Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Chicago Fire's Under-16 team dropped its two group matches at the third annual Al Kass International Cup in Doha, Qatar, falling to Aspire Qatar 1-0 on Tuesday and Manchester City 6-1 on Wednesday.

Jack Shaw (Milwaukee Marquette), a former Bavarian SC player who joined the Fire's U.S. Soccer Development Academy team last fall, started both games and wore the captain's armband for the first American team invited to the elite 12-team tournament that features youth sides from some of the world's top clubs.

Sam Kornetzke (Grafton/North Shore United) was an unused sub Tuesday, when the Fire played the host side even after falling behind in the 14th minute. Chicago nearly equalized in the 69th as Jacob Montes sent a header off the crossbar.

On Wednesday, Manchester City dominated possession and chances, but the Fire went ahead in the fourth minute. American center back Daniel Barbir headed in a corner kick to pull the English club level in the 26th and the Citizens went ahead in the second half.

Down 2-1, the Fire chipped a shot off the post in the 80th, then saw Manchester City quickly counter and score the first of what proved to be four goals in the final 9 minutes.

Kornetzke came on for Shaw and played the final 15 minutes for the Fire on Wednesday. The other Wisconsin player who made the trip to the site of the 2022 World Cup, Connor Alba (Waukesha Catholic Memorial/SC Waukesha), hasn't been on a game-day roster. Kornetzke and Alba play for the Wisconsin Fire, a partnership between 10 Wisconsin clubs, the state Olympic Development Program and the Major League Soccer club.

The Fire will play in the ninth- or 11th-place match Friday – one potential opponent for Chicago is French club Paris Saint-Germain, which lost to Spain's FC Barcelona 4-3 and Japan's Kashiwa Reysol 2-1 and finished 0-2-0 in Group A.