MLS Chicago Fire FC

Chicago Fire Game Notes

November 11, 2008 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Chicago Fire FC News Release


A LOOK AT THE FIRE

The Chicago Fire are playing in the Eastern Conference Final of the MLS Cup Playoffs tonight...Chicago advanced to this game after defeating New England by a 3-0 aggregate score in their conference semifinal series...tonight's game is the 7th conference final for the Fire in their 11 years of existence...they have gone 3-3 in such games and series.

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL NOTEBOOK

This is the 7th time in franchise history Chicago is playing in a conference final...three of those previous appearances have been a one-game playoff and the Fire is 1-2 in those games with all of these games being played against New England...the club won in 2003 (1-0, OT) and then lost on the road in 2005 (1-0) and in 2007 (1-0)...the other 3 appearances came in 2001, a 0-2-1 series loss to Los Angeles, in 2000 a 2-1-0 series win over New York and in 1998, a 2-0-0 series win against Los Angeles.

MLS CUP FINAL NOTEBOOK

A victory tonight would put the Fire in their 4th MLS Cup Final...Chicago won the MLS Cup in 1998 (2-0 vs. D.C. United) and lost in 2000 to Kansas City (1-0) and in 2003 to San Jose (4-2).

CHICAGO - COLUMBUS SERIES

The Fire and Crew are meeting for the first time ever in the MLS Cup Playoffs...the club's have met 37 times in the regular season...Chicago holds the all-time series lead 17-10-10 after the team's tied both games by identical 2-2 scores on July 5 in Columbus and Oct. 12 at TOYOTA PARK...the Fire leads the all-time regular season series in games in Columbus by an 8-5-5 margin...Chicago and Columbus have also met just twice in U.S. Open Cup play with the Fire winning both games - 2-1 in the 1998 final and 2-1 in a 4th round game in 2004...the clubs met earlier this year in U.S. Open Cup play with the Fire winning 3-2 in overtime in Peoria, Ill. in a play-in game for the tournament.

FIRE vs. COLUMBUS THIS SEASON

Chicago 2, Columbus 2 - Crew Stadium - July 5

In their first meeting this season rookie forward Steven Lenhart came off the bench to score in the 87th minute as the Columbus Crew rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie Chicago, 2-2; in front 17,172 fans at Crew Stadium. Forward Chris Rolfe scored the first goal and assisted on the second, from Calen Carr, to put the Fire up 2-0 before the game was 25 minutes old. But before the half was out, Emmanuel Ekpo cut the deficit in half. The Fire hadn't scored in 333 minutes of league play coming into the game, but that stat went by the wayside very early thanks to the Rolfe's tally.

Chicago 2, Columbus 2 - TOYOTA PARK - October 12

In his first match against the club in which he played for 8 seasons in MLS, Brian McBride scored 2 goals, including the game-tying goal with 11 minutes remaining to give the Fire a 2-2 draw with Columbus at TOYOTA PARK before 14,994. With the victory, the Fire moved to 43 points and a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with the New England Revolution. More importantly, the single point secured Chicago a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

TONIGHT'S TELECAST

Tonight's game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN2... JP Dellacamera (play-by-play), John Harkes (color analyst) and Allen Hopkins and Pedro Gomez (sideline) call the action. Chris Alexopolous produces the action and Mike Sheehan brings his world-class directing to the program.

PRIME TIME PLAYERS

Tonight's Eastern Conference Final will be broadcast on ESPN2 and that has been a good omen for the Fire during 2008...Tonight's national TV appearance is the Fire's 9th of the season on Thursday ESPN2 telecasts and so far Chicago has gone 6-1-1 and have outscored their opponents in these games by an 18-5 margin.

ROLFE HAS BECOME THE "PRIMETIME PLAYER"

Chris Rolfe has taken a liking to these Thursday games as he has scored 6 goals and 4 assists in Chicago's last 4 appearances on ESPN2 Thursday games...he started this stretch with 2 goals against LA on 9/21 and then had his first career hat trick and 2 more assists in the final regular season game vs. New York on 10/23...Rolfe continued his stretch with the game-winning goal and an assist against New England last week...Rolfe was the Fire's Golden Boot award winner as he finished the season with a career-high 9 goals...Rolfe also registered a career-high 7 assists in 2008.

CLEAN SHEETS

The Fire have posted a clean sheet in each of the first 2 playoffs games...these are the 15th and 16th such efforts in 38 MLS Cup Playoff games...posting clean sheets in the first 2 playoff games of a postseason is something the Fire has been doing recently as they did so in 2003 and 2005 both against D.C. Untied...in 2003 the team posted 3 consecutive clean sheets as they advanced to the MLS Cup Final.

FIRE HEAD COACH DENIS HAMLETT

Denis Hamlett was named the 4th head coach in Chicago history in January...he comes into tonight's game with a career record of 13-11-9 in MLS action as he was 0-1-2 as the club's interim coach for a portion of last season (he has a career 1-0-1 playoff record)...a member of the Chicago Fire coaching staff since the inaugural 1998 campaign, the 39-year-old Costa Rican native previously held the position of Fire top assistant coach since 2001...with Hamlett's guidance, the Fire has won the 1998 MLS Cup, 4 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cups (1998, 2000, 2003, 2006), 4 conference championships (1998, 2000, 2001, 2003), as well as the MLS Supporters Shield (2003)...Hamlett helped the Fire reach the 2007 Eastern Conference Championship game...these Playoffs are his first as a head coach.

