Burn forward Jason Kreis' header in the 28th minute tied
the score, Stoichkov made it 2-1 on a breakaway three minutes
before the break.
"I am not surprised the way I played, but we lost and that is
bad," said Stoichkov, who signed a one-year contract Wednesday.
"It's sad to lose even though I scored two goals."
Dallas, which eliminated Chicago from the playoffs last year,
rallied with three second-half goals.
Graziani scored in the 55th minute when a Chad Deering shot
bounced off Fire goalkeeper Greg Sutton. Graziani made a quick
dribble to the right and scored easily.
Eric Dade gave Dallas its first lead 24 minutes later, turning
in a cross from Oscar Pareja, and Graziani closed the scoring with
five minutes to play after Fire defender C.J. Brown failed to cut
off a pass from Dade.
Stoichkov, the second-leading career scorer in Bulgarian soccer,
had not played since leaving Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol eight
months ago.
He was the second big-name European player to sign with Major
League Soccer this season. Germany's Lothar Matthaeus joined the
New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
"For me everything in life is new right now -- new league, new
country, everything," Stoichkov said. "This seems like a good
league and lots of players here have good experience. The U.S. had
a good World Cup in 1994 and now has an improving league."
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