Fire renew rivalry with Revolution
Chicago riding a four-game league winning streak against New England
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TOYOTA PARK, Bridgeview, Ill.
May 9, 2009 (WEEK 8) / MLS Game #58
7:30 p.m. CT (My50 Chi.; TV38)
The Chicago Fire and New England Revolution renew their rivalry Saturday at Toyota Park, a rivalry that extends into the postseason nearly every year. The teams met in a Eastern Conference Semifinal Series last year, won by the Fire 3-0 on aggregate, the fourth consecutive year and seventh time since 2000 the clubs met in the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Fire are still unbeaten this season, though they've played to draws in four consecutive games, while the Revolution have lost their last two after opening the year with a four-game unbeaten streak themselves.
REFEREE: Mark Geiger. SAR (bench): Eric Boria; JAR (opposite): Adam Garner; 4th: Abbey Okulaja
MLS Career: 51 games; FC/gm: 29.4; Y/gm: 4.1; R: 9; pens: 21
INJURY REPORT: CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: DF Daniel Woolard (R ankle sprain); DOUBTFUL: FW Peter Lowry (L knee sprain); QUESTIONABLE: MF Justin Mapp (R hamstring strain); DF Gonzalo Segares (L calf contusion); PROBABLE: DF C.J. Brown (R quad strain) ... NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION - OUT: DF Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear); DF Gabriel Badilla (lower back sprain); MF Mauricio Castro (L hamstring strain); FW Taylor Twellman (neck pain); QUESTIONABLE: MF Steve Ralston (R adductor strain); PROBABLE: DF Kevin Alston (R hamstring strain); MF Sainey Nyassi (L knee contusion); GK Zack Simmons (L rotator cuff strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHI: Bakary Soumare ... NE: Kenny Mansally; Wells Thompson
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (34 meetings): Fire 15 wins, 50 goals ... Revolution 13 wins, 49 goals ... Ties 6
AT CHICAGO (17 meetings): Fire 8 wins, 28 goals ... Revolution 4 wins, 21 goals ... Ties 5
RETURN MATCH: 10/17: Chicago Fire at New England Revolution, 6 p.m. ET
LAST YEAR (MLS)
4/3: CHI 4, NE 0 (Barrett 4; Frankowski 22, 39; Blanco 37)
5/3: NE 0, CHI 3 (Rolfe 29; Thorrington 50; King 76)
8/9: NE 1, CHI 2 (Twellman 3 - Segares 81; Conde 86)
• The Fire swept the league season series a year ago, the first time since Chicago's inaugural season in 1998 that either team had swept the season set. Chicago has a four-game league winning streak alive against New England.
• The Fire have won the league season series each of the last three years, winning seven of the 10 meetings over that time (with one draw).
• After the dominating season series last year, where the Fire outscored the Revolution 9-1 in the three league games, the teams met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where the Fire again prevailed, winning the second leg 3-0 at Toyota Park after a scoreless draw in the first game.
• The teams have met each of the last four seasons in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and six times in the last seven. The Fire's win last year was their first in a playoff series against New England since 2003, a 1-0 victory in the Eastern Conference Championship that propelled Chicago to its third MLS Cup Final appearance. The Revolution advanced in three consecutive playoff meetings 2005-07, on their way to the MLS Cup Final on each occasion. In the seven postseason meetings all-time, the Revs have won four series.
• Coaches record: Denis Hamlett vs. NE: P3 W3 L0 D0 ... Steve Nicol v CHI: P24 W10 L11 D3
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire remained unbeaten on the season, but played to a draw for the third consecutive match, a 10-man Seattle Sounders FC pegging them back for a 1-1 result Saturday evening at Toyota Park. The Fire have 11 points from seven matches, now tied for third place in the Eastern Conference with the Kansas City Wizards, two points behind D.C. United.LAST MATCH
• The Fire were still undefeated on the season, yet had played to draws in three consecutive games. Sounders FC returned to their winning ways against San Jose at home the weekend before, following two losses in succession.
• The game burst into life after the break. Sounders FC striker Fredy Montero was sent off in the 48th minute after striking Fire defender Gonzalo Segares with an elbow.
• The home side then took the lead six minutes later. Cuauhtemoc Blanco tracked down a loose ball to the right of the area, and after a spin move inside the box, laid the ball back to Marco Pappa. The Guatemalan lashed home a low drive from just outside the box inside the near post for his third goal on the season.
• But Sounders FC hit back for the leveler just six minutes later. A corner kick was swung in from the right and fell right in the heart of the six-yard box where Tyrone Marshall side-footed it home for his first goal with the expansion club.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett kept his team the same for a third consecutive match, maintaining the group that played to a 2-2 draw with the Columbus Crew the weekend before.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Tim Ward, Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares (Brandon Prideaux 71) - John Thorrington (Chris Rolfe 66), Logan Pause, Marco Pappa (Mike Banner 82) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Brian McBride, Patrick Nyarko. Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Dykstra, Baggio Husidic, Dasan Robinson, Austin Washington
• "They had one chance on goal and they scored, it wasn't like we were on our heels we just need to stop giving up easy goals," Hamlett said. "Those easy goals are killing us. We're playing good soccer, we're attacking and now the onus is on us. ... We've played well, created chances, and have just given up too many goals."
