pitting the Chicago-based club against D.C. United.
During the MLS regular season, the Fire suffered a 3-1 loss on June 18, in their first encounter with D.C. at RFK. The game would be the sixth loss of the last eight games played by the Fire and mark the last match with former head coach Dave Sarachan at the helm for the "Men in Red". The Fire added a 1-1 tie at home in Bridgeview on Sept. 23 before heading back to RFK on Oct. 13 to finish out the regular season series with a 0-0 tie. The Fire own a 12-12-7 record against D.C. United in all regular season matches played, but are 4-9-3 in games contested in the nation's capitol.
The playoffs are a different story all together. The Fire own the playoffs, boasting an undefeated 5-0-1 record and outscoring their opponent 11-0 across six all-time postseason match-ups. With a win last Thursday against, the Fire go into the game tonight with a one game lead, and a one goal advantage in the two game aggregate series against their Eastern Conference foe.
A 14th minute tally from forward Chris Rolfe was enough for the Fire to nab the first win on the Series however, should there be a split result in the two games of the Conference Semifinals Series and an equal number of aggregate goals is scored by each team at the end of regulation (i.e. if D.C. wins tonight 1-0), a 30-minute extra time period (consisting of two 15-minute halves) shall be played in its entirety. If the score still remains tied at the conclusion of the 30-minute extra time period, the game and Conference Semifinal Series winner will decided by a traditional penalty kick tiebreaker.
The Fire will advance to the Eastern Conference Championship with a win or tie tonight against United.
The other two teams battling for a position in the Eastern Conference Championships are the New York Red Bulls and the New England Revolution. The two teams met on Saturday, in East Rutherford, NJ as the Red Bulls played host to the Revolution at Giants Stadium - a game that ended in a 0-0 tie.
This weekend it will be the higher-seeded Revolution's turn to host the second leg of the home-and-away series, as the Red Bulls will be forced to win a match at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. -- a feat New York has only accomplished four times in 22 games contested on the road against the Revs. During 2007 MLS regular season matches, the Red Bulls have a record of 0-2-1 against the Revolution, and with the tie last Saturday; New England remains unbeaten by New York in the 2007 season.
The Fire face D.C. United tonight, Thursday, Nov. 1 (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN2) at RFK Stadium in the second leg of their Conference Semifinal Series, while the New England Revolution versus New York Red Bulls match will take place on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Gillette Stadium (6:30 p.m. CT, FSC).
