Missing the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in club history last season, combined with significant roster turnover, has left the Chicago Fire with a bevy of first-choice players without any MLS Cup Playoffs experience in front of the Fire's Eastern Conference Semifinal Series encounter with D.C. United on Friday night at Soldier Field.
"We're probably going to have some nervous young guys," said veteran midfielder Jesse Marsch.
Chris Rolfe, Thiago, Gonzalo Segares, Andy Herron, John Thorrington, Ivan Guerrero, Samuel Caballero and Lubos Reiter have never appeared in an MLS Cup Playoffs match.
"Nervous energy can be really good or really bad. Look at 1998 (the Fire's inaugural season), we had a lot of nervous energy on the field then, but we were organized and we all knew our role," said Marsch.
Can the Fire repeat their surprising 1998 feat of winning MLS Cup -- or even return to the Cup Final for the second time in three seasons?
"The thing that concerns me about this year is that I am a firm believer that the teams that do well in the playoffs have played well down the stretch," Marsch said. "If you want to go back in this league, all of the teams that make it to MLS Cup turn the corner at the end of the regular season and put together good soccer.
"I don't think we put anything together during the entire season to feel like we were ever on a run."
The Fire stumble into the playoffs with a 4-7-2 record in its last 13 matches, while scoring only 16 goals in that span.
But Marsch, the only Fire player to appear in all seven of Chicago's domestic cup finals, sees a silver lining.
"In the Eastern Conference there wasn't really anybody at the end of the year that attacked the end of the season and got on a roll. So maybe the East is up for grabs," he said.
First up is D.C. United and Marsch is wary of the opponent.
"D.C. has difference-makers. They have guys who can change the game in one or two plays. Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez are two very special players," he said.
"I think we have a very solid team. I think our top 18 players are very good players, but the thing that worries me is: Do we have any difference-makers?"
Ivaldo Basso is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Socer or its clubs.