McBRIDE MAKES HIS MARK UPON RETURN TO MLS

Chicago Fire forward Brian McBride made his return to the league in August after spending 4 1/2 seasons with Fulham FC in the English Premiership...he appeared in 11 games (starting 10) and scored 5 goals which tied for 3rd on the team...he also tallied 2 assists...McBride joined the team after serving as captain of the United States Olympic team in Beijing...McBride will be making his return to Columbus tonight where he played for 8 seasons before going to England...McBride played his last MLS game in Columbus on Oct. 26, 2003 when he was with the Crew against Chicago (he scored twice and had an assist in that game which was a 6-2 Columbus win).

BLANCO UP FOR GOAL OF THE YEAR

Last year's MLS Sierra Mist Goal of the Year winner Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco is once again a finalist for the award. Blanco's goal at D.C. United in May is nominated for one of the 10 best of the year in the league. Fans can vote through Nov. 18 at chicago-fire.com and the winner will be announced the next day.

BUSCH NAMED 2008 MLS PANASONIC GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR

Jon Busch was named the league's 2008 Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year...the award was voted on by MLS players, general managers, coaches, referees and members of the media...Busch led the Fire to the playoffs in his first full season as a starter since 2004, when he was a member of the Columbus Crew...Busch started and played every minute (2,700) of all 30 regular season games for Chicago...he ranked first in the league in shutouts (10), was tied for second in wins (13) and second in goals against average (1.10)...in 2008 Busch faced more shots than all but two MLS goalkeepers and recorded the top save percentage mark at 78.2 percent.

PLAYOFFS A FAMILIAR PLACE FOR FIRE

The Chicago Fire are making their 10th appearance in the MLS Cup Playoffs...the club has made the playoffs 10 times in their 11 seasons of play in MLS...Chicago is playing its 39th MLS Cup Playoff game tonight which is the 2nd-highest total in league history behind Los Angeles' 45...Chicago is 20-12-6 all-time in the Playoffs which includes a 15-1-2 home record (56G/35GA) and a 5-11-4 road record (16G/22GA)...the Fire won its only MLS Cup in its first season in 1998...last year the club advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals where it lost to New England 1-0 at Gillette Stadium.

AWARD TIME

The Fire announced its team awards following the regular season and the winners were MVP - GK Jon Busch, Defender - Bakary Soumare, Golden Boot - Chris Rolfe and U.S.S.F. Humanitarian - Diego Gutierrez. Busch was named the 2008 MLS Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year and the following players are still up for or were finalists for MLS postseason awards - Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chris Rolfe and Bakary Soumare. Blanco is a finalist for the Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player, Busch for MLS Comeback Player of the Year, Rolfe was for the Fair Play Award and Soumare was for Visa Defender of the Year.

CHICAGO FIRE/ATHLETICO "RECOVERY ROOM"

Probable - Gonzalo Seagares - RT Ankle Sprain

Questionable-

Doubtful - None

Out - None

Season Ending Injury -Carr: L Knee Strain

RECORDS IN GOALS AGAINST

Chicago allowed 33 goals this season for a 1.10 goals against average...that mark was the 2nd-lowest goals against average in team history behind the mark of 1.08 set in 2001 (30GA/27 GP)...the Fire did set a record for fewest goals allowed in a 30-game season as the previous low was 36 set last year...the 33 goals allowed was the 2nd-lowest in MLS behind Houston' 32.

BLANCO PICKING IT UP

Cuauhtémoc Blanco finished 2nd on the team in goals with 7 but has been playing his best at the end of the season...he has 3 goals and 4 assists over the last 5 regular season games which is the first time he has done this in his MLS career...his 5-game streak of recording a goal and or assist tied for the 2nd-longest in MLS in 2008 with 3 other players (most was 6 by Luciano Emilio of D.C. United)

GLAD TO BE BACK IN RED

Chicago will wear its customary all-red kit this evening and that is a good thing...the Fire is 13-5-6 while wearing the all-red kit but just 0-5-2 in its all-white kit (last year went 2-2-4 in all-white).

CONFERENCE WATCHING

Chicago finished the regular season 8-4-4 against the Eastern Conference after going 6-6-5 against the same teams a year ago...Chicago compiled a 5-6-3 record vs. the Western Conference this year which was better than last year's 4-4-5 mark.

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM

Scoring first has been key for the Fire; Chicago is 12-2-3 (and 1-0-0 in the playoffs) when scoring first this season. Conversely the Fire is just 1-8-1 when giving up the first tally.

THE BLANCO EFFECT

In the 43 games with Cuauhtémoc Blanco in the lineup, the Fire are 17-12-14...The 35-year-old native of Mexico City has notched 11 goals and 17 assists across that span...Blanco finished 2nd on the team with 7 goals and a team-high 11 assists in 2008...he finished 4th in the league with 11assists and is one of 2 players to mark an assist in a league-high 3 consecutive games (Christian Gomez, COL and Terry Cooke, COL)...he had an MLS career-high 3 assists @ NY on 5/25, which tied a franchise record...it was the 5th time a Fire player had notched 3 assists in a game - the last by Andy Williams on 6/14/03 (also at NY)...Blanco has missed 3 games this season due to suspension and international call-ups and the team has responded by winning all 3 contests (vs. CHV, @ LA, and vs. NYRB).

BLANCO'S HELPING HAND

Cuauhtémoc Blanco registered a career-high 11 assists in 2008 which is the 5th-highest total in team history...it was also the most since Peter Nowak had 10 in 2001...his MLS-high 76 fouls suffered is the 6th-highest mark in Fire history.

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