ON FIRE Fire Need To Rediscover its Style By: Ivaldo Basso September 27 Chicago (CSA) - “They were in trouble that night and from that point on they got themselves on a roll,” reminisced Bob Bradley, speaking of the Fire/Revs August 24th match when the Revolution came from behind to win 2-1 in Naperville. Had the Revolution lost that game, in fact had the Revolution lost any of its six final regular season games, they would have taken their usual spot on the couch during the MLS playoffs. This weekend it’s the Fire who heads into Naperville in trouble, having to avoid defeat and elimination from the playoffs after playing poorly and losing 2-0 Thursday in Foxboro. There is plenty of blame to go around for Thursday’s frustrating performance. Nowak was uncharacteristically not sharp with key passes, defenders didn’t pass well out of the back and the entire Fire operation stalled, and looked completely out of good ideas, within 30 yards from goal. Bocanegra missed his Twellman mark early leading to the Revolution’s first goal; Thornton’s punching, both his decisions of when to punch and the actual acts themselves, were suspect; Kovalenko continued to fail in providing a spark and Jesse Marsch became distracted. It would be dishonest to skirt around the fact that David Vaedreuil, Orlando Perez and Billy Walsh wouldn’t start on any playoff team, and that trio is leagues apart from the players that would be there - Josh Wolff, Chris Armas and Evan Whitfield – were it not for injury. But that last point is purely an excuse, the kind of excuse that the Fire has refused to make. Despite the air of uncertainty that has pervaded the club for much of this season, the team has never wavered. There have been plenty of reasons for players and coaches to moan, but they never have. They’ve all accepted the responsibilities of filling all the gaps and have got on with it. But perhaps it is now the end of the line. Perhaps the expectation that the Fire go deep into the playoffs is unrealistic. Perhaps Chicago is the sub-500 team that their record suggests. But New England is a sub-500 side also. This Fire team should be able to compete better than they did on Thursday. Now, Chicago finds itself needing one of their magical performances on Sunday to win this series. Toiling to a 2-1 victory this coming Sunday, like they did last weekend against Columbus, won’t send New England, or themselves, a message. Chicago needs to have a game where they rediscover their style and finishing power, not unlike game three of the 2000-playoff quarterfinals against the Revolution when they exploded to a 6-0 victory. The Fire needs to play with emotion and refuse to lose, not unlike their legendary U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal victory in Titan Stadium in 2000 against the Galaxy. There have been signs of that 2000-spirit - flashes of that style, finishing power and emotion this season. The second half of the FC Champions Cup game against Morelia in Naperville and the overtime victory in New York come to mind. Moments like those will be needed over the next week if the Fire are to advance. In year’s past the Fire has come out with a vengeance in ‘elimination’ games. They didn’t come out that way in the last game of the season against Columbus (while facing playoff elimination), and they only played that way for the first 5 minutes on Thursday. The fire better be burning within the squad for this coming Sunday. If not, the Fire will become a victim of what they failed to do in late August - eliminate the Revolution from the playoffs. Ivaldo Basso can be reached at ibasso@cybersoccernews.com. © Basso/Cyber Soccer Associates, LLC 2002