Fire 2 - United 0 :: Our House, in the Middle of DC
Written by Marty Groark
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Many people thought that Thursday's match between the Fire and D.C. United would be a physical, even sided match that would be played hard until the final minute, and only then would a victor emerge. Those people would have been right in only one aspect, it was a physical night. It was at times more reminiscent of a martial arts cage match than a soccer game, but the entire night belonged to Chicago. From the first minute, Chicago's entire team came to play, and despite a few lucky shots by D.C., Chicago was easily able to control the flow of the game. The defense commanded respect by consistently removing any ball that seemed to find it's way into Chicago's defensive third. The terrier like aggressiveness of Diego Gutierrez and Gonzalo Segares were able to easily stop any incoming runs by the United strikers, complemented by the sheer strength and size of Bakary Soumare.
Throughout the game, it was clear that Chicago was the better team, and it was just a matter of time, 38 minutes in fact, before the Fire were able to find the net. Midfielder Justin Mapp was able to score his first goal of the season when Cuauhtemoc Blanco found an open Chris Rolfe streaking down the sideline off the throw-in. Rolfe then sent a ball to the far post and Chad Barrett's head. Chad laid down an incredible first touch header back across the goal to an onrushing Justin Mapp who calmly slotted it past United keeper Zach Wells into the back of the net. As soon as the ball came to a stop, it seemed like D.C. had lost their edge.
In the second half, Chicago found a lot of open space as D.C. tried to equalize and salvage a result. Chicago was not easily broken down, and went forth with a relentless attack that found Chad Barret in good positions but unable to sneak the ball past Wells, the keeper made some great saves to keep his team in the match. Then, it happened. In the 62nd minute, Chicago swarmed on a D.C. throw in their own defensive half. In the pressure, Logan Pause was able to steal the ball and give a quick one touch to Justin Mapp who then passed to a running Blanco. Shown onto his foot, Blanco then took the ball deep into DC territroy, ending with a tremendous left footed bender from 25 yards out. Wells was playing too far out, and Blanco was able to raise the ball over the keepers hands, dipping it just under the far crossbar. The shot set the bar for the 2008 Goal of the Season and effectively shut down any further offense from D.C. United.
The final 30 minutes was much of the same. The game continued to be physical, United amassed 3 yellow cards before the night was out, but DC was unable to find the goal. Jon Busch, leading the leauge in both shutouts and GAA, played another amazing game. Jon was able to make any D.C. attack seem easy, coming away with his 4th shutout while lowering his GAA to 0.43.
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