Though's Saturday game against D.C. United at RFK Stadium was essentially meaningless, the Chicago Fire came to the nation's capital in search of a momentum swinging victory.
A week earlier, the Fire suffered a particularly painful 4-1 home loss to the basement-dwelling Columbus Crew. And heading into an Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against the New England Revolution, the Fire wanted to turn things around.
"Last week didn't sit well with us," said Fire head coach Dave Sarachan. "Whenever you have an opportunity to win, especially in the 32nd game of a 32-game season, it sends a good message and mindset for the following week."
The Fire certainly gained the push they were looking with a convincing 3-2 victory over their fierce Eastern rivals in a game that saw them never relinquish the lead. Gonzalo Segares and Nate Jaqua scored three minutes apart in the first half, and despite two responses from Christian Gomez, a hit post by Ben Olsen in the 90th minute and 19 shots from the home squad, Andy Herron's thumping blast in the second half proved to be the game-winner.
"Tonight was a good game and gives us continued momentum going into next week and preparing for New England," Sarachan said. "Winning is still an important component even though this game had no implications as far as playoff positioning. We wanted to finish the season on a high note."
Captain Chris Armas -- who set the tone by being the first of five Fire players to be shown a yellow card, his in the 12th minute -- agreed with his coach.
"It gives us a positive taste in our mouth and a little something to build on. As far as we are concerned in this team and this locker room, we are trying to get the soccer better and I think today we had some nice stretches of that," he said. "It leaves a positive feeling during the week now, off a win coming on the road in a tough place to play."
Even though both teams will need to win their respective playoff series, there is no doubt that last year's playoff meeting between the two clubs sits at the forefront of the United players looking to seek revenge after being humiliated in the conference semifinals last fall.
However, the Fire seemed confident that if they were to meet United for a place in the MLS Cup Final, they could repeat last year's triumph against the 2006 Supporters' Shield winners with their multi-faceted attack.
"We wanted to beat them and send them a message that if we meet them in the playoffs, this is what is going to happen," Jaqua said.
The Fire could prove to be a particularly difficult team to handle come playoff time as they have so many different attacking options. The club's great form over the last two-plus months of the season has nearly coincided with the move of lanky Jaqua onto the right flank, utilizing his ability to get into the attack.
"Jaqua gives us a little going forward. He has some attacking instinct. Typically, though, in the 3-5-2 system we play, he spends a lot of time defending, but the times he can get around the goal, he is dangerous and gives us an extra option," said Armas.
Additionally, as evidenced by Sunday's goal from Gonzalo Segares -- his first of the season -- and the two assists from Ivan Guerrero, the Fire have an arsenal of attacking options coming from the back as well.
If Chicago continues to fire on all cylinders and beat the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series beginning next week, there is a strong possibility that they could be back in D.C. if the Black-and-Red are able to get past the New York Red Bulls.
"We have to win our series and they have to win theirs. If it comes down to that, we love coming to RFK to play and we love playing D.C., so we have no problems doing that," Sarachan said.
Jordan Brown is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
