awarded annually to the winner of season series by the supporters groups of both clubs. FC Dallas held the edge after a 3-2 win in the season opener for both teams.
The second meeting had a similar plot. FC Dallas took the lead after just eight minutes, Ramon Nunez allowed to run at the Fire defense before letting fly and finding the inside of the left-hand post from outside the area.
But after the break, the Fire pulled ahead, thanks to two goals in six minutes from Andy Herron. First, in the 54th minute, the FCD offside trap was sprung with a through ball by Nate Jaqua and Herron nutmegged 'keeper Dario Sala from close range. Then six minutes later, Herron controlled a long ball from Diego Gutierrez in the left corner, rounded a defender and banged home inside the near post from a tight angle.
Yet the Hoops claimed the win with two goals in four minutes. Chris Gbandi was dispossessed in the left corner, but the ball rolled into the heart of the Chicago penalty area, where Bobby Rhine slipped in to hammer it home (77). Then Arturo Alvarez floated a crafty chip to the spot where Kenny Cooper sent a glancing header inside the far post, his second late game-winner against the Fire this season that left the Brimstone Cup in possession of the Texas club for a fifth consecutive season.
Fire head coach Dave Sarachan made one change to the team that lost 2-1 to the New England Revolution the weekend before, the club's first-ever loss in Bridgeview. Gonzalo Segares came up with a late hamstring strain, so Diego Gutierrez moved into the back three, with Logan Pause coming into the lineup in a midfield role.
Here's Sarachan's team (3-4-1-2): Zach Thornton - C.J. Brown, Diego Gutierrez, Dasan Robinson - Ivan Guerrero, Logan Pause (Brian Plotkin 87), Chris Armas, Justin Mapp - Thiago (Calen Carr 67) - Andy Herron (Chad Barrett 73), Nate Jaqua. [Substitutes Not Used: Floyd Franks, Jared Montz, Matt Pickens, Jordan Russolillo]
"I bet in the back of their minds they're like, 'All right, we got the lead. It's a hot day. We can ride this one out,'" Sarachan said. "Their second goal was, Calen [Carr] pokes it, trying to defend, pokes it right to Bobby Rhine and he hit a bomb. The third goal, Kenny Cooper is going to get those balls in the air and the ball comes in, so days like this the mental faculty is gone. At home, with the lead, heat or no heat, you've got to win that game. You've got to get out of there with three points and we come away with zero points, so it's disappointing."TEAM NEWS
While Herron scored two goals, it was a third chance shortly after completing his double that came back to haunt the Fire. "Andy buried the two tough shots but missed the easiest and it went over the bar," Sarachan said. "It was a tough day -- 3 o'clock game, it was tough for both teams. Days like this your mental faculties go on you. I think the team was thinking 'we got the lead, it's a hot day, we can grind this one out' -- and it didn't work that way."
Herron said the heat was difficult - and could have contributed to the missed chance. "You can't imagine what it was like on the field. This is one of the hottest situations I've played in and I'm from Costa Rica," he said. "It was unbelievable. You try to recover but you can't breathe."
After falling behind to the early goal and not creating many chances in the first half -- especially over the final 30 minutes of the half -- the Fire were pleased with how they responded to start the second.
"In the first 20 minutes of the second half we were winning. I don't know if we thought it was over, we could have killed this team off," Chris Armas said. "We've got to find ways to win when you're up 2-1. We should have three points. We are absolutely spent and it was all for nothing. It seemed like Dallas was dead; it came down to a couple of good counters. We don't play good enough team defense, as a team effort. The Italians won the World Cup because of it."
While the Fire had started to put together some good results after moving into their new home, they still have allowed the first goal in three of their five games in Bridgeview.
"We're one step away, one thought process away, one guy losing concentration away from winning," Fire defender C.J. Brown said to the Daily Southtown. "We're that close to being one of the top teams. We always wait until we're down a goal to start playing, and that's not what makes you one of the best."D.C. UNITED
D.C. United just kept rolling along, though it wasn't as sure as recent weeks, still holding on for a 3-2 victory at home against the Columbus Crew last Saturday at RFK Stadium, the second win against the Crew in as many weeks. United have now won six games in a row, their unbeaten streak at 13 games, and their 44 points from 19 matches are the best in the MLS overall table, 11 points ahead of FC Dallas. They lead the Eastern Conference by 20 points ahead of the New England Revolution.
