Jay Heaps and the Revs defeated the Fire on Sunday afternoon and will take a 2-1 lead on aggregate goals into next Saturday's match at Toyota Park. Photo: Keith Nordstrom

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Shalrie Joseph and Emmanuel Osei scored goals either side of halftime to lift the New England Revolution to a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.

The Revs – who have never lost a playoff series when winning the opening game - will now take a one-goal advantage into the second and decisive leg of the home-and-away, aggregate-goals series, which will conclude next Saturday night, Nov. 7, at Chicago’s Toyota Park. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Soccer Channel, with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

The winner of the Revolution-Fire series will meet the winner of the Columbus Crew-Real Salt Lake series in the Eastern Conference Championship. RSL owns a 1-0 lead in that series entering the second leg in Columbus on Thursday night.

Chicago’s Chris Rolfe opened the scoring in the 17th minute, but Osei scored his first career MLS goal deep into first-half stoppage time and Joseph struck for the game-winner in the 75th minute. Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis was forced into just one save as he preserved the one-goal victory.

Despite the expectation that offensive chances would be few and far between, both teams had chances early in the match. Brian McBride’s glancing header in the sixth minute came inches from giving Chicago the lead, while the Revolution’s Jeff Larentowicz had his free kick from the edge of the area blocked by the wall in the 14th minute.

It was the visitors which eventually opened the scoring in the 17th minute, when Rolfe pounced on a loose ball in the box and finished into an empty net. Marco Pappa – working his way down the right wing – drove in a low cross which Reis parried into the middle of the box, but Rolfe was on hand to blast the ball into the roof of the net.

Chicago almost doubled its lead just three minutes later, but McBride struck the left post with an 18-yard drive.

In the 25th minute, it was the Revolution’s turn to hit the woodwork, and again it was Larentowicz providing the danger. Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch tumbled over Joseph inside the box and while Busch was on the ground and out of the play, Larentowicz delivered a drive from outside the box which kicked off the left post.

New England continued to press for an equalizer before halftime and finally found it deep into stoppage time via an unlikely source, as central defender Osei – who had skimmed the outside of the post just a few minutes earlier with a long-range drive – scored his first career MLS goal. Kenny Mansally delivered an in-swinging cross from the right wing and Osei slipped in front of Busch to redirect a glancing header into the roof of the net.

The Revs were forced into a change in the 52nd minute when midfielder Pat Phelan replaced forward Edgaras Jankauskas, who left the game with an illness. The move pushed Joseph up top alongside Kheli Dube, while Phelan slotted into central midfield.

The Revolution continued to create chances on the attacking end despite the change, and only a last-ditch block six yards from goal prevented Dube from pushing the hosts into the lead in the 60th minute.

Chicago responded with pressure of its own and rookie midfielder Baggio Husidic rang the crossbar with a stinging drive in the 71st minute. Although the ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced directly down onto the line, it didn’t cross the line and was eventually cleared from danger by Phelan.

Just minutes later, Phelan contributed on the offensive end, assisting on Joseph’s scrappy game-winning goal with just 15 minutes remaining. Phelan’s powerful header from Mauricio Castro’s corner kick was saved by Busch, but Larentowicz served the ball back into the mixer and after Phelan got a touch, Joseph stabbed the ball into the upper corner from close range.

New England almost had a two-goal lead entering the second leg in Chicago, but Sainey Nyassi’s rasping drive from a tight angle struck the right post in the 78th minute.

In the end, the Revs buckled down defensively and protected their one-goal advantage, which they’ll now take to Toyota Park next weekend.

