D.C. UNITED v CHICAGO FIRE
RFK MEMORIAL STADIUM, Washington D.C.
7:30 p.m. ET (HDNet)
June 16, 2007 (WEEK 11) / MLS Game #69
A suddenly rampant D.C. United remains at home for the second consecutive weekend, entertaining one of their fiercest rivals as the Chicago Fire come to RFK Stadium looking to reverse a recent rough stretch. United haven't lost in six games, winning for the fourth time in five in a 4-2 win against New York last Sunday after going a man down. The Fire have lost five of their last seven games overall, their 1-0 to Chivas USA last weekend following their first victory for more than a month.
REFEREE: Tim Weyland. SAR (bench): Nate Clement; JAR (opposite): Paul Scott; 4th: Andrew Chapin
MLS Career: 68 games; FC/gm: 30.6; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 18; pens: 17
Games involving United: P12 W5 L7 T0; FC/gm: 34.6; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 6; pens: 3
Games involving Fire: P10 W7 L3 T0; FC/gm: 26.8; Y/gm: 3.7; R: 1; pens: 4
INJURY REPORT: D.C. UNITED - OUT: FW Jamil Walker (Achilles rupture), DF John Wilson (mid-foot sprain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Guy-Roland Kpene (adductor strain); MF Clyde Simms (ankle sprain); FW Kasali Casal (ankle sprain)... CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: DF Osei Telesford (L groin strain); MF Thiago (R groin strain); FW Chris Rolfe (L ankle sprain); MF Chris Armas (L hip pain); DOUBTFUL: MF Logan Pause (concussion/facial contusion); QUESTIONABLE: MF Pascal Bedrossian (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: DF Dasan Robinson (R hamstring strain)
SUSPENDED: DC: Bobby Boswell (through June 18)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHI: Gonzalo Segares
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DC: Christian Gomez, Ben Olsen ... CHI: Calen Carr, C.J. Brown
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: DC: Jaime Moreno (Bolivia; Copa America) ... CHI: Justin Mapp (USA; CONCACAF Gold Cup); Ivan Guerrero (Honduras; CONCACAF Gold Cup)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (28 meetings): United 11 wins (0 shootout), 44 goals ... Fire 12 wins (0 shootout), 45 goals ... Ties 5
AT RFK STADIUM (14 meetings): United 8 wins (1 shootout), 26 goals ... Fire 4 wins (1 shootout), 18 goals ... Ties 2
• This is the first of three meetings this season between the clubs, the first of two on East Capitol Street. They next meet in their lone encounter at Toyota Park, on Sept. 23, with the season series finale set for the nation's capital on Oct. 13.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
6/21: DC 1, CHI 0 (Simms 17)
7/22: CHI 1, DC 1 (Jaqua 29 - Eskandarian 74)
9/17: CHI 1, DC 0 (Herron 61)
10/15: DC 2, CHI 3 (Gomez 34, 82 - Segares 21; Jaqua 24; Herron 74)
• A year ago, the Fire won the season series, claiming two of the four meetings with one draw. The teams split their two meetings in Washington.
• The Fire's 3-2 victory at RFK Stadium in the season finale last year ended a four-game United home winning streak in the series in league play. The last Fire win at D.C. in the regular season came April 24, 2004 - though, of course, there was the 4-0 win in the second leg of the 2005 Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.
• While the Fire hold a slim edge in league play all-time, they have been dominant in cup competitions. The Fire have won four of the five games played between the teams in the MLS Cup Playoffs (with one draw), while winning the lone encounter in the U.S. Open Cup. The teams also played to a draw in their only match in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.
• Coaches record: Tom Soehn vs. CHI: first game ... Dave Sarachan v DC: P17 W7 L6 D3
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United extended their unbeaten streak to six games, returning to their winning ways with an impressive 4-2 victory against the New York Red Bulls at RFK Stadium last Sunday. United are now in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points from nine matches, tied with the Chicago Fire, both teams four points behind the New England Revolution and six points out of first place.
