After seeing his team clinch a berth in a U.S. Open Cup Final for the fifth time in nine seasons, Chicago Fire head coach Dave Sarachan pulled few punches in his assessment of the 3-0 victory against D.C. United on Wednesday night.
"Tonight was a display of one team wanting to play, and one team didn't really want to play," Sarachan said. "We had, from start to finish I felt, full control of the match. We needed to get that first goal, and we did, and then the floodgates opened."
Justin Mapp gave the Fire the lead with a 58th-minute goal, then Calen Carr scored twice over the final quarter hour to send the Fire into the final against the Los Angeles Galaxy, 3-1 winners against Houston Dynamo on Wednesday. The championship will be held Sept. 27 at Toyota Park.
Before Carr's two goals however, there was an equally notable incident. Facundo Erpen was sent off for a hard tackle on Thiago, and in the ensuing melee between the two teams, Fire captain Chris Armas also received his marching orders.
"I was very proud, very proud of my team in keeping their composure and dealing with what we expected, towards a little bit of chaos," Sarachan said. "I'm very disappointed that our captain [midfielder Chris Armas] and the heart and soul of this team has the final taken away from him for just standing up for his team after what I thought was ... well, you saw it, a pretty cowardly display. So that's disappointing, but I'm not going to let that taint the evening."
Not surprisingly, United boss Peter Nowak saw it quite differently.
"I hope the final is going to be someplace else. The officials today won the game for the Fire," he said. "Instead of having won this game, we lost 3-0. And all the work and the points go in the trash. That's not supposed to happen in the semifinal."
While the win brings the Fire closer to one trophy this season, Sarachan was also pleased for what the performance could do in sending his team on its way toward a second MLS Cup.
"We've been a real team the past month and it's paying dividends," he said. "... Everyone's going to interpret this in different ways. We looked at it as a tough opponent tonight. We've played D.C. twice before this game this year and had very good games - a tie and a loss, but very good games. We don't back down to any team."
Carr has been the hero of the Fire's Open Cup run so far. He scored the first goal in Chicago's 2-0 win against Kansas City in the fourth round, then set up the first of Andy Herron's two goals in the 2-0 quarterfinal win against New England before getting two more of his own Wednesday.
He put the game away with his 76th-minute goal when he reached around Erpen to latch onto a free kick headed on by Nate Jaqua, surprising United 'keeper Troy Perkins with a shot inside the far post.
"I just tried to get around the guy," Carr said. "They were great balls on both plays where they set me up and I just tried to get a good angle as it ran across his body. [I] tried to get a good angle on it and got the step around him and tried to redirect it."
"It's good to be young. He's like Gumby, bouncing around," Sarachan said. "The second goal was classic, he is so fast off the mark. He's learning on the job and still is not a finished product."
And the rookie striker knows that the road to a trip to the MLS Cup Final could also take the Fire through D.C. United.
"It's a huge rivalry. It's my first year on the team but just the feeling, the energy before tonight's game, it's a game that everyone looks forward to," he said. "It's a game I was really excited to be apart of and to be able to beat a team at the top of the table right now, it gave us even more confidence that it helps us build towards the future."
Jack Daniel Chavez is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
