ON FIRE By: Ivaldo Basso September 23 Chicago (CSA) - The Chicago Fire qualified for the post-season Sunday afternoon by beating the Columbus Crew 2-1 at Cardinal Stadium. The Fire did not come out of the gates with the fervor excepted in an elimination game, and Columbus’s late corner-kick tally was a gloomy reminder that Chicago continues to struggle on both set pieces and in finishing games. But after a September filled with losses and over one month of scoring only a goal or less per game, the result left something to build on – as if there’s any choice. “We weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be at the beginning of the game. Fortunately, we were able to get through it,” said Razov. After DaMarcus Beasley went sadly over the bar from six yards at 53 minutes, a scoreless draw was looking like the best possible outcome for Chicago. “We didn’t want to get too excited. We wanted to be smart, not stupid, because a tie was good enough,” said Kovalenko. “No one was panicking here,” said Razov. “We have a lot of guys that have played in a lot of big games in a lot of different places so nobody was scared or anything like that – we all understood the consequences if we didn’t get the job done,” said Razov. On 72 minutes, the captain did the job, throwing his mates a playoff lifeline that has now extended for five years in Chicago. Peter Nowak carried to the end line inside of the box, muscled off a challenge from Chris Letich while tight roping the end line and skidded a shot to the far post from a bad angle past Jon Busch. While Nowak’s goal was a gritty individual effort, the Fire’s next one, nine minutes later, was a graceful team affair. It was a goal of stunning simplicity, a goal that made you momentarily forget, then wonder why Chicago has had such trouble scoring. Beasley switched a ball cross-field to Stoitchkov streaking down the right wing. Stoitchkov ran under the floated ball and quickly one touched to Razov who, sprinting down the center of the field, slammed the ball first time past Busch from eight yards. “Beasley did a nice job finding Hristo and he one timed the cross, he knew I was there and it was a nice play,” said Razov. Eerily, and hopefully not the least bit of foreshadowing, Chicago was reminded that old habits have trouble dieing. Fred Garcia found Jeff Cunningham off of a corner kick in injury time to put Columbus on the board. Chicago has been susceptible to both set pieces and late goals allowed, and were victimized by both in the season finale. The victory means that the Fire earned the seventh playoff seed, and a quarterfinal series against the second seeded New England Revolution starting Thursday night. A few words with Bob Bradley after the game follow. Q: What was the mood leading up to this week’s ‘elimination’ game? Bob Bradley: “The mood was pretty good this week. These guys still feel that we’ve been through a lot and that we’re going to find a way to be better for it. We believed we could get the job done today. It’s a group of guys that have hung in very well.” Q: Was Ante’s availability for Sunday’s match in doubt during the week? Bob Bradley: “He trained this week, but we kept him away from situations of contact. We felt like he was going to be able to play. He was pretty determined to play. Ante has an attitude that when you get to big games, even if he’s hurting a little bit, he’s going to be on the field. That was pretty clear.” Q: Are you pleased with the way the team played today? Bob Bradley: “I thought the second half was good. In the first half, we were tense. We still had some good chances in the first half, and DaMarcus had one early in the second half. In some ways everybody was relieved to see a ball go into the net.” “I think the main things is the feeling that with everything we’ve been through they should feel confident and that they should feel like they are still a very good team and that when they play their best and play hard, and push each other the right way on the field then good things can happen. So much of this has to do with the mentality.” Q: Do you think Hristo provided a spark? Bob Bradley: “Hristo made plays. I think he still has the attitude that he’s going to make a difference in this thing, and he made a difference today.” Q: It’s been a tough season. Bob Bradley: “I said at the halfway point this year that the first half of the season was a survival test. I was hoping that the second half we could make a push. The second half ended up being a survival test too. It’s just been that kind of year. We’ve dealt with a lot, and some of it was out of our control and some of it very much in our control.” “But our goal all along is that we felt if we could make it into the playoffs we’d make a good run at this thing. I think that’s absolutely the way these guys see things,” added Bradley. Ivaldo Basso can be reached at ibasso@cybersoccernews.com. © Basso/Cyber Soccer Associates, LLC 2002