LAST MATCH
• D.C. United had seen their three-game winning run come to an end, but still kept a clean sheet for the first time on the campaign, with a scoreless draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy the week before. The Red Bulls were in the last match of a three-game, eight-day road swing, having come back to defeat Toronto FC at midweek.
• The teams traded goals three minutes apart in the early going. Josh Gros flighted in a cross from the left flank and Olsen slipped in at the back post before diving to head home to give United a 15th-minute lead. But Dema Kovalenko latched onto the ball some 25 yards straight out from goal and hammered home a dipping drive to pull the Red Bulls level.
• Four minutes after the break, Luciano Emilio put United ahead. Fellow Brazilian Fred put Emilio in behind the drawn-up New York back line, and he raced into the area before slotting home the go-ahead goal.
• United went a man down in the 60th minute when center back Bobby Boswell was sent for a second bookable offense, but Olsen took over the match. First, in the 72nd minute, he came haring up the right side to get onto the end of a flowing move that started on the United left, cutting back around a defender in the area before bouncing a shot past Red Bulls 'keeper Ronald Waterreus.
• Then in the 84th minute, he took a pass well out from goal and struck a wicked blast that sailed into the upper right corner for his first professional hat trick. It came on the heels of back-to-back hat tricks by Kansas City's Eddie Johnson on May 26 and June 2.
• Juan Pablo Angel finished off the scoring with a cool finish from close range from a cross that was flicked on by Jozy Altidore. For Angel, it was his seventh goal in the last five games, and his five-game goal-scoring streak is two away from the MLS record.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made one change to the team that played to a scoreless draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy the weekend before. Brian Carroll returned from injury, coming back into the team in place of Clyde Simms, as Soehn returned to his familiar alignment.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Bobby Boswell, Facundo Erpen, Joshua Gros - Fred (Devon McTavish 88), Brian Carroll, Ben Olsen (Marc Burch 91+) - Christian Gomez - Luciano Emilio (Justin Moose 74), Jaime Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Nicholas Addlery, Stephen deRoux, Rod Dyachenko, Jay Nolly
• "Since the start of the season I've always asked the guys to give 90 minutes and it's the first time we've gotten closer to pushing that bar. I thought we had a little gap in the first half, where we kind of petered out, but then give them credit - they came out and really re-established the game," said Soehn. "I thought New York actually came out flat. Some of it was New York coming out flat, but a lot of it was us coming out with a lot of energy and really dictating the terms of the game."
TEAM NEWS
• While the Olsen hat trick was deservedly the subject of much of the post-game talk, the United defensive performance - despite allowing two goals - also received some attention.
• "I don't want to single anybody out, but I think as a team defensively we made it hard for them to play. And we used our defensive play to set up our attack and we won balls and looked to play forward," Soehn said. "But spreading the field gave Christian room to move forward."
• Things really changed over the final half hour - when Bobby Boswell was sent off for a second yellow card. Olsen ostensibly moved to right back - and scored two of his three goals.
• "I pushed him [Ben Olsen] back to cover. Benny's a smart player - he can read those situations and knows when to push forward and knows when to hold," Soehn said. Said Brian Carroll: "There was a little bit of extra space and it just meant that other guys had to make further runs from the back."
• Said Olsen: "I've played a few different positions this year, and that's fine, and wherever I can dig in, I want to do that, I want to be on the field. So, I dig in and help the team in whatever way I possibly can. Usually, it's not your scoring guys doing that, but with all the other stuff, it seemed to be a lucky day for me."
• United have wins in four of their last five games. After the loss to Columbus on April 28, the Black-and-Red were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference; now they are just six points away from the division lead.
• "It's a step in the right direction. They [N.Y.] weren't that great today. We can take out of it that we played great, but they were a little slow to the ball and slow to react," Olsen said. "I think we should be happy with what we've done, but we got to move on. We have a Chicago team [next week], but this is a good place to start climbing back up to where we want to be in the standings."
