After finding themselves down 1-0 midway through the first half, Chicago Fire defender C.J. Brown felt his squad still had a chance against the visiting New England Revolution on Saturday night at Toyota Park.
"We're a hard working team and we kept pushing and we kept fighting," Brown said. "They (New England) got the goal early and we knew there was a lot of time left for us to get one."
The Fire were able to rally from the one-goal deficit as Chris Rolfe tied the game in stoppage time in the first half and then Chad Barrett recorded his seventh goal of the season in the 60th minute to put Chicago up for good and extend its unbeaten streak to six games.
"In the first half, I had a few misses," said Barrett, who also assisted on Rolfe's goal. "My teammates stuck with me and I was able to pay them back."
With the win and Columbus losing Saturday evening to FC Dallas, the Fire are now five points ahead of the Crew for the eighth and final spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs with two games remaining in the regular season for both teams.
"We felt good and we showed lots of character," said Chicago defender Diego Gutierrez. "We were confident from the beginning to the end of the game."
Chicago captain Chris Armas said that his team needed to come away with three points on their home turf. While the Fire have not lost recently, they had drawn four games in a row, including the last three where their opponents scored late equalizers.
"It was a well-deserved and much needed win," Armas said. "We couldn't keep tying teams and settling for ties but we earned points against some pretty good teams. We knew we had to get a win soon."
Chicago head coach Juan Carlos Osorio was not on the bench for the match. The Fire coach had a view of the contest from a private suite at Toyota Park, serving a one-game suspension after being dismissed in last weekend's game against Chivas USA. Denis Hamlett served in his stead as head coach on the bench Saturday.
"We had lots of pressure on us but I told them that it will take great mental strength to handle adversity and the team showed that," Osorio said. "The fact that we came back down 1-nil it shows the strength and character of this team."
The win pulled the Fire that much closer to putting the nearly three-month winless stretch behind them and reaching the postseason. The team has also attracted the attention of the public -- the Fire recorded their sixth sellout of the season Saturday evening as 20,014 fans came through the turnstiles at Toyota Park. That is the most sellouts the Chicago organization has had in one season and Brown said the impact of the fans cannot be understated.
"The fans have been great. We call them our 12th man," Brown said. "They're always loud and chanting which is great. I think you can credit our improving play and I think you can also give credit to Cuauhtémoc Blanco because he's has many fans. It's great and we appreciate it. There were times that we look at each other and then say to each other how loud it was on the field."
Tim Hilton is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
