The Chicago Fire withstood a tenacious second-half comeback by D.C. United, hanging on for a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series at RFK Stadium, but still advancing to the conference championship 3-2 on aggregate.
Goals by Chad Barrett and Chris Rolfe two minutes apart in the first half seemed to have secured the series early for the Fire. But Clyde Simms and Christian Gomez scored five minutes in the second half to set up a frantic finish that saw Gomez score an apparent winner to force extra time -- only to have it disallowed for a foul.
Despite the leaky finish, Chicago continued their playoff dominance over the league's most decorated club. The Fire are unbeaten in all seven of their of their postseason matches with United, winning six of them, including MLS Cup 1998 in their inaugural season, with one scoreless draw. During their last playoff visit to RFK Stadium in 2005, Chicago humiliated United 4-0.
Despite accumulating the most points in the league during the regular season and winning the Supporters' Shield for a second consecutive season, United finished the season winless in their final six matches, including two late season draws with the Fire and a loss to Chivas of Guadalajara in the Copa Sudamericana.
The match opened fast-paced and physical and stayed that way throughout. The Fire withstood immediate pressure from United as Fred, Luciano Emilio and Gomez combined for a chance down the left side. Emilio received the final ball from Fred at the top of the penalty area, but while his left-footed shot was going high, it was cautiously snared out of the air by Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens.
Blanco reciprocated in the sixth minute but his right-footed bender curled over the bar from just outside the left corner of the box.
Dasan Robinson's awkward high kick to the face of Fred in the 12th minute offered United a prime opportunity but Gomez's bending cross from the left flank skipped by the far post.
There were further warning signs for United. Blanco ripped a bouncing free kick from 30 yards that United goalkeeper Troy Perkins scooped off the turf just short of half-hour mark. Rolfe followed that up with a chip from the left side that sailed over the top.
The Fire then caught United ball-watching twice in final quarter hour of the first half and extended their aggregate lead with goals by Barrett and Rolfe.
Barrett's ran onto Calen Carr's bending diagonal ball from the right sideline near midfield in the 31st minute. Barrett beat Bobby Boswell to the spot, settled the ball nicely with one touch and planted it into the upper corner to open the scoring.
The Fire caught United defenders napping again two minutes later and Rolfe scored his second goal of the series to double the lead in a hurry. Rolfe slipped between Boswell and Namoff, getting onto Blanco's short little header into the penalty area and lofted it himself over Perkins to the far corner.
It was Rolfe's brilliant goal in the 14th minute of the Fire's home leg last Thursday that staked the Fire to a 1-0 aggregate advantage heading into the match. Calen Carr, who started in the midfield after coming off the bench in the first match, assisted on both goals.
With the RFK Stadium crowd now quieted, the Fire began to shut down all of United's attacking options, closing down United on the flanks quickly and constantly causing Ben Olsen, Jaime Moreno and Fred to dribble into traffic.
Perhaps the first sign of desperation, United coach Tom Soehn inserted Rod Dyachenko, an attacking player in the midfield, for defender Marc Burch in the 41st minute, deciding to play with just three in the back the remainder of the match.
Pickens made a brilliant diving save to deny a close range shot from Emilio in the 50th minute. The Brazilian combined nicely with Olsen in the penalty area, but his bending left-footed shot around a defender toward the left post was knocked wide by the fully extended Pickens.
The series almost came to an end when Perkins knocked down Carr at the top of the penalty area as the speedy Fire attacker got free in behind the pulled-up United defense. Carr looked to have a foot inside the penalty area on the long ball but referee Jair Maruffo was too far away to definitively see the play.
It could have changed the series. In the 69th minute, Simms scored United's first goal ever against Chicago in their seven playoff meetings.
A neat short-passing combination between Gomez and Dyachenko at the top of the restraining arc saw the ball laid off to Simms, and he ripped a low rocket that beat Pickens just inside the left post from 30 yards to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Gomez tied the game in the 74th minute, pounding a shot from 16 yards that trickled just over the goal after Pickens got both hands on but could not push away to make the score. Gomez was beyond the final defender as Dyachenko played a long through ball over the top, but replays showed the linesman was likely correct in keeping the flag down.
For the final quarter-hour and into stoppage time, United kept the pressure on. It finally seemed to break when Moreno headed a ball into the area for Gomez to run onto, but the Argentinean handled the ball as he got separation from Robinson in the penalty area.
Dyachenko was sent off in the dying seconds of the nearly six minutes of stoppage time for a hard foul from behind on Gonzalo Segares, but it mattered little as the Fire shortly afterward celebrated yet another playoff win at RFK Stadium.
Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