• Said Josh Gros: "People thought we were a little soft, easy to beat, at the beginning of the season. Now we've got a six-game unbeaten streak, so we're doing well and I think teams will start to notice."
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire saw their brief two-game unbeaten run after a four-game losing streak come to an end, losing 1-0 to Chivas USA last Saturday at Toyota Park. The Fire now have 14 points from 11 matches, tied with D.C. United for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, four points ahead of fifth-place Toronto FC and four behind the third-place New England Revolution.
LAST MATCH
• Both teams were coming off victories that ended long winless runs. The Fire had defeated Columbus at home to conclude a five-game streak without a victory, while Chivas USA defeated FC Dallas to end a four-game winless skein.
• While Chivas USA had most of the better of the play, both defenses had held firm with little real danger until the 79th minute.
• Ante Razov carried up the left and tried to find Maykel Galindo in the area, with Fire defender Dasan Robinson on his back. The ball took a deflection and Robinson slipped to the turf, and Paulo Nagamura came in from behind to corral the ball and drive a low shot inside the far post for his first goal since joining Chivas a month ago.
• Fire head coach Dave Sarachan made two changes to the team that defeated the Columbus Crew 3-2 the weekend before at home. Jim Curtin came in for suspended brother Jeff in central defense, and Diego Gutierrez replaced Chris Armas in the center of midfield.
• Here's Sarachan's team (4-4-2): Matt Pickens - Dasan Robinson, C.J. Brown, Jim Curtin (Mike Banner 86), Gonzalo Segares - Brian Plotkin, Diego Gutierrez, Bakary Soumare, Willian Oliveira (Floyd Franks 70) - Chad Barrett, Calen Carr (Jerson Monteiro 87). Substitutes Not Used: Jon Busch, Nick Noble, Jordan Russolillo, Daniel Woolard
• "I don't think we ever had long stretches of possession like we normally do, and it makes you chase a little bit. I thought for most of the game we did pretty well defensively. I felt this was going to be a one-play night. That one play would make the difference. We were hoping it was our play, but it wasn't," Sarachan said.
TEAM NEWS
• Once again it was a bit of a makeshift lineup for the Fire, missing five players who had seen significant minutes in a starting role at the start of the campaign - Chris Rolfe, Justin Mapp, Ivan Guerrero, Chris Armas and Thiago. As well, Diego Gutierrez returned to the lineup for the first time since May 12.
• "We didn't have the normal cast of characters in play tonight. I think we have a new group that's still trying to feel each other out in a short period of time," said Sarachan. It's still a matter of possession and creating your own chances and tonight was a tough night for us to do that."
• Armas was a late scratch because of a hip injury, and is not expected to be available for the United match. "Every team goes through something like this, with injuries and other things keeping guys out. We just haven't managed it very well," defender C.J. Brown said to the Daily Southtown. "But we've played without some of these guys for a few games and still managed a win or a tie, so it's disappointing."
• The Fire were limited to just a single shot on goal on the night. While they also limited Chivas to just two, Chivas had 11 total attempts at goal to just three for Chicago.
• "I think it was a difficult day for us with our spacing, with our passing. Chivas made it hard for us on all areas of the field to be honest. We were pouncing on loose balls and they were running at us. They're a dangerous team," said Diego Gutierrez. "I thought for the most part, we handled them OK. We did decent with the set pieces that they had. I don't think we created enough scoring opportunities and that's what hurt us at the end."
• While the Fire had put the stops on a four-game losing streak with a win and a draw in their previous two games, it was still a fifth loss for the club since the first of May.
• "Anytime we lose games, anytime we give up goals, we obviously go back and we look and see what went wrong and try to correct mistakes. There is no time to throw our arms up and quit and press the panic button," Gutierrez said. "This group has got to persevere. Everybody has a tough stretch and I'm actually glad that it's happening at the beginning of the season and not in September, when you really need to be playing well."
