right into the path of the chasing Emilio, and the Brazilian drove home a quick shot through the legs of Crew 'keeper Will Hesmer.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-2-3-1): Will Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Ezra Hendrickson, Rusty Pierce, Stefani Miglioranzi (Jason Garey 76) - Danny O'Rourke, Danny Szetela (Duncan Oughton 62) - Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Ned Grabavoy, Ricardo Virtuoso (Eddie Gaven 60) - Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Marcos Gonzalez, Andy Gruenebaum, Andy Herron, Robbie Rogers
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Greg Vanney, Marc Burch - Fred, Clyde Simms, Joshua Gros (Domenic Mediate 9) - Christian Gomez (Brian Carroll 76) - Jaime Moreno (Rod Dyachenko 86), Luciano Emilio. Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Boswell, Guy-Roland Kpene, Justin Moose, Jay Nolly
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United claimed the Supporters' Shield for the second consecutive season - the first team ever to do that - following their goalless draw with the Chicago Fire on Saturday night at RFK Stadium. United have also clinched the Eastern Conference regular season title, with 55 points heading into the final game of the season.
LAST MATCH
• D.C. United came in riding a 12-game unbeaten streak and had clinched the Eastern Conference regular season title the weekend before -- meaning that the road to the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy will most certainly go through the nation's capital. The Fire were unbeaten in their last six games as they continued to cling to eighth place overall and the last spot in the playoffs.
• D.C. United goalkeeper Troy Perkins was called upon to make a club season-high nine saves, eight during the first half when the Fire held the majority of the play.
• But the best save of the night fell to Fire 'keeper Matt Pickens, who acrobatically tipped a fierce Christian Gomez blast over the bar midway through the half. The woodwork also saved the Fire in the first half when Guy-Roland Kpene lashed a snapshot that smacked the inside of the left post and sailed out the other side.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made three changes to the team that came back for a 1-1 draw away to the Kansas City Wizards the previous Friday. Fred came back from injury and Guy Roland-Kpene was given a start, coming into team for Brian Carroll and the suspended Bobby Boswell.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Greg Vanney, Marc Burch - Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms, Fred (Rod Dyachenko 64) - Christian Gomez - Luciano Emilio, Guy-Roland Kpene (Brian Carroll 46). Substitutes Not Used: Stephen deRoux, Jeff Carroll, Domenic Mediate, Jerson Monteiro, Jay Nolly
• "Overall, it wasn't our best day and the part of the game that we usually do a good job with and that's possession and when you don't do a good job with possession it's going to be a harder day for you and we made it hard on ourselves," Soehn said. "We didn't adjust to how they were playing and it took us a talk at halftime to get organized but we've got to learn how to do that on the field."
TEAM NEWS
• Still, after Chivas USA lost to Colorado the next day, United had secured the Supporters' Shield for the second year running and the fourth time in club history. As such, United claimed one of the league's two berths in the 2008 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.
• "For me, it's a special thing," said Soehn. "It's one of the things you pride yourself on at the beginning of the season, the [international] tournaments which are so important to me - knowing that we're going to be back in there, that was probably my No. 2 goal on the list. So we're all excited about that. It's a situation where we've controlled our own destiny the whole time, and that makes you pretty proud as a coach as well."
• The Fire needed the victory, so they tested United with a different look to their tactics. But after weathering the first-half storm, the Black-and-Red shut down the Chicago attack in the second half and recorded a first clean sheet since Sept. 1.
• "Tactically, we changed it up so we had some numbers in different places so that we could eliminate the counterattacks. We added another central midfielder and we pushed a defender up on the outside and attacked and defended in a different shape. That prevented their ability to find that first pass out, and you can defend one-on-one on the back if you can prevent that first pass," Greg Vanney said.
• Said Brian Carroll, who was brought on to add the extra support in midfield: "They had a good deal of possession in the first half and gave us some headaches. [I was] just in there to create some more possession and maybe settle us down a little bit, and hopefully create some chances off that. Maybe we didn't create enough still, but at least we had some possession and spelled some guys in the back so they were not having to constantly work so hard all the time."
• However, it was a second attacking shutout in three games, in a third consecutive game without Jaime Moreno in the starting lineup.
• "It's frustrating -- we really didn't have solid opportunities like they did tonight, and I think we are still figuring ourselves out without Jaime [Moreno] up there. Christian did well for us and Luciano [Emilio] worked his but off for us, but we didn't keep the ball well," Troy Perkins said. "There are going to be games like that in the playoffs where you just have to battle and battle."
• Perkins made a season-high nine saves, two shy of the club record, in recording an eighth clean sheet of the campaign.
• "I was busy, but that's what they pay me for, and this is a good time of year to do that," said Perkins. "We were pushing too many numbers forward in the first half, and we were basically playing with two lines. We had no one pressuring the ball once they cleared it out and they were just running at us the whole first half, and we couldn't sort it out."
• Winning the Supporters' Shield also capped a year that began with a winless April, but puts United in pole position for a potential fifth MLS Cup championship, with the final to be played at RFK Stadium on Nov. 18.
