11/4/05
| Eastern Conference Championship -- New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire Game Preview |
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Foxborough, Mass. -- The New England Revolution will host the Chicago Fire in the MLS Eastern Conference Championship at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. This is the fourth consecutive appearance for the Revs in the penultimate stage of the MLS postseason. The Conference Championship is a single-game format, with the winner earning a place in MLS Cup 2005 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas on November 13. Sunday’s game will be broadcast live nationally on ESPN2 and can be heard on WEEI 850 AM, as well as streaming live on www.revolutionsoccer.net.
Foxborough, Mass. -- The New England Revolution will host the Chicago Fire in the MLS Eastern Conference Championship at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. This is the fourth consecutive appearance for the Revs in the penultimate stage of the MLS postseason. The Conference Championship is a single-game format, with the winner earning a place in MLS Cup 2005 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas on November 13. Sunday’s game will be broadcast live nationally on ESPN2 and can be heard on WEEI 850 AM, as well as streaming live on www.revolutionsoccer.net.
The Revolution is coming off arguably the greatest comeback in club history. After losing Game One, 1-0, at Giants Stadium a week earlier, the Revs had their backs against the wall, needing to win by a two-goal margin. Slowed down by an early-season New England snowstorm, the Revs were unable to convert on their multiple scoring opportunities in the first half and the two sides went into halftime scoreless. Less than a minute after Revs midfielder Clint Dempsey hit the post, MetroStars forward Sergio Galvan Rey sent Youri Djorkaeff on a break down the left flank. The former France international carried the ball towards the penalty area and then bent a shot to the right past Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis to put the visitors up 1-0, and 2-0 on aggregate.
Pressing the attack to try to prolong their season, the Revs finally broke through in the 68th minute. Substitute midfielder José Cancela took a pass from forward Taylor Twellman inside the penalty box, beat his marker and slotted home past Metros keeper Tony Meola, to tie the score at 1-1, though the Revs still trailed 2-1 on aggregate.
The Revs leveled the score in the 73rd minute. After Cancela hit an inswinging corner kick from the left side, forward Pat Noonan flicked a header past Meola and inside the far post netting. Noonan’s strike put the Revs ahead, 2-1, and evened the aggregate score at 2-2.
New England completed their stunning comeback and solidified their berth in the Eastern Conference Championship courtesy of substitute Khano Smith’s strike in the 83rd minute. Dempsey fed the Bermuda international down the left flank, and Smith then beat Eddie Gaven on the dribble and then hit a hard well-struck ball past Meola to the far post, giving the Revs a 3-1 lead and more importantly, 3-2 on aggregate.
 | In the other Eastern Conference Semifinal between D.C. United and the Chicago Fire, Game One had ended 0-0, meaning that the winner of Game Two this past Sunday afternoon would advance to play New England. Playing without captain Chris Armas, who tore his ACL in Game One, Chicago went into RFK Stadium and stunned the defending MLS Cup Champions with a convincing 4-0 road shutout victory.
It only took ten minutes for the Fire to get on the scoreboard after rookie defender Jack Stewart headed home a Thiago corner kick. Midfielder Ivan Guerrero, the clubs’ 2005 regular season MVP, put the Fire up 3-0 before halftime. His first strike of the day came in the 37th minute after he took down a deflected cross by Rolfe with his chest and slotted his shot home to give the Fire a 2-0 lead. Then, only seconds before halftime, Guerrero put the visitors up 3-0. Rolfe laid a pass off for Guerrero who struck a bending shot past Rimando from 25 yards out. In the 67th minute, Guerrero crossed for midfielder Jesse Marsch who hit a powerful one-time volley past an outstretched Rimando, to complete Chicago’s 4-0 rout of D.C.
New England and Chicago met four times this regular season with the Revs holding the clear advantage, going 3-1-0 versus the Fire. New England also leads the all-time series, going 11-8-5. The two clubs met for the first time this year in Chicago on April 27, a match dominated by the visiting Revolution. New England defeated Chicago 3-0 behind goals from Dempsey, Noonan, and Twellman. On May 7, the Revs rolled past the Fire with a 2-0 victory to their 5th consecutive win on a cold and rainy night at Gillette Stadium. Chicago was able to come away with a 1-0 victory on July 9 at Soldier Field with both clubs missing key starters due to national team duty thanks to a 58th minute strike by defender Gonzalo Segares. New England closed out their 2005 regular schedule with a 1-0 win at Gillette Stadium on Twellman’s league-best 17th goal of the season. New England and Chicago also met on August 3rd at Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow, Massachusetts for a fourth round game in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Chicago knocked New England out of the nation’s oldest cup competition with a 3-2 overtime victory.New England holds a 7-9-4 all-time postseason record against all opponents, while the Fire’s all-time playoffs record is 17-10-3. The two clubs have met seven times in past postseasons, with the Revs holding a slight edge, leading the postseason series 4-3-0 over the Fire. The last time New England and Chicago played each other in the playoffs was in the 2003 Eastern Conference Final (as the Championship match was then known). Having salvaged a disappointing campaign with a late-season winning streak, the Revs carried their late season run into the playoffs in hopes of retuning to the MLS Cup, which they lost to the LA Galaxy the previous year at home in double overtime. Revolution goalkeeper Adin Brown came up big for New England, by stopping numerous Fire scoring opportunities, to keep Chicago off the board for 90 minutes. However, with Chicago’s midfield pair of Armas and March dominating the middle, the Revs lacked any attacking and the game went into overtime scoreless. Finally in the 11th minute of overtime, Fire midfielder Justin Mapp used his pace to turn the corner on the right wing and then delivered a cross to Armas, who slotted a shot past Brown, denying New England’s hopes of reaching a second consecutive MLS Cup.
Last season’s Eastern Conference Championship between the New England Revolution and D.C. United at RFK Stadium was arguably the most exciting match in MLS history. United got goals from forwards Alecko Eskandarian and Jaime Moreno as well as midfielder Christian Gomez. However, the Revs were able to answer each of D.C.’s strikes with one of their own, with Twellman, Steve Ralston and Noonan each tallying for New England. After 90 minutes of play, the two clubs stood level at 3-3, forcing a 30-minute overtime period. However, neither New England nor D.C. could break the deadlock in extra time, and penalty kicks were required to determine the winner. After five rounds of shots, United and the Revs were still equal at three apiece. In the 6th round of the penalty kick shootout, United’s Brian Carroll beat Reis to the keeper’s left and Rimando then denied Dempsey to advance the home side to the 2004 MLS Cup. The loss marked the second consecutive year that New England lost at the Eastern Conference Championship stage of the playoffs.This coming Sunday’s match will also showcase the top two rookies in MLS this year. This past Wednesday, the league named Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst MLS Gatorade Rookie of the Year. The Wake Forest alum was one of only five players, and the only rookie, in the league to have played every minute of ever match this season. This was the second consecutive year that a Revs’ rookie took home the prize after Dempsey won the 2004 Rookie of the Year award. Chicago’s Rolfe was this season’s runner-up for the award. The Dayton alum led the club with eight goals and added five assists on the year.
Tickets for the Revolution-Fire, Eastern Conference Championship Game at Gillette Stadium this Sunday at 3:00 p.m., are same price as regular season tickets: $32 (Cat. I), $23 (Cat. II), $16 (Cat. III). Significant discounts are available to groups. For ticket information, call 1-877-GET-REVS or call Ticketmaster at 1-617-931-2222.
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