New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire
November 1, 2009 – Foxborough, Mass. (Gillette Stadium)

Scoring Summary:
CHI – Chris Rolfe (unassisted) 17
NE – Emmanuel Osei (Kenny Mansally) 47+
NE – Shalrie Joseph (Pat Phelan, Jeff Larentowicz) 75

New England Revolution (4-4-2): Matt Reis (GK), Jay Heaps, Emmanuel Osei, Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston, Kenny Mansally (Mauricio Castro 69), Shalrie Joseph ©, Jeff Larentowicz, Sainey Nyassi (Wells Thompson 93+), Kheli Dube, Edgaras Jankauskas (Pat Phelan 52)

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton (GK), Nico Colaluca, Amaechi Igwe, Chris Tierney

STATS: Shots 13; Shots on Goal 6; Saves 1; Corner Kicks 6; Offsides 0; Fouls Committed 11

Chicago Fire (4-4-2): Jon Busch (GK), Mike Banner (Gonzalo Segares 64), C.J. Brown ©, Dasan Robinson, Brandon Prideaux, Marco Pappa (Patrick Nyarko 74), Logan Pause, Baggio Husidic, Chris Rolfe (Justin Mapp 87), Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Brian McBride

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Dykstra (GK), Peter Lowry, John Thorrington, Daniel Woolard

STATS: Shots 10; Shots on Goal 2; Saves 4; Corner Kicks 8; Offsides 2; Fouls Committed 7

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Kevin Alston (caution) 41
CHI – Baggio Husidic (caution) 93+
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: Robert Fereday (SAR), Gregory Barkey (JAR)
Fourth Official: Hilario Grajeda
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 58 degrees
Attendance: 7,416

NOTES

• This marks the Revolution’s 10th playoff appearance in Major League Soccer’s 14th year of existence … the Revs’ current streak of eight straight postseason appearances is the longest active playoff appearance streak in MLS.
• With this year’s meeting, the Revs and Fire have now met in seven of the last eight postseasons (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and the last five overall … in total, the teams have now met in the playoffs eight times, all since 2000.
• The Revolution leads the all-time playoff series between the two teams, 4-3 … the Revs ended the Fire’s season for three consecutive years from 2005-07 before Chicago snapped that skid with a victory over New England in the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
• Each team is undefeated against the other on its home field in the playoffs … the Revs are now 7-0-1 at home against the Fire in the postseason, while Chicago is 6-0-0.
• New England and Chicago played to a pair of draws in the 2009 regular season: 1-1 at Toyota Park on May 9, and 0-0 at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 17 … the clubs also played in the semifinal round of SuperLiga 2009 on July 15, with the Fire winning that match at Gillette Stadium, 2-1, on its way to a spot in the title match.
• This was the Revolution’s first win over the Fire in all competitions since the start of the 2008 season … New England was 0-5-3 against Chicago in their previous eight meetings … this was the Revolution’s first win over Chicago since a 1-0 victory in the 2007 Eastern Conference Championship game.
• With the win, the Revolution remained unbeaten (10-0-5) at home in the club’s postseason history.
• This marked the first time the Revolution scored more than one goal in a game since earning a 2-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC on Sept. 26.
• Chris Rolfe’s 17th-minute goal snapped the Revolution’s shutout streak at 251 minutes … New England hadn’t conceded a goal since the 36th minute of the 1-0 loss to Columbus on Oct. 10 … the Revs had shut out both Chicago (Oct. 17) and Columbus (Oct. 25) in the last two games of the regular season.
• Chris Rolfe’s 17th-minute goal was the first goal New England conceded from the run of play since Sept. 30 against FC Dallas … the Revs conceded just one penalty kick and one free-kick goal in the last four games of the regular season.
• Four players in the Revolution’s starting lineup made their MLS Cup Playoffs debuts: Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Emmanuel Osei and Edgaras Jankauskas.
• Emmanuel Osei’s goal in first-half stoppage time was his first career MLS goal … he did not score a goal in 23 regular-season appearances this year, his first in MLS.
• Shalrie Joseph’s 75th-minute goal was his first career postseason goal in his 20th career postseason appearance … he led the Revolution with a career-high eight goals in the regular season.
• Kenny Mansally, Pat Phelan and Jeff Larentowicz all earned their first postseason assists.