we took two weeks and addressed so many different things to be a harder team to play against, especially having a better road mentality," said Soehn. "On the day you look at individual performances and we were just bad all over the field. I can't think of one guy that did well."
TEAM NEWS
• The statistics showed a game that was thoroughly dominated by the Rapids. United were outshot 17-5, gave up 10 corner kicks while earning only half that many, committed 13 fouls and, most importantly, gave up two second-half goals. But despite the domination by the Rapids' offense, Soehn does not believe the fault lies with his defense.
• "It is not just the back line; it is breaking down before that," said Soehn. "We were giving away the ball continuously, setting them up for counterattacks. The backline actually held us together for a while in bad situations, but when you keep so much pressure on your backline, eventually, they are going to break down."
• United now remains winless away from RFK Stadium in all competitions this year, with four losses and a draw.
• "It seems like everything is in place but we just seem like we are let down by each other on the field," said Santino Quaranta. "There's no fighting or anything going on like that - it's a good group here, but we just can't figure it out right now. And that's scary."
• Soehn gave a start to Franco Niell, his first since the season opener, as Moreno was trying to shake off the effects of lingering knee pain. But while the Bolivian came on at halftime, he could not turn the tide of the match.
• "Sometimes soccer is not going to be pretty; we just need to battle and win second balls and all that kind of stuff that makes a big difference for a team," said Moreno. "It just seems like we are going up and down right now, which is not good, and we just need to figure out how to fix it."
• On Tuesday, United announced a five-year deal with Volkswagen that will put the company's logo on the front of the club's uniforms, in addition to a wide range of other marketing and matchday initiatives.
• "From the day that the league made the decision to permit jersey advertising as you see in the rest of the world, we tried to approach this as a very strategic undertaking," said United president and CEO Kevin Payne. "We're not interested in just chasing the quickest or even the largest money possible. We wanted a partner that would understand what our brand was about, and whose brand would represent many of the same kinds of qualities."
• It was a second consecutive week Soehn went with three in the back, but unlike the 4-1 home win against RSL, it was different result the second time. Soehn first went with a back three from the start of a league match in the 4-0 at Real three weeks earlier.
• "You can talk about tactics, formation all you want but if we don't show up we aren't going to do well, period," said Soehn. "So we are going to be hard not only on our players but on our staff to make sure that we change that."
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire put a second heavy defeat on the New England Revolution already this season, going to Gillette Stadium and coming away with a 3-0 victory last Saturday night. The Fire now sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with 13 points from six matches, two points behind the Columbus Crew.
LAST MATCH
• The Fire had won three of their last four games, while the Revolution were back at home after ending a two-game winless run with a victory at FC Dallas.
• In the first meeting between the teams in the season opener, the Fire claimed a 4-0 victory. After 29 minutes in the rematch, a similar result was on. Putting together a 13-pass movement from their own goalkeeper into the Revolution end, John Thorrington split the New England defense with a pass to Chris Rolfe all alone at the top of the area, and he lashed home a shot on the half-turn for his first goal on the campaign.
• Thorrington doubled the lead five minutes after the break with his third goal in two games. Rolfe sent in a low cross from the right flank, Chad Barrett laid it off back to Thorrington just outside the area, and he curled home a shot inside the right-hand post.
• Stephen King then completed the rout with his first professional goal. Barrett took a pass from Cuauhtemoc Blanco at the edge of the box, but saw his shot blocked by New England 'keeper Matt Reis as he raced off his line. But King was able to hook the looping rebound back into the unguarded goal from the penalty spot.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett made one change to the team that defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1 the previous weekend. With Tomasz Frankowski unavailable, Chris Rolfe was given the start in attack in partnership with Chad Barrett.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-4-1-1): Jon Busch - Brandon Prideaux, Bakary Soumare, Diego Gutierrez, Gonzalo Segares - Chris Rolfe (Stephen King 69), John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Justin Mapp (Daniel Woolard 78) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chad Barrett (Andy Herron 83). Substitutes Not Used: Mike Banner, Calen Carr, Nick Noble, Dasan Robinson
• "We've been pleased with how we matched up with them," John Thorrington said. "Every time you come to New England, you're expecting a battle. You just need to match that, which we did tonight. We're not expecting to beat them 3-0, 4-0 again. We know they are a good team, a tough team that will be there at the end of the season. It definitely feels good for us to get a victory here."
LAST MATCH
• For Rolfe, who scored his first goal of the year and then was credited with his first assist of the season, it was first start in four matches after suffering an ankle injury. In the meantime, John Thorrington had slotted into his spot on the right of midfield - and against the Revolution, scored his third goal in two matches.
• Against New England, Hamlett went with a lone striker in Barrett with Cuauhtémoc Blanco very active as the underneath forward, and Thorrington holding more centrally along with Logan Pause.
• "We came here and changed the formation a little bit, but all week we worked on it so I knew exactly what I had to do tonight," Thorrington said. "Thankfully, we got (Chris) Rolfe back from injury and he showed with his first goal why he is playing. I can play a number of different positions and when I'm on the field I'm just happy to be there and I'll do whatever they ask."
• Said Hamlett: "I think it is no different than what (John Thorrington's) been playing. He is a guy who does a lot of dirty work in the middle and tonight he did with Logan (Pause). They broke up a lot of plays and made some good passes and connected with guys in front of them. I am just very proud of the group in terms of their commitment from the beginning of the game to the end of the game."
• The Fire have scored 11 goals on the campaign, tied for second in the league with Columbus, two fewer than the LA Galaxy.
• "I think when you have guys on the field that are mobile and can handle the ball and break in tight spots I think it makes it hard for teams to stay with us," Hamlett said. "Between John (Thorrington), Justin (Mapp), (Chris) Rolfe, (Cuauhtémoc) Blanco -- these guys are always active, they are moving and they can get into different spots and receive the ball so that gives teams problems because of our mobility."
• Yet perhaps more impressive has been the team's defending. The win against the Revolution was the third clean sheet on the season; the Fire have allowed a league-low three goals in six contests.
• "It's a commitment of the whole group defending," Hamlett said. "It's important to get the second goal early. Now then, we know they're going to come out and push some more. We were bunkering a little bit, but at the same time, you're still trying to make plays."