• "After those first three games of the year, everyone was really down on us," said Perkins. "Our fans were down on us, people were doubting us already, and you know what, we came together within these walls of the locker room and made it turn around. It could've been a disaster of a season for us but we proved them all wrong and made a lot of people eat their words about jumping the gun too quickly on us."
• "I give a lot of credit to Tommy," said United general manager Dave Kasper. "We had a very poor start and he made some very bold moves, including addressing how we play, with a formation change. He changed it midweek before an important game against New England and from there, we've gone onward and upwards."
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew will be on the outside looking in at the MLS Cup Playoffs for a third consecutive season, despite coming back for a thrilling 3-2 victory against the New England Revolution on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. The Crew have 34 points with one match to play, but lose out on all tiebreakers with both the Chicago Fire and Kansas City Wizards, who sit tied for seventh place overall with 37 points each.
LAST MATCH
• Just one win in their last 10 games had left the Columbus Crew needing help if they were to get back to the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Revolution had seen their three-game unbeaten run come to an end the week before, meaning they would finish second in the Eastern Conference regardless.
• The Revolution opened the scoring in the 26th minute. Steve Ralston, again in the central playmaking role, put in a corner from the right and Taylor Twellman was completely unmarked as he headed home for his 15th goal on the season. Then early in the second half, Twellman thundered a half-volley goalward that Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer tipped onto the bar.
• But after the break, the Crew came to life, spurred by the halftime entrance of Guillermo Barros Schelotto. A Schelotto through ball was shot by Robbie Rogers, only to come off the post. But Eddie Gaven swooped in to knock home the rebound in the 61st minute.
• Then in the 77th minute, Gaven turned the corner on the left before slipping a pass back for Stefani Miglioranzi, who side-footed home a full volley from the heart of the area. Yet Ralston pulled the Revolution back to even terms when he finished off a cool one-two with Shalrie Joseph in the right side of the area with an angled drive that settled inside the far post (83).
• But Schelotto provided the game-winner three minutes later, collecting a pass from Miglioranzi out of midfield and lashing a shot past Reis from just outside the area. But it was too little, too late for the Crew, mathematically eliminated with the other results on the night.
• Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made one change to the team that lost 3-1 to FC Dallas at home the previous Saturday. Duncan Oughton was on international duty with New Zealand, and so Danny O'Rourke came into the team into the center of midfield.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-4-2): Will Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Marcos Gonzalez, Ezra Hendrickson, Tim Ward (Rusty Pierce 89) - Eddie Gaven, Stefani Miglioranzi, Danny O'Rourke, Robbie Rogers - Alejandro Moreno, Andy Herron (Guillermo Barros Schelotto 46). Substitutes Not Used: Ned Grabavoy, Andy Gruenebaum, Kei Kamara, Adam Moffat, Ricardo Virtuoso
• "The Revolution's one of the best teams in the league. We've played them three times, and we won the season series with them. We've scored eight goals against them. My contention that we're a team that can play is always there," Schmid said.
TEAM NEWS
• However, despite a terrific start to the campaign and a good run in June and July, the Crew will be outside of the top eight for the third consecutive season after winning the Supporters' Shield in 2004.
• "I think the result in Kansas City killed us (a 3-2 loss on Sept. 15)," Schmid said. "We gave some wins away, like Houston before that. We certainly didn't do well on our home stand in our last four home games. I was pleased the way we played; different people stepped up."
• Said Frankie Hejduk: "All the boys really worked hard tonight; you can't say anything about the effort. We did everything that we could do at this point. It's a shame that it wasn't a little bit more in our hands, but we let that happen. We came here, and we did exactly what we needed to do, and that was to win. We had nothing else on our minds but three points. It's just a shame that we couldn't get a little help. It's kind of seemed to go that way for us the whole year, so the luck hasn't been going our way."
• After suffering an injury and being forced off just 10 minutes into the 1-0 loss to Chicago on Sept. 8, Guillermo Barros Schelotto missed the next three games entirely, and then was able to come on for only seven minutes in the loss to FC Dallas. The Crew lost four of the five games where he was limited to just the 17 minutes; his entrance in New England turned the game around.
• "Guillermo (Barros Schelotto) came in and did very well for us in the second half. We felt his fitness wouldn't allow a whole game. We decided not to start him. We thought he could give us a better push coming off the bench frankly," Schmid said. "From what we saw in the first half, I felt we needed to bring him in right away at halftime, so we could get after it. His focus in games is something he showed."
• Said Hejduk: "He gave us a definite spark. He's definitely a great player in this division. I think it helped that he dropped back in front of their defense and made them make decisions: 'Do they step to him, or do they stay back?' He's really good at finding those gaps in between the midfield and the defense. I think he caused some havoc and he's good on the ball. We feel confident playing the ball into him. He wants the ball and he makes things happen. He was definitely the spark for us in the second half."
• The Crew are in a position to end on a high note, with victories against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
• "Obviously, everyone's disappointed. It's obviously a bittersweet win. But, we've put ourselves in this situation so we only blame ourselves," said goalkeeper Will Hesmer. "I know it's been a frustrating season for our fans and for us. But it is good if we can end on a positive note with two wins and finish off strong and give our fans something to be excited for to look forward to next year."