LAST MATCH
United and the Crew were meeting for the fourth time this season and the second in successive weekends, with the Black-and-Red having won the last two after playing to a draw in their first encounter this season.
And for the first 45 minutes, it seemed certain that trend would change. In a dominant opening half, United took the lead in the 16th minute when Ben Olsen was freed on a break and hit a low shot that Crew 'keeper Noah Palmer was unable to hold, Christian Gomez gliding in to bang home the rebound for his seventh goal of the season.
But in the first minute of stoppage time, the Crew pulled level. A long shot from Leonard Bisaku took a pair of deflections and fell into the path of Kei Kamara, who hammered a wicked swerving blast inside the near post to pull the visitors level at the break.
United re-took control of the game with two goals inside the first 19 minutes of the second half. Brian Carroll ran onto a deflected shot and found the back of the net with an absolute ripper from outside the area (50), then Olsen collected his second goal of the season in the 64th minute. He nabbed a loose ball in the Crew area, and cutting away from goal, cleverly pulled a rolling shot back inside the far post that eluded the entire defense.
The Crew pulled back within one 18 minutes from the end on another long-range blast, this from Eric Vasquez from the top of the restraining arc. The Crew caused some tense moments for United over the final stretch, but the home side still survived to extend their winning run.
United head coach Peter Nowak made one change to the team that beat the Crew 1-0 in Columbus the weekend previous. With Alecko Eskandarian suspended, Christian Gomez returned to the starting lineup, after given a break the weekend before.
Here's Nowak's team (3-4-2-1): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Bobby Boswell, Facundo Erpen (John Wilson 46) - Ben Olsen (Jamil Walker 68), Brian Carroll, Clyde Simms, Joshua Gros - Christian Gomez, Freddy Adu (Devon McTavish 82) - Jaime Moreno. [Substitutes Not Used: Rod Dyachenko, Domenic Mediate, Santino Quaranta, Nick Rimando]
"The second half had great intensity. We scored a couple good goals, had good distribution. Every time we scored goals, Columbus came back. At the end of the game we were pretty nervous because we were very disorganized. Everyone was doing whatever they wanted to. There was space between our midfield line and back line, or we were too close to each other; Columbus had a couple of good chances," Nowak said. "They gave us trouble today -- respect and credit to them. They were still pushing for the one point. I think it's a good win -- a great win for our fans, for our team, for our mentality, but still we need to work on the organization and show them that those kind of goals will not happen to us.TEAM NEWS
Remarkably, in the middle of July, United already have a "magic number" for clinching a playoff place. Any combination of 19 points won by United and lost by New York and Columbus respectively will ensure a postseason place for the Black-and-Red. United have 44 points; the Crew cannot finish with more than 60 points, while the Red Bulls cannot attain more than 62.
"A couple wins could change the situation completely. We're going with the flow; it doesn't really change our mentality or our approach to the remaining schedule - it's important to give us a good record," Nowak said. "The organization is important to me and the mental part is still very important, so we'll keep a fresh look. We're going to analyze this game and make sure things are going to be right, so nothing changes. There are so many games to play in a season, that we will see the development for us in the end."
Nowak's team did have a different look with Ben Olsen again reprising the wide midfield role where he really made his mark when he first came into the league in 1998.
"I think Ben wants to play and I think the position for him in this game was on the right. He brought a lot of energy and a good shot from distance to set up the first goal, and he scored the third goal," Nowak said. "I'm very happy how he played. The match fitness is not there, but we'll work very hard to get him back. So as I said, we have such depth and we have to use our rotation to make sure everyone is fresh and everyone is going to be ready to perform. That's what is important to this team."
Despite the lengthy unbeaten streak, United are not yet satisfied with anything - as evidenced by last week's performance, even with the victory. "There's a little stain on that game because we tried to give it away there at the end," Olsen said. "Columbus right now isn't the best team in the league and we should do better against that team. ... We've got to be sharper because a better team punishes us for some of those mistakes."
United once again hit the road, now for a three-game stretch over a week, beginning with the trip to Chicago. United does not play at home again until Aug. 19 "We're just going to do the same things we do. We've had one of these road trips, we've had three away games in a row and we've won all of them," Freddy Adu said. "We've had them before so we know what to do. We've got to take care of our bodies. When we score on the road we've got to learn how to keep that lead and pretty much just ice the game, and that's pretty much what this team has been doing this whole season, so it has been great."
