D.C. United are riding high at the moment, carrying a six-game unbeaten streak and a renewed collective confidence into Saturday's match with the Chicago Fire. But despite last week's scintillating 4-2 blowout of the rival Red Bulls, the Black-and-Red are taking care not to rate themselves too highly as they brace for the arrival of a team that's been "a thorn in our sides," as midfielder Ben Olsen put it.
"You never want the lows to be too low and the highs to be too high," said head coach Tom Soehn. "Certain days you might catch a team where they come out flat. That was part of the case [against New York], and I thought we were pretty good. This Saturday, Chicago could come out flying. We have to control what we can control, and make sure we match that."
Dating back to their inaugural year in MLS, the Fire have seemingly had United's number, especially in big games. Chicago upset a stacked United squad in the 1998 MLS Cup Final and have never lost to D.C. in the playoffs. Dave Sarachan's side has won in two of its last three trips to Washington, including an astonishing 4-0 Eastern Conference semifinal drubbing in 2005 that marked a low point in United's proud postseason history.
The Windy City outfit's tenacious, physical approach has often made life difficult for D.C. and United's players are keenly aware that work rate and desire will likely be an influential factor at RFK on Saturday night. To ensure fresh legs for the task, the coaching staff scaled back this week's practice sessions and gave the team Tuesday off.
"It always just seems like Chicago comes strong against us," said Olsen, who will likely don the captain's armband with Jaime Moreno away on Bolivian national team duty. "I don't know why that is. But it's about time we start reversing that and start being a little bit more trouble for them. It's been too long where they've played a little bit better and a little bit more passionate than us. They don't always beat us with the soccer, but that passion that they come with, in the past has sometimes been greater than ours. That's got to change."
Two years ago, Chicago was one of the first MLS sides to focus on United playmaker Christian Gomez, harassing the Argentinean with constant shadowing and plenty of heavy challenges. That approach drove him to distraction in the 2005 playoff meeting, inciting the normally implacable Argentinean to spit at defender C.J. Brown and earn his first and only red card while in MLS. Other teams have since adopted those tactics, forcing the 2006 league MVP to elevate his game to another level.
"Everyone wants to get around him because he's still one of the best players in the league and he's been great the last couple of games," said Olsen. "You can tell that he's really refocused and put a lot of energy into getting himself back to where we need him to be, because he's a huge part of this, as big as anybody on this team."
This season's progress hints at a new resilience that could serve United well in this matchup. After a discouraging 0-3 start, Soehn and his charges have turned their campaign around with renewed intensity and dogged dedication to fundamentals, often finding ways to win even while performing below their potential.
"We've gotten some wins in some tough games," said Bobby Boswell, who is suspended after being sent off against New York last weekend. "The difference is, Chicago is very intense - they hit you in the mouth early and try to get under your skin. We have to match that, and I think we've been doing that a little ourselves lately, by getting after teams and getting after guys. ... The important thing with a team like Chicago is to go out there and fight, fight, fight."
Having put together their best display of the year against the Red Bulls, United are now focused on maintaining their top form from beginning to end in each match.
"I've said this before: there's no layups in our league," said Soehn. "On any day, any team can win. So you only can control what you can do, and we need to continue to make progress on what we've done. If we continue to string stretches of 90 minutes together, we increase our chances."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
