An off-color D.C. United side relied on the sure hands of goalkeeper Troy Perkins to survive a subpar first half and scratch out a 0-0 draw Saturday night with the Chicago Fire at RFK Stadium, raising the stakes for their season finale against Columbus in a week's time.
Depending on the result of Sunday's match between Chivas USA and Colorado, United could find themselves in a must-win situation against the Crew if they wish to grab their second consecutive Supporters' Shield. But their position would be even worse, were it not for Perkins' exploits.
"He had a lot of work tonight," said D.C. defender Devon McTavish of his netminder. "He came up huge, particularly in the first half. We kind of relied on him too much back there. But he's had another great season -- he's been stellar back there."
Perkins, the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, made eight saves in the first 45 minutes en route to a season-high nine stops overall as his teammates abandoned their typical possession game and lost their shape in the face of the visitors' aggressive, up-tempo style.
"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."
Chicago strikers Chad Barrett, Paulo Wanchope and Cuauhtemoc Blanco spearheaded a forward-leaning Fire squad that threw plenty of numbers into the attack -- hardly a surprise given their urgent need for victories as they try to hold off the resurgent Los Angeles Galaxy for a playoff spot.
"They have a lot of players who cheat, and just kind of hang out up front and don't really get back and defend," said United center back Greg Vanney. "They wait for their defenders to win the ball and play it forward quickly and they try to counterattack from that. We were a little bit impatient in our attack. We tried to attack them right away, we'd turn over the ball and they come right back at us, and then we were kind of scrambling."
At the half, D.C. coach Tom Soehn responded to Chicago's daring approach by adding an extra midfielder in the form of Brian Carroll, and the veteran's ability to clog the Fire's passing lanes helped staunch the bleeding. United were unspectacular in the second 45 minutes, but certainly effective from a defensive standpoint, as the team earned its first shutout since Sept. 1.
"They had a good deal of possession in the first half and gave us some headaches," said Carroll. "[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."
Combined with New England's loss almost simultaneously with the final whistle at RFK, the result guaranteed D.C. the top spot in the Eastern Conference for a second consecutive season. But Soehn shook off that achievement, making clear that his team was looking towards greater achievements.
"Supporters' Shield isn't clinched, so no one is celebrating in there," he said, nodding towards the United locker room.
"Listen: these guys are focused and we've made the playoffs," Soehn continued. "A lot of teams celebrate when they make the playoffs. It wasn't mentioned. Tonight, we won the conference and I think they expect to do that. But we've got something out there that is very important to us, and they are very focused on that. So, they are actually pretty disappointed right now."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
