D.C. United's woeful start to the 2008 season intensified at RFK Stadium on Thursday night as a confident Chicago Fire squad played a crafty game of smash-and-grab to earn a 2-0 victory in the building that they have made their own in recent years.
After weathering the home side's bright start to the match, calm finishes from Justin Mapp and Cuauhtemoc Blanco gave Chicago their fifth win in the last six games and added to last-place D.C.'s spring misery.
United came out in the 3-5-2 setup used in their last few matches, but with a twist. With Marcelo Gallardo's groin injury keeping him out of the team sheet, head coach Tom Soehn dropped captain Jaime Moreno into the playmaker's role behind strikers Luciano Emilio and Franco Niell.
A fourth-minute set piece allowed Marc Burch to whip a left-footed service into the box from just inside the left touchline, and after Chicago failed to clear Moreno latched onto the second ball but fired his low shot wide left.
Fire playmaker Blanco did not take long to earn the ire of the home fans, dropping to the turf clutching his left leg in the 6th minute after losing possession under pressure from Bryan Namoff and Santino Quaranta to spark a cascade of boos from the nearby United supporters' groups.
Out-of-form striker Luciano Emilio produced a composed bit of hold-up play 15 minutes in as he held possession before laying off for Clyde Simms, who surprised Jon Busch with a blistering drive from nearly 30 yards out that had the measure of the Fire netminder, only to bullet inches wide of the left post.
Pressuring Chicago with aggression and full of movement and imagination when in possession, the home side bore little resemblance to the underwhelming lot that had gone down to defeat in Colorado last week. Burch and Quaranta were providing much-needed width.
Mired in a scoring slump, Emilio was looking determined to break loose on this evening and his creativity carved out two half-chances for United, first sliding a delicate through ball into the box with just a bit too much pace for Moreno, then spinning adeptly to blast a quick shot that just missed the top right corner of Busch's net.
As they have done successfully on so many past trips to RFK, the Fire were sitting deep and looking for chances to counter. Justin Mapp nearly caught Zach Wells napping on one such occasion when he cut in from the left and hit a low drive towards the far post. The D.C. netminder got down to his left a bit slowly, but corralled the effort.
Despite bossing the game, United had few clear-cut chances to show for it and just like previous meetings between these clubs, Chicago soon took full advantage with an opportunistic play to steal an undeserved lead some six minutes before halftime.
Blanco began the play with a quick throw-in down the touchline to Rolfe, and the Ohio native curled an early cross into the box for Barrett, who rose above Namoff to nod the ball back into Mapp's path. Santino Quaranta was late to react and the Fire winger had ample time to set his feet and stroke a cool left-footed finish past Wells, opening the scoring and stunning the RFK faithful.
Blanco almost doubled the advantage when he got the past Namoff again four minutes later and delivered a dangerous near-post cross for Barrett, but the ball skipped awkwardly and he was unable to apply the final touch from close range.
In the 50th minute, Dyachenko tested Busch with a low shot from 20 yards out, but the Fire 'keeper gobbled up the attempt cleanly on the slick surface.
Nine minutes into the second half the Fire surged forward with speed down the left flank as Barrett set Mapp loose, and after the floppy-haired winger skipped a low cross into the goalmouth the ball took a fortuitous bounce off a sliding Dyachenko and sat up perfectly for Barrett less than 12 yards from goal. But Wells threw himself to his left, making a superb reaction save to deflect Barrett's low blast away from danger.
Moments later, the United netminder had to race off his line to deny Barrett again after the Fire front-runner had spun away from Gonzalo Peralta.
Relying on quick touches and searching diagonal balls, Chicago had upped the tempo in the second stanza and were slicing through United's defense with ease. Gonzalo Segares broke free and advanced on Wells' net in the 59th minute, only to see his shot spin inches wide of the far post.
But the visitors would not be denied the second goal they craved, as Blanco capped an evening of hard work with a moment of brilliance to push the score to 2-0. The Mexican international showed his experience as he cannily drifted into space behind Simms, and collected a pass before cutting onto his left foot and lashing a long-range shot into the far upper corner as the leaping Wells got a fingertip to it but could not keep it out.
Blanco wheeled away to blow kisses toward the stadium's western sections, where several small contingents of Mexican fans had come out to see their beloved hero. Meanwhile, the veteran's fine finish left Wells looking disconsolate on the turf, and despite the constant thump of the supporters clubs' drums, it had clearly sucked the life out of the Black-and-Red supporters as well, as the prospect of another sucker-punch loss to Chicago loomed large.
Led by the cocksure Blanco, the Fire sat back to salt away their victory, keeping the ball - and D.C.'s runners - in front of them, while the home side's composure slipped as desperation led to sloppy giveaways.
United's fans were clearly tired of watching long strings of possession come to nothing as their team hesitated to pull the trigger time and time again, and the cries of 'shoot' grew in volume in the 83rd minute when first Emilio, then Burch, then Niell passed up looks at goal with the ball on their weaker feet - and when Niell was finally able to deliver a dangerous cross into the six-yard box, Moreno looped his header wide of the target.
The Bolivian narrowly missed another good opportunity a few minutes later, as he got his head to Burch's cross only to see his effort clang off the corner of the woodwork.
Both sides gave runouts to reserve players in the final minutes as the match wound down to another distasteful conclusion for United, who find themselves even further adrift at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 2-5 record.
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
