Sports
Tony Walls Lands Contract with Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer
The Wauwatosa East graduate had been on trial with the club after being drafted in January; the season opens Saturday at Montreal.
Just days before the Major League Soccer season opener in Montreal, the Chicago Fire signed Wauwatosa’s Tony Walls to a contract and added him to the 26-man roster.
The team announced the signing Thursday on its website, and on Saturday serves as the opponent for the first MLS match of the expansion Montreal Impact. About 50,000 fans are expected for Saturday’s match.
- Follow Tony Walls on Twitter @TWalls20
Walls was a third-round choice of the Fire in the January supplemental draft following a decorated career at UW-Green Bay. He has been through six weeks of training camp with the Fire and has been on the bubble through much of that period. According to the UW-Green Bay athletic web site, Walls said the process was long and stressful.
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"I'm emotionally drained, it's been a roller coaster ride throughout preseason but it's a dream come true,” he said.
Walls was a decorated athlete at and was the 2011 Horizon League Player of the Year for the Phoenix.
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The Fire finished sixth in the nine-team Eastern Conference last year and endured a coaching change during the season. Frank Klopas, an original Chicago Fire player, was named the permanent head coach in November.
Chicago plays home games at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL. The first home game is March 24 against Philadelphia.
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