TEAM NEWS
• The Fire remain the league's only unbeaten team. But now with ties in four consecutive games, Chicago has led twice in that stretch in the final 16 minutes of the game, only to be pulled back to level terms.
• "Being unbeaten doesn't mean anything," Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "Yeah, we are undefeated, but we are in games where we work so hard and end up getting ties. We should be winning these games and we are not and that is what matters."
• The Fire led MLS after Week 7 with 13 goals scored on the season, and have not been shut out in any of their contests on the season. The Sounders FC match was the first time in four games they had not scored multiple goals in a game.
• "In the first half we had three really good chances," Hamlett said. "Our decision-making and our final passes weren't good enough. We lost a little bit of our patience in getting the ball wide. When we show patience and attack what the defense gives us, we can be a dangerous team."
• However, after conceding just two goals in the first three games of the season, the Fire have been hit for eight in their last four. "We have given up 10 goals in seven games and that is not good enough," Hamlett said. "Right now we have to have that extra motivation to say 'My guy is not going to score'."
• The game against the Revolution concludes a stretch of six games where the Fire have played four at Toyota Park; they have taken five points from the first three. They hit the road for three consecutive games beginning next weekend.
• "We have had three games at home, and we are supposed to score points at home," Fire defender Bakary Soumare said. "It is frustrating to give up leads like that. These (standings) points are crucial. It is OK to have a tie on the road but at home you need to try to get three points."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution went down to defeat for the second consecutive week, losing for the first time in league play to the Houston Dynamo, 2-0 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Revolution have eight points from six games on the season, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind division-leading D.C. United.LAST MATCH
• The Dynamo had never won in six previous league visits to Foxborough, and were coming off a bye week and their lone victory on the campaign. The Revolution were coming off the worst league defeat in club history, a 6-0 loss at Real Salt Lake.
• The Dynamo opened the lead after 22 minutes. Stuart Holden stepped forward in the midfield and let fly with a speculative shot from all of 30 yards. The ball skimmed along the ground and through the legs of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, making his first appearance in five matches after returning from a knee injury.
• The visitors finished off the match just before the hour. Brad Davis put in a corner from the right and Brian Ching rose up to power home a snap header from the top of the six, his second goal in as many games and third on the season.
• Revolution head coach Steve Nicol made two changes to the team that lost 6-0 to Real Salt Lake the previous weekend. Matt Reis came back in between the posts for Brad Knighton, while Michael Videira made his first MLS start, in place of Chris Tierney as Nicol changed his formation.
• Here's Nicol's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Reis - Darrius Barnes, Amaechi Igwe, Jay Heaps - Wells Thompson, Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Sainey Nyassi - Michael Videira (Pat Phelan 77) - Kheli Dube (Stephane Assengue 65), Kenny Mansally. Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Emmanuel Osei, Chris Tierney, Taylor Twellman, Rob Valentino
TEAM NEWS
• The Revolution have now been shut out in back-to-back games and saw their scoreless streak extended to 220 minutes. The last time the Revolution were shut out in back-to-back league games came Aug. 9-20, 2006, when they played to a scoreless draw with Kansas City then lost 1-0 to Chicago. They were held scoreless over 180 minutes by the Fire in last year's Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.
• "We did have a few chances in the (Houston) game. Stephane (Assengue) maybe could have done better (when he) put the ball wide. That was a chance, albeit from not the prettiest piece of football, but it's a chance. Shalrie (Joseph) had a chance when he was open in the box, but his first touch let him down," said Nicol. "We probably could have stayed here all night and not scored."
• After coming on as a substitute in the Real Salt Lake match, Michael Videira was given his first MLS start in an attacking midfield role as Nicol returned to the 3-5-2 system favored over the past few seasons.
• "In terms of being an attacking midfielder today, it didn't really work all that well since we didn't get an attack going. We know what we need to work on -- we know what we did well and what we didn't do well today," Videira said. "It's a new formation now we're trying now as opposed to the 4-4-2 we played earlier in the season, so we're going to build on what happened (Sunday)."
• Over the first four games, the Revolution scored five goals and conceded three. In the last two, they've conceded eight while scoring none.
• "We can't get away from the fact that we have half a team missing, so you can't have it all ways. Earlier on we got results -- we bashed results out. And the last couple of weeks we haven't managed to do that," Nicol said. "(It has) nothing to do with the effort. There's certainly no problem with effort. It's lack of knowledge and how to go about doing things -- picking and choosing the right decision, when to just to clear the ball, when not to roll the ball who's got someone up his backside. It's a whole ton of wee stuff like that which, when you don't put it together, makes it very difficult."
• Goalkeeper Matt Reis returned to the lineup for the first time since the season opener, after suffering a knee injury following the 1-0 victory at San Jose to start the campaign.
• "Everybody's got to look at themselves and see what they can do better. The coaches give us a game plan and we have to execute that. Right now we're not doing it," he said. "We all need to look at ourselves and try to get better. The next game's not going to be easy. We're going to Chicago and we can't keep giving the same kind of performances we've been giving."
